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Pages: [1] 2
1
Train fares and tariffs / Re: train discounts for seniors
« on: April 03, 2016, 02:22:27 pm »
In fact I thought of the same, but was hesitating to which side would be best. Also have to inquire about possibel copyright (though I cannot think of much against it).
More or less the same for what TR in the past published every year as separate booklet-free for subscriptions, which listed all known passes etc. I'll get back to you when I know more about it. + hope to be able to use your expertise re Mid/East Eur railways.

2
Can ONLY be issued together with a-expensive- INTernational ticket into Italy. ONLY valid on treni regionale, not on the better and faster IC or Superfasttrains FRECCIA. It really depends on the route if it is worthwhile or not. In fact fares for treni regionale in IT are still fairly cheap-per km maybe even below what PKP charges now for their IC-trains.

3
Train fares and tariffs / Re: Cheap Rail Travel in Holland
« on: April 01, 2016, 02:04:21 pm »
NORMal daytickets cost now over 50 eur, or twice the maximum single fare and are valid all day.
These cheap tickets cost from 12-20 eur, and are never valid in the morning peak (before 9.00) and often also not in the evening peak. You have to be quick to get them, but many are resold for slightly higher price via various forums, best known in NL is marktplaats.nl, go to tickets/kaartjes, then trein/bus.
A fairly complete overview of the current ones is on the site treinreiziger.nl, only in Dutch, but easy to find.
So this system makes it quite hard for a normal tourist to get them-you simply have to be at the right time at the right place and know about them.
BTW-I have already told about this before.

4
Train fares and tariffs / Re: train discounts for seniors
« on: April 01, 2016, 02:00:14 pm »
There is just one general overview, this was printed in the magazine Todays Railways, nr 201, from sept.'12. I was closely associated with it and have access to the draft. It was not 100% correct, nor 100% complete and there are also of coruse changes since then.
Its too much to quote all, but the ''best buys'' for EU-coitizens ONLY!! are:
HU-free travel from 65, also on bustrammetro, but suplement for fast train (potdijak) and the obligatory REServation for IC still has to be paid-same for buses. Just show ID.
SK-FREE train travel on ZSR ONLY from 62, but first you must get a customercard, with foto, from any station/desk and then get a free ticket from the counter, for 1 train valid only.
Disocunts of 10/20/25/30/33/40/50% or whatever-may vary with time, day of week, season, line with just ID, from 60/62/63/65/67/70 yrs or whatever are on offer in PL-PKP, FI, FR, DK. BE offers dayreturns for just 6 eur fixed price.
Sometimes you first need to buy a card to get the discount, this may simple be the general discount card-with or without reduction in the price. F.e. in Spain=ES its called Carta Dorada and cost just 6 eur for a full year-% depends on day and train-sort. Quite often the cheap advance fixed booked fares (sparpreis or sparschiene) are even cheaper though.
However, most common on the continent is free, nearly free or reduced travel, also on local bustram, in limited area around home on long-time season tickets, off peak only. Thus this excludes any casual visitor.
ON egtre.info=a kind of wiki for trains or wikitravel for that country there is usually some info on it.
 (Maybe I can try to update this overview and get it posted on this site, as TR has stopped editing its yearly cheap passes/fares booklet).

5
Train fares and tariffs / Re: travel from prague to poprad and back
« on: April 01, 2016, 01:49:39 pm »
And there is even another train-operator on this route, leo express: www.le.cz, which runs a daytime and overnight train as far as Kosice, this train has normal seats only.
On RJet you can book from 2 month before, on le longer time before. Prices are comparable.

6
Train fares and tariffs / Re: Info on Train from Vienna to Bucharest
« on: September 26, 2014, 07:59:10 pm »
give more information, as this does not really makes any sense. You pass through HUNgary, also Schengen member and ROmania accepts anyone with valid Schengenvisum and has the very same rules, as its also EU-member, as for those needing visa to say in Schengen. Also about any Embassy doing Schengen visa suspects anyone wanting that extremely and mostly does not even accept train tickets-only flghts back home.
Anyway ;there is NO solution to what you ask, as you cannot buy such a ticket online. ANY full fare ticket for INternatioanl is quite pricey, is valid for 15 days (now, was 30 till last year) and has full money back, IF it is signed as not used (by a railway official), less maybe a small fee for the work but ONLY from the office where you bought it from. Most non-Euro'simply do not understand how trainticketing works here and thus think its the same as airplanes-well, it is NOT. These tickets are NOT tied to any train-they simply allow you to travel in the period with about any train you choose, with as many breaks as you can fit in, you just pay extra IF you want/need reservations for seat and/or sleeper.

7
also depends on your age: <26 EUrail is 2nd, cl, >26 is for 1st cl and thus more expensive-if you buy normal tix, of coruse you can use 2nd=cheaper.
Also depends if you intend to do various daytrips, there are free on a pass
Also look into the slightly cheaper 4 country pass(but you pass through 5)-DK is transit.
The savings can be much more if you want to use buses-but thats too complicated to write down here.

8
Travel plans, routes and timetables / Re: Tirana to Ljubljana
« on: July 26, 2014, 02:17:25 pm »
in fact I am much more blunt: this is a nonsense journey-you have to spend some 3 out of those 5 days in bus or train.
Trains are often, more as a rule then not. very, very heavily delayed, esp. those via Beograd/Serbije. There are also remains of a heavy storm last spring, destroying tracks in many points.
There is just 1 train left Tir-Shk, late in the afternoon, which means you have to overnight there. BUSes run ev 20./30 mins, minivans (furgon) maybe even more). You need a spy to find out from where they leave though.
Your basic choice in old Yugosl. is via the coast-as far as Split, or inland-via either bweograd or Sarajevo. Along the coast gives you more trips, except direct MOntenegro-Hrvatska (Croatia for you), for SUMMERtime.
Tir to SJ for about 50/60 eur in taxi is damn cheap-I highly doubt if that is indeed feasible-or they mean just 1 out of 5 seats?-and you are left to find 4 more people? Noone around there uses US$-nor should you. Cash € are also taken in many countries that do not use it as official.

9
Train fares and tariffs / Re: TER-GV (near Lille) and NRT ticket
« on: July 26, 2014, 02:09:38 pm »
this supllmt ticket is valid 1 day, not 1 ride
it is pretty common that some trains have surcharges, also for TCV/SCIC-ticketholders.
in SUMMER this region often has many more special promotions, only posted in french on ter-sncf.com, and these may well work out  loads cheaper as that SCIC.

10
very soon-I think from 1/8, FLIXbus.com, one of germanies many new long-distance busoperators, will open a new route Berlin-Praha-Wien. When they open new lines, there are often very cheap promotion fares. Check times, it could replace one of the train legs.
tUt: also meinfernbus, deinbus, city2city and berlinlinienbus have opened a lot of new buslines in DE-and recently also more to neighboring countries. They often now offer the only overnight options.

11
Train fares and tariffs / Re: Singapore to Kuala Lumpur
« on: July 06, 2014, 02:33:27 pm »
If you start in SIN, you pay in SID, IF start in JB-MY- you pay MYR=thats less as half in € or other valuta.
Frankly-its also much easier to start in JB, as the new station is right beside the giant new customs/imigrasi terminal. The Woodlds halt (they have cut back tthe trains from the water side about 2 yrs ago.) is just before the internasional causeway and lacks easy access. Why the heck do you think thats impossible to go to JB?
UNless you are the archetipical UK-trainfreak (but then go to seat61=travel train at whatever the cost), anyone uses the JB stop.
Note that also nice+comfy and less ikspinsif not so comfy Bas ekspress run from JB to KUL about 2 or 3 per hour, incl some (about hourly) coming from SIN, close by downtown. And many more to other towns in MY, via/bypass KUL, all via PLUS-the motor=toll=way.
Take a local bus to JB from the KRANJI metrostop in SIN. You MUST have SID-coins for that. Also direct SJE-SIn-JB-ekspress. Get off at SIN-exitcontrol, keep tiket, use SAME comp. bus onward over causeway-repeat, get off, though you can use another bus into Larkin Terminal BAS.
Seat61 also explains the various possibilties of onlinebooking on KTMB=they all work fine, but you MUST print ticket immediately, as you do not get a later @mail.

12
Sorry to disappoint you, but this is NOT possible in any way. The ticket itself shows NO route and thus ONLY the direct route, or quickest, is allowed. Ticket rules IN NL here are much more strict, though BE is even more strict. You intend to move like zigzag. In fact you MUST change in Arnhem to the direct train to Roosendaal, via Nijmegen-Tilburg, OR in Utrecht and Rotterdam, via Gouda, but you are allowed the full 15 days with breaks on THAT route. Anyone can print whatever he can fumble out of a computer for the traveldetails- and in fact on all routes there are trains 2 or 4 times/hr. but this means nothing.
However; checks here are quite rare and you may well get away with all that-untill you hit someone who really takes a look and will fine you for 35 eur.
After 9/7 also all local tickets here from machines are throw-away smartcards and cost 1 eur more. They do NOT allow any stopover anymore. Most main stations will then have gates and these must be activated by those smart things. On ns.nl you can easily find the cost/the discounts are not for you, as you must hold some kind of personal smartcard for that.
Suggest- stay on ICE till AMS. BUY local ticket AMS/Leiden/GOuda,then re/use the DB till Roosendaal.
You DO have Zugbinding In NL on the sector covered by the ICE, all other trains run like metro without any RES possible. This is other as for most other countries out of DE.
These selfprint DB tickets work exactly the same as the paper tickets from machines in personal sale and have same value/except that extra ID, as noted on it, is needed and may be asked for any time. Dutch controllers have access the the very same machines-system as DB itself. But most are lazy and do not bother/again, untill you hit the unexpected one taking it all very seriously, or who is in training and gets taught the whole lot.
If you do no believe me, post on forum.ns.nl/they will also accept english.

13
On BE domestic tickets, invl specials to Roosendaal/Maastrciht NO break at all is allowed! Not even 1 hr, but normal direct changes are allowed.
They use english to avoid the continuous BE-clashes between the Vlamingen and the Walen for NL/FR
Alas, IN NL bought SCIC/TCV INTernational tickets to BE are ALSO only valid 1 day!! But you can break.
Alternative: buy elsewhere, if possible, and get the usual 15 or 30 days with unlimited breaks. Yes, that cost more, but maybe less as new tickets all the time. SUmmerdeal is NOT for sat_sun and NOT for R'daal, its strictly only domestic.
But then even that 6 eur is quite cheap. If you really want to save, use the direct deLIJN bus Gent-Brugge and to Oostende, thats only 3 eur, but runs less often and takes much longer.

14
state age and when to travel as there may be many more discounts.
I fact it will be IMpossible to buy such a ticket,as NS will not do it and they will only do Rail+ ONLY discount in person-which means an extra 10 eur service fee. Also Rail+ is ONLY for youth and seniors in FR-but they get 25% off anyway during offpeak.
You CAN use SCIC-INT tix on any SNCF train, you just have to make the etxra REServation for TGV etc-just like an INterrailholder would do. Thus they are charged at highest peak fare and that means you loose money when you travel off-peak.
The biggest bargain is to cut off for travel ONLY in BE, as there are many lower prices for domestic there.
Also state if you want train only or are willing to use bus or metro for short stretches.

15
Anyone can drink alco on DB/German trains EXCEPT at some days when it is forbidden and then clearly announced-usually when big footballmatches take place. ad you do not need to hide it in brown bags either etc.
YOu will often see people go around trains and looking for empty cans/bottles, as they have a 25 ct deposit on them.
Munchen is famous for its Beerfestival late sept-and at that time the big station is full of what Germans call ''bierleichen''= beer dead bodies, for people having drunk too much and lying unconscious-till first train in the morning.

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