zooey91

We'll be traveling from the Frankfurt airport to Paris and back. There are very few trains that don't involve transfers, and we'll most likely not be able to make any of them. When I plug in the origin and destination, many of the options (especially those changing in Koln) have about 9 - 10 minutes between arrival and departure.

Isn't that a bit tight? We'll have 22" (or maybe one 22" and one 24&quot bags to store, and will be traveling on 1st class rail passes.

Dukey

Assuming the trains are on time (highly likely) you won't have any trouble, even with luggage, making a ten-minute connection in Cologne.

kerouac

The idea of 10 minute train transfers in Europe always frightens visitors at first, but they quickly discover that it is more than enough time. Sometimes, it is just a question of going from one side of the platform to the other. At worst, you just walk down a flight of stairs (or use an escalator) to go over to another platform which is less than one minute away.

hopscotch

The Frankfurt Paris route is mostly ICE trains. Where you make connections the departing train will probably be parked on the other side of the platform. It will take you no more than 10 seconds to walk across.

If your train is <i>sp&auml;te</i> (late) by 10 or 15 minutes they will probably hold the connecting train for you and other travelers. Ask the conductor.

Be ready with your luggage at the door of your train to jump off and walk to the connecting train. Train stops are typically 2 minutes. If you are still lounging in your seat with your stuff scattered around when your train pulls into a station, you have an immediate problem.

Dukey

I am convinced everyone here is trying to help you and allay fears but with the very <b>greatest</b> of respect for Hopsotch <b>and</b>knowing how some information can easily be misinterpreted....

please do not count on your departing train being &quot;on the next platform&quot; and by no means whatsoever count on anyone &quot;holding&quot; any train because yours was either late or you didn't have your act together and ready for the change.

ira

Hi Z,

Enter your itinerary at www.bahn.de

It will give you the arrival and departure platforms for your connections.

Platforms are almost always numbered

Station: 1....2 - 3....4 - 5...6 - 7...

10 min is not a very tight connection.

Are you sure you need a railpass?
If you have a mailing address in Germany, www.sncf-voyages.com has 97E PREMS fares.

xyz123

I took the trip from Frankfurt Airport to Paris this past June..I had to make 2 connections, one in Manheim the next stop after Frankfurt Airport (that was down and up) and the connection was 12 minutes...not even close. The second connection was at Saarbroken or whatever....in this case the connection was 5 minutes yet the train to Paris was waiting on the adjoining track.

The ICE trains in Germany are very very efficient and rarely late..it was not a problem in the slightest and boy that new section of French TGV track...the train was running at 320 km/hour or 192 mph and we arrived at Gare de l'est exactly on time to the minute! Sure beats flying.

rkkwan

All of the Frankfurt Flughafen - Koln ICE trains arrive at Platforms 4 or 5. Koln - Paris Thalys all depart from Platform 8.

Not familiar with that train station, but there's no reason not to believe those platforms are NOT adjacent to each other. There's also no reason to believe they are not within short walk, so 9-10 minutes are totally fine.

But I read in the OP that they have &quot;bags to store&quot;? That means having to find a locker at the station and store luggage. Now, that's a totally different scenario from just going from one train to another.

zooey91

Thanks everyone. Rkkwan, I appreciate the track info, and I'll check to verify when it gets closer. It'll be good to know that in advance (especially since, on the return, we may have two options, one express and one not).

When I said &quot;bags to store,&quot; I just meant that we may need to put them at the end of the car as they may not fit near our seats (subject of another recent thread).

rkkwan

Oh my god, I use a triple negative in my last post. Bad.

BTilke

We have missed more than a few connections in Germany because trains were late, including ICE trains, due to tight connections. We have since learned to uncheck the &quot;fast connections&quot; button on the bahn.de site and also to research point to point connections (Frankfurt to Koln, then Koln to Paris, for example).
In general, it helps to know the train's starting point. The longer the train's route, the greater the risk of delays. I love taking the ICE from Vienna up to Frankfurt, but on every trip it's been at least 20 minutes late. So I would never pick a connection with less than 30 minutes between trains and esp. for a train that's coming from a long distance.

We've had two particularly annoying missed connections involving Koln. In one, our train arrived in Koln roughly 20 minutes late, so we missed our Thalys connection (and they did NOT hold the train for even a minute!). We went to the ticket office to be rebooked on the next train as Thalys is a compulsory reservation train. The agent sniffed at us, said that since we had missed the train, it was our problem and we'd have to buy new tickets. We then went over to the train info desk at the entrance to the station and explained the situation to the woman there. She was very apologetic and said of course we were entitled to be rebooked on another train at no extra charge. She supervised the rebooking herself.

Even more annoying was an ICE train from Aachen to Frankfurt, connecting to an overnight train from Frankfurt to Italy (through Switzerland). I booked my ticket on the 29th of the month. Apparently the ICE I needed to catch had been canceled days earlier, but they were still booking tickets for it. Several other pax and I waited in vain at the platform (still marked with the train's arrival until about 15 minutes before the canceled notice popped up). We all raced to the ticket booths to be rebooked. The agent was very rude, said it was our own fault for not knowing the train had been canceled (even though they kept selling tickets for it!) and then rebooked me into second class, even though I had a first class ticket. I sat in first class anyway and when the conductor came through, showed him all my tickets and paperwork and he was very nice about, saying that yes, I should have been rebooked into first class.

Anyway, lesson learned. I'd rather cool my heels in Koln for an extra 20 minutes, having a beer or coffee or pretzel from one of the stands than worry about missing my train due to a tight connection.

FYI, If you are in first class, there's a decent first class lounge in Koln. Take the elevator up to track 1, there's an entrace to the lounge there. Has WCs, TVs, and various free drinks.

zooey91

Good to hear another perspective then. The transfer in Karlsruhe is 35 minutes, and gives us more of a buffer at the airport as well, so that may be what makes the most sense on the way out.

Dukey

The station at Karlsruhe is MUCH smaller than the one in Cologne so you won't have any probelms there whatsoever unless the train is running very late.