mrkarl
Traveller
3 comments
Posted 6 months ago
I have a 2nd class Swiss rail pass for Switzerland (annual pass). I also have an interrail ticket that gives me 15 days of travel within 2 months (first class).
I only have a limited number of days that can be used on the interrail ticket to get from my local train station to the border.
I therefore will be travelling 2nd class from Zug via Zurich to Basel SBB. I then get on the German train on Basel SBB.
Question: is my interrail 1st class pass even valid on the Basel SBB - Basel Bad portion? As the train starts in Basel SBB, it's much more convenient for me to get into my reserved first class seat at Basel SBB rather than 5 minutes later in Basel Bad.
Does anyone know?
MisterSteve
Traveller
912 comments
The tarif boundary (and passport/customs) point is Basel Bad. If you try a journey enquiry on bahn.de from somewhere in Germany to Basel it will show an inland price to Bad but change to international pricing if you ask to SBB. So if you have a One-country pass for Germany it won't be valid - if it is a Global pass that section will count as a home country journey and you only get one in each direction. It's unlikely that a conductor will check in that short distance but the Interrail Mobile App will notice!
But a home country journey is not a seperate day and can be the first day in Germany, how may days were you taking to get from Zug to Basel?
mrkarl
Traveller
3 comments
Hi MisterSteve, thank you. You have answered my question. I thought the tarif boundary was Basel Bad. I'm a resident of Switzerland so my Interrail pass is not valid within Switzerland. I guess to be safe, I should get in 2nd class from Basel SBB to Basel Bad and then take my reserved 1st class seat. I hope there is a carriage within easy walking.
"how may days were you taking to get from Zug to Basel?". I have a 2nd class unlimited Swiss rail pass so any travel within Switzerland (and up to Basel Bad) is included in my pass. I've already used 2/3 of the Outbound /inbound journey on my interrail pass.
I'm not using this 15 days of travel within 2 months as the typical tourist. I'm taking trips from Switzerland to Germany and returning to Switzerland every week.
MisterSteve
Traveller
912 comments
With weekly home visits and a GA your plan makes sense. I'm not sure who provides the crew between SBB and Bad, years ago it was a special team of DB based at Bad who were qualified on Swiss rules. If the conductor only shuttles between Bad and SBB and the long distance conductor works north of Bad then I doubt any ticket check will be made on the Verbindungsbahn - it may not even have a conductor.