anonymous
Traveller
2469 comments
Posted 8 years ago
Hi,
We're a group of 4 guys planning on going Interrailing in August. One of the planned journeys is from Copenhagen to Amsterdam on 3.8. departing at 22:02. We found this train on interrail.eu. However, now that I've tried to go reserve seats (it says reservation is required, since it's a night train), I've encountered many problems.
The site bahn.de says that reservation is compulsory but impossible. I assume this is because they want you to call them. Well, I did. After spending 15 minutes listening to waiting music a German lady answered. She got frustrated trying to speak English and tried to connect us to some English speaking co-worker, but after a few minutes of more waiting music she told us no one was there. Then she told me to call the Deutche Bahn UK office. Their number on their site however doesn't connect at all.
Next, I came to this site. Here it says the connection is withdrawn. Does that mean the connection no longer exists? How are we supposed to get to Amsterdam then?
Please help us reserve these seats, I've been emailing and calling people for a week now trying to get help.
Thanks,
Oskari
Wouter
Traveller
102 comments
You are totaly right, there are not many CNL routes left these days. It is indeed withdrawn.
You would be able to get there within one full day, taking the morning ICE-TD Copenhagen to Hamburg, changing for Osnabruck and Amsterdam.
Seat reservation for the first ICE is strongly recommend.
krasmussen
Traveller
25 comments
Well, it is a sad story, but right now international connections to/from Denmark is almost non execisting. Well we do have day-connections to Hamburg ans Sweden but that's it...
If you will travel by day, then you can use the ICE 38 train for Hamburg at 07:37 or the ICE 36 at 09:37.
With ICE 38 you will have to change again in Osnabrück and will arrive in Amsterdam at 19:00.
With ICE 36 you will have to change in Duisburg and will arrive in Amsterdam at 20:27.
For the ICE train between Copenhagen and Hamburg seat reservation is compulsory during summer - you can book them yourself online by bahn.de - just click on Nur Sitzplatz (kein Ticket) instead of the big red search-button.
If you would like to calll DB, the trick is to press 9 in the welcome-menu - this will connect you with an English speaking operator, and they are always very polite and helpful (at least compared to the service you will get if you call the Danish operator DSB - they CAN also book the reservation, but official they will only do it for Interrail travellers if they at the same time buy the pass - stupid rule by a not so friendly operator. If you speak with the right person, then however they will do the booking - but in most cases it will be fare easier to do it online with Deutsche Bahn).
Good luck with buying the reservations
Kim, Denmark
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Seat reservations for international trains are not available on the website of DB - rail.shop/bahn
krasmussen
Traveller
25 comments
Sorry, I missed this part:
You can book the seatreservations on-line, but you hace to split it up. Buy the German part from Puttgarden on rail.shop/bahn and the Danish part upto Rødby on dsb.dk
It will cost you a little extra, bucause you will pay for two reservations, but...
And then the text with Nur sitzplatz...
Sorry for missing this part, and thanks for letting my know
krasmussen
Traveller
25 comments
Hmmm...
I do now see that DB says it is only the sector Rødby-Puttgarden where you have to have a reservation - it is for the ferry.
Uptil recently it was not a problem (in reality) to do as I wrote with two different reservations, and I guess you can still do so, BUT I do not know if new rules has come into force.
I would still just travel with a booking from Puttgarden, and mayby one on the Danish part, but...
If you want to be 100 % sure of not breaking any rules, then do the booking from Puttgarden on rail.shop/bahn and show up at Copenhagen Station in good time and gof or the ticket office and ask for a servation from Copenhagen to Puttgarden, most likely your reserved seats from Puttgarten will be free from Copenhagen...
anonymous
Traveller
2469 comments
I'm again getting mixed messages. Is the train completely non-existent, or is this just a problem with the website not allowing the reserving of night train seats?
I did call the English-speaking operator, krasmussen, and she told that we'd have to split the journey in two parts: Copenhagen-Hamburg and Hamburg-Amsterdam. After following her orders and inputting the Copenhagen-Hamburg journey into their website, and telling her that the site says the reservation is impossible (but only after letting me log in), she got frustrated and tried to forward us to another, non-existent number.
And krasmussen, thanks for the suggestion, but we'd like to take a night train instead of spending the whole day traveling. I think this is the root of all our problems.
If the train line indeed doesn't even exist, maybe we'll have to rethink that part of the trip. We're starting from Finland, so maybe it'd be better to just take the ferry straight to Germany.
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
Hi!
Two trains are being mixed up here:
The old CNL, a proper night train running from Copenhagen to Amsterdam was withdrawn a few years ago.
The rather new overnight EC service, which is basically just a daytime train running overnight (no couchette or sleeper available, only seats) to Hamburg only.
Both trains ran/run via Odense - Flensburg, not via the direct line including the Rodby - Puttgarden ferrry.
You should find this train on [ux]http://plan.rail.cc/[/ux] - departure from Copenhagen 2202.
Reservation is compulsory and as we already discussed it is not available online. So, you could either rind DB again or book the reservation on the way either already in Finland or in Copenhagen.
We are official partners of interrail.eu - to support the free information and the forum on railcc, please be fair and buy your official Interrail pass via our railcc partner link: [ux]https://rail.shop/interrail[/ux]
Thank you! :)
Flo 8)
anonymous
Traveller
2469 comments
Thanks so much for your help, Flo.
Putting in Copenhagen-Amsterdam into plan.rail.cc indeed returns a train departing at 2202. This is the train we've been trying to reserve seats on and I now understand that I will have to call them. How risky would it be to not reserve the seats in advance, and only reserve them at the station?
[quote]Hi!
Two trains are being mixed up here:
The old CNL, a proper night train running from Copenhagen to Amsterdam was withdrawn a few years ago.
The rather new overnight EC service, which is basically just a daytime train running overnight (no couchette or sleeper available, only seats) to Hamburg only.
Both trains ran/run via Odense - Flensburg, not via the direct line including the Rodby - Puttgarden ferrry.
You should find this train on [ux]http://plan.rail.cc/[/ux] - departure from Copenhagen 2202.
Reservation is compulsory and as we already discussed it is not available online. So, you could either rind DB again or book the reservation on the way either already in Finland or in Copenhagen.
We are official partners of interrail.eu - to support the free information and the forum on railcc, please be fair and buy your official Interrail pass via our railcc partner link: [ux]https://rail.shop/interrail[/ux]
Thank you! :)
Flo 8) [/quote]
Flo
Traveller
10724 comments
I have no personal experience with this train and also havent read/heard about much about occupancy. I assume you'll be fine if you buy a ticket locally at short notice but cant guarantee it.
krasmussen
Traveller
25 comments
Sorry, I guess I have been a part of the misunderstanding by writing about daytime train. I was not aware of this rather new night EC-connection during night tome - and has been away from a computer the last 3 days
It is not a big surprise that DB have problem selling you seats on this train - neither can DSB (the Danish operator) on only Danish part of the train. Reason: Plan for repair work on the tracks has not been made yet, so the train are marked as not open for booking. If you try to book a Danish sector on dsb.dk you are told that the excat time for departure and arrival may change, and you are advised to call DSB callcenter on +45 70 13 14 15.
Mayby you could do that, but I am not sure they can help you... Mayby they can tell when the plan for work on the tracks are done...
BUT I would not be worried just to show up at the day of departure and buy a ticket