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Missing trains

  • 21 February 2024
  • 12 replies
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P

I’m new to Eurail. I’m looking at the pass that allows 7 days travel in a month. As I understand it, you create a journey (which may be a number of train connections and train changes) save it to your trip and then create a ticket for the day.  What happens if you miss a train during the day - say for example, you are not familiar with the station and fail to get to the next train in time? What do you do? Is your ticket for the day valid for another train? Do you need to create a new journey for the day? Assuming no reservations are needed.

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Best answer by Al_G 21 February 2024, 09:01

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A
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You can add as many trains as you need at any time, you can have multiple options added at once

You can activate and deactivate at any point.

You only need to make sure you activate the trains you take, before you board.

P

Thank you. But I’m not understanding something. I’m looking at a long trip in one day from Venice to Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland. There are multiple train companies etc with four or more train changes. The planner in the app works all that out for me and creates a journey.  I envisaged saving that long journey as a single journey for the day into my trip. Do you then get a single ticket for the day that covers the whole journey? If that’s the case and you miss a train midway through the journey. What happens then? Do you create a new journey, save it to the trip and then create a new ticket?  Sorry if that’s a dumb question - I having some trouble getting my head around the concept.

 

BrendanDB
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You can add train per train per train. E.g. Venice-Milan, Milan-Domodossola, Domodossola-Brig,… and so on.

You don’t necessarily have to do the proposed route in the rail planner app. If you want a break in the middle somewhere, perfectly possible. Adding train by train, makes that possible.

It’s recommended to split up larger journeys in fact.

See it as your travel diary. Should you miss a train at some point, you just look for the next connections in the station you’re at in the rail planner app that suit your needs, and add them to the pass.

Trains that are added to the pass, show up under the QR-code. On a travel day, you can add and delete as many as trains as needed.

P

Thanks - so it would be better to do each stage as a single journey, and as I travel during the day, progressively save them to the trip and get a ticket for that stage?  So I could preset them in the planner and then transfer each to my trip as I progress during the day?

P

‘Trains that are added to the pass, show up under the QR-code’ do you mean the QR code is a dynamic thing that updates anytime you add a train during the day?

 

BrendanDB
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Thanks - so it would be better to do each stage as a single journey, and as I travel during the day, progressively save them to the trip and get a ticket for that stage?  So I could preset them in the planner and then transfer each to my trip as I progress during the day?

That’s what I do usually indeed :)

And when necessary you change the plan, because of possible delay, or crowding on a train, or rerouting for a more scenic route,… plenty of freedom to customize your travels with your pass 

BrendanDB
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‘Trains that are added to the pass, show up under the QR-code’ do you mean the QR code is a dynamic thing that updates anytime you add a train during the day?

 

The QR-code is generated when activating a travel day. A lot of inspectors don’t scan the QR-code, but just look at the trains you registered. So each train you take needs to be registered.

You can find a tutorial on the mobile pass here:

https://www.interrail.eu/en/interrail-passes/interrail-mobile-pass/getting-started

It seems complicated at first, but it’s really straightforward when you’re doing it. Just see it as a digital version of a paper pass, where you fill out train per train on a line with pen and paper, when travelling. A sort of travel diary actually :)

The app also gives you a nice map and statistics of your travels.

A
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The “My Pass” part of the app that displays the day ticket only shows activated trains.

The QR code is generated for a day once the first train is activated, it does not contain train information and does not change once activated.

The text part of the ticket below the QR code is dynamic and will display all trains that are active at that time, you can add and remove these by activating/deactivating trains.

There is no restriction on how or when you can activate/deactivate, except that you cannot have 2 trains with overlapping times.

P

Thanks guys. I think it will become clearer as I use it. Its attractive to me because of the flexibility. Its risky to prebook trains and then hope you’ll get them all.

A
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Just to note, the app does not book trains, it is just a diary of travel. Any trains that require seat reservations or that you wish to have reservations for must be booked separately.

This link gives an overview of where and when you need to book.

https://www.seat61.com/interrail-and-eurail-reservations.htm

BrendanDB
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Thanks guys. I think it will become clearer as I use it. Its attractive to me because of the flexibility. Its risky to prebook trains and then hope you’ll get them all.

The best strategy is to have some buffer time of one or two hours somewhere in the middle, or between two important trains, with compulsory reservations (when doing very long distances with high speed trains or night trains).

In your case for the route Venice-Lauterbrunnen, only the Frecciarossa (Italy’s high speed train) is a train with compulsory reservations. Swiss trains are rarely worthwile to be reserved, as they are long, frequent and run like clockwork. Train changes are almost always reached, as connections are assured.

T
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If you take the Milan - Brig (- Spiez) EC, that one also requires a reservation : 10€ to Domodossola (border point), 13€ to a Swiss station.

I don't know when your trip is but note that part of the Milan - Domodossola will be closed from 9th June to 8th September. Rail replacement buses will run, taking 1h-1h30 longer than usual.

You may also look at taking a scenic detour like Milan - Locarno - Domodossola (Centovalli railway). Very scenic and more importantly reservation-free.

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