Hello all,

I'd really like to know whether I would - theoretically - get away with booking a sleeper terminus to terminus, but only actually boarding it further on.

The reason I ask is that I am (as always) planning my trip for next summer, and I'm extremely interested in taking the night train to Kiev (ÖBB discount it for passholders right up to the Ukrainian border) - *but*, it might suit me better to board it at Budapest rather than Vienna.

I think a ticket for two passholders sharing a two-berth compartment is about €114 or so, bought at oebb.at, but they only sell Vienna-Kiev. It's possible to buy only Budapest-Kiev at polrail.com, but it seems to be more than double the price.

I would need to do the journey west to east because the ticket has to be picked up in person in Austria beforehand.

Does this sound like something that would work out alright, or would I invalidate or forfeit my ticket by doing this?

Thanks for your thoughts!