byke
Traveller
2 comments
Posted 15 years ago
I have been buying interrail tickets for many years now (16+) as I do not fly and try to be as green and european as possible.
And I must say it has gotten worse every few years with silly price hikes etc.
But after my latest travels I feel it has gotten to an all time low.
Many countries now have adopted a seat reservation policy for their modern trains, which is fine.
However they class interrail seat reservation as a discounted ticket rather than just a seat reservation.
And now many train operators only allow a certain amount of tickets per train for discount.
Obviously there are in many places regional trains that can get you to small towns etc, but realistically all cross border trains are modern non regional trains now. On top of this we are seeing an ever more increase in the phasing out of older trains, making way for faster more direct trains.
So even though you have paid all this money for a interrail ticket, you still get buggered by many train operators who are willing to sell you a full price ticket to travel, or you have to wait until another ticket for another time period becomes available.
[b]France is the worst.[/b]
I was there a year ago, with a first class interrail ticket and was told the trains were all full for that day (from 8am onwards) so I had to buy a full fare (non discount ticket) and when I got on the train carriage was totally empty! for the whole 4 HOURS I was on it!
Sweden has now started to introduce this policy on their highspeed x2000 trains (there not really high speed and smell like the 1980s) .... but the sad part is the MAJORITY of its trains are x2000 trains as they have fazed out may of the regional slower trains.
The reality is, with the current train timetables etc. It is very hard to plan in advance as trains can be delayed etc.
So after you have completed part of your journey, gone for lunch and come back to start the second half of your journey you are told to try and book in advance for a seat reservation, or pay full price for a seat as discounted seat are all gone.
Now what is the point on paying all this money for an interrail ticket when seats are available on trains but not for interrail passengers?
byke
Traveller
2 comments
Lets do some examples.
Stockholm to London (first class interrail ticket).
SJ Trains.
Firstly one would need to take an X2000 from Stockholm to Malmö.
If you have a first class interrail ticket, SJ doesnt appear to honor that anymore (I will need to double check this)
Anyway, if you can get a 2nd class seat reservation this will cost you approx 7 euros.
If (and only if) you could get a first class seat reservation the price is almost 17 euros.
[b]Shouldnt a seat reservation cost the same, since the interrail price is offset based on class?
[/b]
Then you would need to go over the bridge to Copenhagen (which should be free, with no seat reservation needed)
You arrive in Copenhagen where there is an average of 4 border trains a day going to Hamburg (Germany).
Seat reservations have become more restricted on these trains for interrail ticket holders.
Normally there is approx 8 minutes between the train arriving and the hamburg train leaving (based on x2000 timetables) so if the X2000 is delayed for any amount of time you could loose your reservation and need to wait a good 4 hours in Copenhagen.
Hamburg Germany :
Central hub .... Germany is good for interrail and you can enter nearly all trains without a reservation and move between seats as needed.
Köln (Cologne) :
You finally arrive in Köln and get a hotel for the night.
You cant make any reservations for the following day as by now the ticket office is closed and their is no option for interrail ticket holders to order reservations online in real time.
So you get to the ticket office and discover that the majority of trains going from Köln to Bruselles are Thalys which means you need both a seat reservation and a supplement as they are not covered by the interrail ticket.
There are approx 2 ICE trains per day, but obviously this route is limited on purpose due to Thalys renting the lines. (anti competition laws?)
So you finally get to Bruselles and try to get a Eurostar ticket direct to London, but again are told you will need to pay anything between 75 and 300 euros for a ticket as eurostar is not part of interrail and it also has only a select number of discounted seats (BTW if you took your car with you on the eurostar from calais to folkestone, it would still be cheaper than 1 seat from lille to ashford).
In desperation you take a bunch of shitty trains to Lille (France) in hopes of going to Calais (for a ferry)
Unfortunately not many trains go to Calais any more as the Eurostar takes precedence.
So eventually you take another pre war crap train to Calais which if you are unlucky can take up to 3.5 hours .
You arrive in Calais, en route looking for the boat.
You then realize the boa station is very faraway and there is a bus service which is approx every 45 minutes and again doesnt let you use your interrail ticket, thus charges you.
You then enter the ferry terminal where you need to pay for a boat ticket which can vary greatly depending on operator.
Dover (England)
So you arrive in Dover and again need to take yet another buss to the train station as it is very far and again will cost you more cash.
You arrive at Dover priory train station and try to get to the train, but are now unable to get onto the platform with your interrail ticket as its an automated gate which doesnt accept interrail tickets..... so you need to look around to find a train station worker which can be hard at times in the UK (to let you through the barriers) with your ticket.
Now this is just an example of going just 1 way.
And the amount of problems and costs based on the newer style of railway management being introduced across europe.
I love train travel and love the idea of the interrail ticket, but who does it benefit nowadays with all these delays and extra costs?
What is the point anymore?
Its cheaper to fly or go by car / buss.
Peter
Traveller
9333 comments
I fully understand you.
I know these problems - and I really don't understand some of the national rail companies - I often think they have a feeling for how to reject persons interested in using train travel on long distances. :(
to be honest: even beeing a rail fanatic, I switch more and more using my car on long distance travels ...
I hope one day some rail companies will find out that InterRail is important as marketing medium as persons travelled by InteRail will normally be as well rail travellers in future. Peter :)