Experiences with train cancellations/delays and beimg stranded

The only time i got stranded was in Germany(not travelling with interrail) because of a suicide. And i got a taxi voucher from the staff on the regional train for the last bit of that journey. It was the last train of the day and did not complete it journey because it was so delayed. (In the end we were only 3 passengers left on that train.

I had a couple of trains cancelled on me so far.

I had the night train from Bukarest to Vienna end early in Budapest. But it was already early morning an we were told to just get on another train towards Vienna. (Unfortunatly they did not tell us at what time the other train was leaving, so it was quite a unessary hurry. Because it turned out that there was enough time for the change)

Another time i had to cancel my plans as there was flooding on the borders of poland to germany. In that case i just got refunded my tickets since it did not make sense to go trough poland anymore(and i was able to cancel my hotel free of charge)

I had the last highspeed train  of the day cancelled on me in italy. (13 days inadvance) But in that case it made the most sense for me to just take an earlier train.(In the end that train got a huge delay which resulted in me falling asleep and missing my station. And unfortunatly the station was already only left open for our delayed train. So i had to take a bus back)

Otherwise i only had some delayed trains. A broken locomotive in croatia, an unplanned stop in a tunnel in switzerland(after some time the train managed to atleast get to the next station)

Thanks Marvin. Your stories reminded me of two more things:

• France November 2024: my TGV was 6 hours late arriving to Strasbourg at around 2am. At the information desk they organized taxis to different destinations. Mine went to Offenburg
• my nighttrain München-La Spezia (maybe February 2024?) was cancelled in Villach in the middle of the night. Could use the nighttrain to Venezia. There at the station had to go to the ticket office. They stamped the ticket „free“ and could use then a high speed train to Milano without an assigned seat. In Milano could hop on another train to La Spezia 👍Delay was 5 hours or smth like that in the end 

​@MartinM Do you travel a lot by train?

Well, I had ten 3 month passes and overall like 35 interrail passes, so quite a bit 😉but due to work recently not too much. 
 

greetings from the TGV Paris-Tarbes 😅

Thats impressive. Last year i managed 2 trips (15 travel days each) And this year i have also 2 trips planned(10 and 15)

I have done only 4 Interrail trips so far.

Unfortunatly because of working i cant do a 3 months trip.

I am on a my way to cologne at the moment.(I can travel for free on ICEs in Germany today)

I once had a problem in Switzerland, not with a pass but the problem is the same.

According to the annual timetable, I could have returned home on the last daytime trains after an opera performance in Bregenz (I couldn't leave before the end). Due to construction work, the departure of a train in Zurich was brought forward by 10 minutes, so I lost the connection and I had to spend the night in a hotel. I asked the SBB for a refund. They replied that the online timetable had been adjusted in advance and that it was not possible to refund the hotel night.

Since the online timetable has no legal existence in Switzerland, I have forwarded the case to the Federal Office of Transport. They sided with the SBB, considering that if the changes had been announced at least two weeks in advance, they superseded the legal timetable.

I would have liked to appeal to the administrative court, but I gave up because I am not a lawyer and I did not want to incur expenses without being sure of winning the case.

A few experiences. In all of them, I chose to ‘self help’, rather than wait to get stranded, which inevitably cost me money.

London-Kassel Wilhelmshöhe, to connect with Nightjet to Vienna (Interrail)

The ICE from Brussels was delayed, and I missed the connection at Cologne, so I wouldn't reach Kassel in time for my Nightjet. I would’ve been entitled to a hotel in Kassel, I think. But I didn’t want to travel all that way and start asking for hotels late at night. Instead I paid for a hotel in Frankfurt, and asked ÖBB for a refund of my Nightjet - which they did without a problem, I was on a continuous pass, so no need for extra travel days.

Barcelona-Narbonne-Lyon (separate ticket on Renfe and SNCF)

Very heavily delayed departure from Barcelona, which meant I would missthe connection at Narbonne, which was the last train of the day. I would’ve been entitled to a free rebooking on the first TGV next day, but no hotel, I think. Instead, I asked the Renfe train manager, who let me stay on the AVE until Avignon, paid my own hotel, and bought a new ticket from Avignon-Lyon. Renfe refunded me 25% of the AVE fare.

Brussels-Chamonix, via Martigny (Interrail)

My ICE from Brussels was cancelled, and I knew it would be impossible to get to Chamonix the same day if I waited 2 hours for the next ICE. I bought a reservation on the Thalys, 1 hour later, which would still get me to Chamonix that evening. Unfortunately, further delays in southern Germany, and I could no longer reach my Martigny in time for the last train to France. I diverted to Geneva Airport and paid €50 for a shared shuttle bus.

It was quite hard to get any reimbursements or compensation. I eventually got delay compensation from Eurail plus a refund of the Thalys reservation (from SBB, of all people, who did nothing wrong!), but no payment for the alternative transport.

Yes, as ​@ralderton  explained, it's sometimes better to prioritize your own comfort, paying for a hotel room to avoid spending hours at a train station unsure if the train will even run.

Last year, I had planned to travel from London to Switzerland via Lille - Strasbourg in one day. Following an incident between Lille and Paris, I opted to stay on the Eurostar as far as Brussels and spend the night there, continuing the next day through Germany. I only saved on the cost of the TGV reservation. No problem with a continuous pass.

It's interesting that, even though Switzerland is supposed to apply the EU passengers’ rights regulation for international journeys, even the Federal Office chose to ignore it: the basis for your rights as a passenger is always the timetable communicated to you when you bought your ticket.

​@rvdborgt 

Sorry, I forgot to mention something. I had a Swiss travelcard (GA) from St. Margrethen, but, if I remember correctly, I had a through ticket Bregenz - Bern issued by ÖBB with the discount “GA” for Switzerland. This ticket metionned the regular timetable, but maybe only as information, not on the ticket itself. I was certainly a Standard ticket valid for two days.

Related to Eurail/Interrail Passes, this situation could occur for an internal journey in Switzerland with the last connection. I don’t know if the EU or Swiss passengers’ rights apply, probably the Swiss rights. You have a significant difference with the refund of hotel nights. If you are stranded due to a force majeure event, e.g. in Zermatt after a landslide or a snow avalanche (it occurs often), no hotel nights or other expenses are refunded. I mean that if you have an international through ticket, at least 3 nights are refunded.

That's an international ticket and that timetable was binding for your rights.

The only conditions that are applicable are those that people are notified of before paying for their passes. That means domestic conditions of carriage cannot be applicable.

​@rvdborgt I’m not sure:

13.1.4. Compensation for supplements (e.g. reservations) and reimbursement of expenses incurred as a result of the sustained delay fall within carriers’ individual conditions of carriage.

Hm yes, that looks like a grey zone. How applicable are conditions that you have to look for yourself? I'm afraid only a court can decide that.

If I were stranded in Switzerland and unable to continue my journey the same day, I would immediately add a leg in a foreign country to my journey, even if I wanted to stay in Switzerland. Chances will be higher that international passenger’s rights apply. I will try to ask people working at the SBB who might have access to internal documents.

Hallo

1. Der Nachtzug von Wien nach Zürich hatte verspätung irgendwo mittendrin in Österreich jedenfalls habe ich alles fotografiert auf der Anzeigetafel und Online also ein Screen gemacht. Habe es nach Beendigung der Fahrt Online eingereicht bei der Öbb. Ich muss ehrlich sagen die ÖBB ist sehr zuverlässig bei Rpckerstattung hatte es dann nach 2-3 Tagen auf dem Konto was sehr cool war und ein grosses Lob. 

2. Ich war letzten Sommer 2025 von Hamburg nach Stockholm hatte einen 1. Klasse Interrailpass und habe im Schlafabteil reserviert und der Kontrolleur sagte ich sei sogar alleine in der Kabine was ich sagen musste es war der absolute Hammer habe so gut geschlafen. Leider wurde ich zu spät informiert dass der Nachtzug nur bis Malmö fährt und ich dort den Schnellzug nehmen muss nach Stockholm was für mich extra Kosten verursacht haben. Aber da die Fahrt von Hamburg nach Malmö 1 Fahrt gilt und Malmö nach Stockholm als 1 Fahrt gilt habe ich auf meinen Interrailpass nur eingegeben Hamburg nach Stockholm und habe die SJ Kontrolleurin gefragt ob das in Ordnung ist da ich eine Reservierung habe für Malmö nach Stockholm sie sagte das ist kein Problem wir nehmen Sie mit. Jedenfalls habe ich dann der SJ geschrieben wegen dem Nachtzug und der extra Reservierung mein Anliegen am Schluss bekamm ich circa 75 EUro zurück.

Ich muss ehrlich bei beiden Bahngesellschaften SJ und ÖBB in der 1 Klasse Sitzplatzkomfort Wlan ist wirklich Top ich hatte keine negativen Erlebnise bei beiden und ausserdem ist bei SJ das Frühstück inklusive was sehr gut war auch konnte man sich mit Wasser Tee Kaffee Früchte verpflegen lassen gratis. EIn grosses Lob an beiden Bahngesellschaft da könnte sich die SBB ein Vobild nehmen

They were correct to let you travel on the train the next day. You shouldn’t need to use an extra travel day, since the delay wasn’t your fault. (If all else fails, Eurail can arrange an extra travel day to be added to your pass if necessary, but the train staff should just accept yesterday’s pass).

You also shouldn’t have incurred extra costs. If SJ hadn’t refunded you, you could go to Eurail and ask them to reimburse you.

France - Belgium (Interrail)

I had been travelling with 3 Interrail passes between 2022 and 2025 without any massive issues, except of a 90 minute delay on the AVE Lyon-Barcelona in early 2025.

That changed on a trip from Paris CDG to Brussels by TGV, the last one of the day. The train arrived already roughly 30 minutes delayed at CDG. During our ride to Lille, we were told to change to the front part of the train because our unit doesn’t have an approval for Belgium.

After changing the trains, we waited in Lille for our departure. Due to some unknown error, we were told after about 60 minutes of standing at about 11 pm that this train won’t continue to Brussels. We were left waiting in the Eurostar waiting area at Lille Europe while the staff at the station provided snack boxes and organized accommodation for all the stranded passengers.

I decided to travel onwards to Brussels on my own after I realized that a cheap FlixBus is going all the way to Brussels at 12.15 am. I bought a ticket for less than 10€ and arrived Brussels at about 1.30 am.

I claimed a refund from Interrail (for the travel day) and SNCF directly (for the reservation bought on RailEurope - they were issued from SNCF so I was able to upload them into their online compensation form). From Interrail, I got a 24€ refund, from SNCF I got refunded 50% of my reservation + received a 30€ voucher.

Sweden (non-Interrail)

I got stranded a second time without an Interrail pass on a trip between Umea and Stockholm. The night train got cancelled due to severe weather so we ended up cancelling the sleeper tickets and bought new ones for the local train to Sundsvall that evening, a Hotel in Sundsvall and a ticket for two connecting trains to Stockholm the day after.

Just minutes after we bought our tickets, all trains between Sundsvall and Gävle were cancelled also for the next two days. We decided therefore to pay for a taxi between Sundsvall and Gävle, where we arrived just after midnight. At the end, we spent the night in that area, waiting for the first train to bring us into Stockholm.

I claimed compensation for all the expenses through the ResPlus form on the SJ website about two months ago. While reading a lot of positive feedback about the customer service of SJ/ResPlus, I haven’t heard any update from them so far. Hopefully, they handle our case at some point...

Interrail or SNCF should also have refunded the bus ticket.

They have to respond no later than 3 months after you submitted the complaint.