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NightTrain No Exiting Allowed

  • 5 November 2023
  • 7 replies
  • 365 views
C

Hello,

 

Why can’t i book a ticket for 1 stop on a night train?

Let’s say there is a Budapest-Zurich NightTrain, but i only want to travel from Vienna to Salzburg. Train Schedule says “Enter only, no exiting allowed.” for several stops during the journey. Why is this? And in theory can i use this train if i have a daily ticket (or season ticket) between two destinations? (It’s hard to beleive i physically can not leave a train when it stops).  Also the timetable aren’t showing me this possibility but when i look at live map there are a lot of trains on the go between these stops in the night. 

It’s only theoritical question so i’m not in need for any ticket like this, just interested.

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Best answer by thibcabe 5 November 2023, 21:56

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7 replies

ralderton
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There are various reasons for this, but it's usually down you the operator deciding which passengers it wants to accept on that service.

Maybe it doesn't want commuters, or late night drunks joining for two stops and disturbing the passengers. Rarely, it has to do with traffic rights.

If it's a no exit or no boarding station, then there theoretically exists no ticket that's valid on that journey. I don't know how it's handled in reality, or with a pass. Probably the conductor just shouts after you as you scurry off the train and into the night. 

Also remember that most (all?) sleeper trains have compulsory reservation. And you won't be able to get a reservation for a two stop journey that's not permitted.

C

There are various reasons for this, but it's usually down you the operator deciding which passengers it wants to accept on that service.

Maybe it doesn't want commuters, or late night drunks joining for two stops and disturbing the passengers. Rarely, it has to do with traffic rights.

If it's a no exit or no boarding station, then there theoretically exists no ticket that's valid on that journey. I don't know how it's handled in reality, or with a pass. Probably the conductor just shouts after you as you scurry off the train and into the night. 

Also remember that most (all?) sleeper trains have compulsory reservation. And you won't be able to get a reservation for a two stop journey that's not permitted.

If you don’t travel outside of the country where reservations are not mandatory, you can travel without a seat reservation. (for exmpl: Wien-Bregenz)

Y
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I would imagine there will be no tickets available on that train to the “no exit” station (B) so you would need a ticket from start (A) to the first exit station after your planned departure (C), and if a sleeper you would need the accompanying matching reservation. You would not be able to travel on any other purchased ticket between the start station (A) and the no exit station (B) so liable to a fine. 

If you are using a pass the same applies - you would need to show a ticket between A and C (simple to do) and a matching reservation for A to C.

I do not know if there would be any other consequences of leaving at B.

C

I would imagine there will be no tickets available on that train to the “no exit” station (B) so you would need a ticket from start (A) to the first exit station after your planned departure (C), and if a sleeper you would need the accompanying matching reservation. You would not be able to travel on any other purchased ticket between the start station (A) and the no exit station (B) so liable to a fine. 

If you are using a pass the same applies - you would need to show a ticket between A and C (simple to do) and a matching reservation for A to C.

I do not know if there would be any other consequences of leaving at B.

Yes you are absolutely right. It doesn’t make any sense in reality. If you buy a Seasonal ticket for the whole country for all and any trains connecting cities inside that country, how can they say you are only allowed inside but not for exit? I mean it stops anyway and what railway company doesn’t want extra ticket money (without seasonal ticket ofc) when it spends the same amount of money on the route? 

T
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@raldertonalready gave some good points. Some suggestions from the company’s point of view :

  • they don’t want people waking up other passengers in the night (couchettes/sleepers)
  • some stops are used for shunting carriages between various night trains, the train might not stop on a normal platform/doors may be locked
  • a space in a night train can only be used once

France is another extreme case (daytime trains) :

  • you cannot book a short 1h30 journey because they prefer customers going all the way to Paris (resulting in more expensive tickets)
  • there is a quota in place at some stops (Bellegarde, Frasne, Mulhouse) so they can offer more expensive tickets to Swiss customers (TGV starts in Switzerland)

This is fortunately extremely rare elsewhere.

For your situation though : there are regular seating carriages going from Budapest to Salzburg (running as EC462). You can board them and alight at any point. OBB and DB make that clear on their website, please use those as reference. Train composition : https://www.vagonweb.cz/razeni/vlak.php?zeme=OeBB&cislo=462&rok=2023

Y
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If you have a pass (of any type) that allows you to travel within a country and the start (A) and the first stop after your target No exit station (B) that allows you to leave the train (C) are all in the same country then, subject to having a reservation of A to C if mandatory, you will probably be deemed to have a valid ticket - That is based on the assumption your season/national pass is the same as an Interrail Global Pass and doesn’t have restrictions preventing use on the chosen night train.

However I still remind you there may be issues if you try to leave at a no-exit stop. For instance they may only open a selected door at these stations and prevent any leaving of the train.

 

seewulf
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@CorvinTravels 

The Nighttrain Budapest - Zurich have till Salzburg even a seating Car Section that operate as FastTrain (D) you can use this part without a reservation. For  Journey´s further you need a reservation on the Nighttrain Part 

https://www.vagonweb.cz/razeni/vlak.php?zeme=OeBB&kategorie=EN&cislo=40462/@&nazev=&rok=2023 
The link shows the train configuration and as you can see the carriages 267,265,264 can be used without any reservation

I´ am not working for Eurail or Interrail i just share my knowledge here. Please ask in the Community and not via private message as this is the fastest way to get an answer. I prefer English/German/ Czech for my answers. In case of Reservationquestions please share some details like Route, Date, Trainnumber as otherwise we can just provide general advices or answers

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