I'm heading back to Germany in June for a short visit, and while checking out train schedules on the DB site today, I thought of a question.

I want to catch a train at FRA. When I enter Frankfurt Flughafen at the DB site, the results I get include starting points of "Frankfurt (M) Flughafen Regionalbf" and "Frankfurt (M) Flughafen Fernbf." I know there's a new station at the Frankfurt airport (I passed through it from Nürnberg in 2007), but I'm not sure which of these names refers to it. I'll be traveling to Nürnberg, then switching trains a couple of times to reach my destination.

The Regional trains will require you to make a change at the Frankfurt Hbf and the Fernbf (Long distance trains) will allow you to travel to Nurnberg without making a change. If you book ahead, you can take an ICE train without a change from the airport for 29 euro.

Thanks, Dutch.

I take it regional and long-distance are just different areas of the same new station at FRA?

Also, looks as if we in the U.S. can now book a seat reservation and get ticketed online. Couldn't do that last time I checked a few years ago. Have you experience with that?

Hi Perak,

I've done online ticketing & reservations at DB a few times -- print the ticket on your computer, and off you go. Works great.

s

These are two different stations. Regionalbahnhof, where the local trains and S-Bahn depart, is underneath Terminal 1. Fernbahnhof is the new station which can be reached with a few minutes walk along a covered bridge/walkway from Terminal 1.

Perak - quokka is right. Just follow the signs at the airport and you should be fine.

I should mention that a problem with booking the cheap fares on-line is that you are restricted to that one specific train. If your flight was delayed, it could cause you to miss your train.

swandav2000, Dutch, quokka: Thanks for the good info. Much appreciated.

quokka, I recall the catching the S-Bahn underneath Terminal 1. That area was still kind of torn up in 2007. I just assumed it had moved, perhaps, to the new terminal area. Nice to know some things don't change. ;-)

Dutch, yeah, I lay awake a bit last night after that realization hit me about late flights. I'd contemplated reserving a seat on an ICE, but that would of course be train-specific. Of course, if I don't, the train could be full, and I'd have to wait anyway.

I'll have to ponder that some more, take a closer look at the skeds.

My flight to Milan in March was delayed almost 12 hours. I was glad I didn't book my train on to SML.

Yikes! Not a good beginning for a trip, scatcat.

I've never been delayed by that much on this flight, but things do happen. You never know.

Besides, I don't mind standing in line for a train ticket ... after sitting in a plane for 10 hours!