Well, probably last summer there were too big problems due to very crowded trains (thx to the 50% sale), so it is partly understandable and there are enough alternatives (although they take longer, but still)…

Thx for the info!

Maybe they should together with DB work on more trains? Instead of this sh**. 

I mean DSB and DB will from April also have more capacity using IC1 cars of DB instead of the IC3 trains of DSB. 

Maybe adding some trains Cologne to Amsterdam using old carriages. 

Yes, last summer was an absolute drama for ICE international to Nl and Belgium. But still, an annoying move that can thwart a lot of travel plans for many.

@Mukhammad; @Camilo. are you aware of this? Is there any possibility to revise this? Like the sudden decision of TER PACA last summer, to not accept pass holders suddenly. Luckily that was revised quite quickly.

I can understand the fact they want to avoid overcrowding. And there’s a shortage of international ICE’s, not making it easier. But then just make reservations mandatory, for this period, to avoid excessive delays because people need to get off the overcrowded train.

@Angelo : fully agree with you, BUT the problem is not only about rolling stock but also about employees… already with the current timetable they have problems to find enough employees etc. and such extra trains also somebody has to pay…
I think this is way less worse than it was with the PACA region in France.

(as said there are enough other options to cross the border from NL)

@MartinM Yeah I get that there is shortage, than do it like the trains in Summer to Denmark with a compulsory reservation instead of this. Only to block some travellers is not the solution. 

Why should someone on Interrail take longer than others?

Oh that’s a pain, taking the local train Venlo → Köln adds quite a lot of time. I’d rather just pay more for a reservation, TGV- or Eurostar-style, than have an outright ban.

Hi everyone!

Thank you for informing us about it. I checked with my superior and we are aware of this situation. I understand that it's a bad news, so I'm really sorry to learn about it.

A further information will be sent to us soon. I will deliver it to you here whenever I receive it. I hope it comes with a solution.

Cheers!

This will make the trains between Germany and France even more crowded. 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/france-germany-free-train-tickets-b2267983.html%3famp

According to NS, it was DB who took this decision, in consultation with Interrail:

https://twitter.com/NS_Int/status/1620822334465609734

The NS twitter team checked internally and rectified. It is a joint NS/DB decision:

https://twitter.com/html5ben/status/1620853032572571649

The comment is striking:

“What also unites you is that your social media teams don't notice anything until the shit hits the fan.”

“Solutions” to these ever increasing exceptions and difficulties to the use of passes never seem to happen.

Instead your superior(s) simply ignore them and continue with business as usual.

At what point will Eurail BV admit that the advertising and publicity about the usability of the  interrail/eurail product is increasingly untrue.

A small number of unpaid users on this forum spend an inordinate amount of time talking unfamiliar users of YOUR product through the exceedingly complicated user-unfriendly app and conditions that require a huge amount of learned knowledge to navigate.

We end up providing an encyclopedia of unofficial workarounds using third and fourth party sources of information and supplementary reservations to allow YOUR customers to be able to just about use the product they purchased for the purpose it was sold to them, except in those areas where the rail operators have purposely made it completely impossible.

It is simply not good enough to just ignore all these issues and allow passes be sold to those who, if they just rely on the official information and do not do a deep-dive into niche social media such as this forum, are kept in the dark about all the roadblocks that they will face, sometimes at no notice in a country where they do not speak the language and are not equipped to make satisfactory or safe alternative arrangements.

Hello everyone,

Thank you very much for your info update and feedback regarding this matter, or Eurail in general.

From today Eurail has been speaking with our rail partners (NS and DB) to assess the situation. It's in order to give the Eurail and Interrail travellers a full update on the issue soon.

There will be a statement of the NS, which we can refer to you after being published.

I am sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.

The limitations have been removed from NS's page about Interrail.

There's a new statement, for now in Dutch only:

https://www.nsinternational.com/nl/nieuws/drukte-ice-interrail

They now say “Excluding a number of ICE trains per day towards Germany in summer for Interrailers/Eurailers is one of the research directions. That this research direction has now come out as a fait accompli is incorrect and we regret it. We expect to present the full package of measures for summer 2023 soon.”

Exactly! Thanks for posting the link.

At the moment our partner NS is re-evaluating the ICE summer routes restrictions affecting Eurail and Interrail Pass holders and will publish a new package of measures for summer 2023.

There will be also another follow up tomorrow.

In the meantime, the restrictions have been implemented in the planner:

So this makes it clear that, despite what NS are claiming, they had already decided to ban pass holders in summer. And they're now re-evaluating, or so they say.

It has even been implemented for domestic journeys in Germany. This was not planned, so that's wrong in any case:

@Mukhammad are you going to remove these limitations?

In the meantime, the restrictions have been implemented in the planner:

So this makes it clear that, despite what NS are claiming, they had already decided to ban pass holders in summer. And they're now re-evaluating, or so they say.

It has even been implemented for domestic journeys in Germany. This was not planned, so that's wrong in any case:

@Mukhammad are you going to remove these limitations?

Hello @rvdborgt,

Thank you for letting me know about it. Indeed the information shown on the reservation page is not yet updated. I'm really sorry for that.

I already delivered this issue to my senior whom in charge of the travel information matters. Thank you again!

Thanks for following up. I've also just noticed that the limitation has also been implemented with the incorrect period, it seems from 1 May:

Please delete these limitations ASAP and only bring them back, in a correct way, if and when NS decide to go ahead with them. What has been done now is making the information this planner delivers even more untrustworthy.

@Jody @Camilo. @Mukhammad 

This limitation has now also been implemented in the rail planner app, it seems with immediate effect, so ICE trains for today are already showing as "Not in pass network”. This is further devaluating the app.

PLEASE REMOVE THIS LIMITATION.  And I suggest to post a news item about it on the Interrail website.

Hi @rvdborgt 

We were informed that the connections between NL and DE have been deactivated from the planner to avoid confusion. Customers can manually add their journey to the app if they are traveling between now and June 2023. 

We are eager to learn the ultimate outcome.

Have a nice day!

This is a really bad solution. The train should be included until the 16th of June and the again in mid August. How are travellers supposed to know that the can travel with the train if the website and app says that the train isn't included? 

@Camilo. 

@Camilo. This is utter nonsense. The original plans were to exclude Interrail/Eurail 17 June-18 August, but there is no justification whatsoever to implement it for a longer period. If anything, that will only create more confusion. And it makes people even more distrust any information the rail planner app produces.

I repeat: please remove this limitation.

this solution is not customer friendly!

I just noticed that all exclusions have now been removed from the app and the Eurail/Interrail website, even for the summer. Thanks for that.

In the meantime, NS have promised to consult with the Dutch consumers’ organisations about the measures they propose, before taking a decision.

The new measure has been announced: compulsory seat reservation between 17 June and 18 August 2023 on all ICE's from and to The Netherlands. https://nieuws.ns.nl/stoelreservering-gaat-ice-deze-zomer-comfortabeler-maken/

The reservation for the ICE International this summer can be booked here:

• DB only at ticket offices or call center during the compulsory reservation this summer for rides to/from The Netherlands. (4,50€/journey). Outside this period possible also via bahn.com
• ÖBB online shop.oebbtickets.at using the option seat reservation only (3€/train)
• CD online cd.cz using the option seat reservation only (72 CZK/train)
• Interrail.eu/Eurail.com reservations service (+ 2 EUR booking fee) (6€+2€/train)
• Ticket offices of DB, ÖBB, CD, SBB CFF FFS, SNCB/NMBS, NS International and other railway companies in middle Europe. 
• Call Center of DB, ÖBB, CD, SBB CFF FFS, SNCB/NMBS and NS International.