Hi fellow travelers,

I'm a bit confused about taking the train from France to Switzerland to Italy. Can you help?

1. The "7 p.m. Rule" applies to "overnight trains" only. What is considered "overnight"? ALL trains leaving after 7 p.m.? I leave after 7 p.m. from Interlaken Ost for Spiez, from Spiez to Brig, and from Brig to Venezia. To avoid losing a travel day, do I need 2 separate tickets from the part between Interlaken and Brig, or will my travel day for Brig to Venezia cover that first 2 segments also? I hope this is making sense.

2. I have my Eurail Selectpass and all my reservations. And now I am hearing something about supplements. If I have reservations, do I have to pay a supplement at the station? I am taking D, EN, RB (Switzerland), IC, and ES Italia.

3. I have 5 minutes to transfer at Spiez for my Brig-bound train. I think from platform 2 to 3 (or vice versa). Will I be able to make it, that's the only train that fits my schedule? I'm not sure if the platforms are separated by tracks.

4. Can I use my pass for Paris-Chartres?

5. Any tips on couchettes? How do I make sure that I don't miss my stop but not having to stay up the whole night worrying? Do the conductors wake you up or should I bring my alarm (having to wake everyone else up in the meantime)?

6. How can you tell if the "conductor" asking to keep your passport during a night train journey is really a conductor?

7. If I overnight into Interlaken, it would be the next travel day on my pass. Can I use that same travel day for the steamboat on Brienzersee?

I'm genuinely confused. Chances are, things will make sense once I'm there. But it would be a relief to know now.

Thanks in advance for your input!

You have enough time at Spiez. Swiss trains run like Swiss watches.

I am afraid you cannot rely on a couchette conductor to wake you, so need an alarm clock. But a sleeper conductor will wake you. There is a note on getting the best from sleepers and couchettes at http://www.twenj.com/tipsnighttrains.htm/.

Conductors are in uniform, and start by checking your reservation before you board. It would take some effrontery to act a conductor in the car where the real conductor has his or her kingdom.

I am afraid I do not know Eurail rules.

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I don't travel overnight on trains, so can't answer the couchette/passport questions (although I would hope the conductor had official ID and they always have uniforms, etc).

I know your pass is good from Paris to Chartres, as that is a regular French rail line.

Overnight trains are trains that travel past midnight. I don't think you'll find trains arriving in places at 2-3 am too much, overnight trains usually are scheduled so they don't arrive some place until at least 6 am or so. So a train leaving at 11 and arriving at 7 would be overnight. That 7 pm rule means a travel day starts at 7 pm, so if you take a train from 8 pm that doesn't arrive until 8 am, you are getting only one travel day marked -- the day of the morning arrival. It's like having a 29 hour day.

I don't know about the supplement thing as I've only used passes on French trains and they don't have any supplements other than the reservation fee.

I have never slept in a couchette, but imagine you won't have trouble waking up for the first daytime stop (if you ever can sleep). I wouldn't depend on a conductor to make personal wake-up calls, though, just for you. I have slept overnight on a train, but not in a couchette, and I was up at the crack of dawn (after little sleep). The conductor didn't wake people up, though. I'd say one can't expect privacy in a couchette, so set an alarm if you want (do you have an alarm watch? that would be good).

For Christina: When you were not woken, were you in a sleeper or a couchette ? My experience is that sleeper conductors wake me.

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Hi mu,

>If I have reservations, do I have to pay a supplement at the station?<

If you have both your railpass and an additional document that lists your train, car and seat you have everything that you need. It's all been paid for.

Ben - The twenj website no longer exists.

Kybourbon: Many thanks for telling me.

Please is there any Fodors forum user who keeps a web site, and who can be so kind as to offer me pace for this note on getting the best from couchettes and sleepers in Europe ? I should ask them to change the text about once a year.

Meanwhile, I shall be glad to e mail the note to people who ask me to.

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Ben - There was a thread last week about the Twenj site and someone said it could be retrieved through www.archive.org The thread had Ed and Julie in the title not Twenj.

I have captured the "tipsnighttrains" text that you authored for twenj.com (from a google.com cache) and moved it to my geocities.com web "site". I'll e-mail you and tell you how to access it.

You may have to re-work it a little bit, but it is most of the framework, as you wrote it.

Best wishes,

Rex

Rex: That is good of you, and I hope helpful to other users.

Ben haines

Couchette carriages have an attendant just the same as sleeping cars. When the attendant checks your ticket, he or she will normally ask what time you want to be woken. It is part of his job to make sure that you get off at the right stop. You may be sharing the compartment with up to five other people so, if you have to leave the train early in the morning, make sure your shoes and luggage are handy so that you can find them without disturbing the other people. Usually in each compartment, there is at least one passenger who is familiar with couchettes and can help if you have any problems.

muimei,

What they will do is: After 7 PM, if your pass hasn't been punched/marked for that evening's date, they will punch/mark your Eurailpass for the following day. So, even though you would be changing trains, I think you will be OK with the "7 PM" rule. You will, of course, be committed to using the pass for the following day of travel (trains or steamboats).

I would avoid the couchettes, or certainly the 2nd class ones (6 bunks to a small cabin -- ugh.) The Swiss trains have seats comfotable enough for a snooze, especially the overnight trains (some cabin seats even recline horizontally with the opposite seat). If you ask the conductor, they will make a point of waking you for you stop.

Modest supplements are required on some EN and ES trains, but are usually collected with your (often required) reservation.

Five minutes at Spiez will be at least four and not more than six -- plenty of time, even if you have to take an underpass.

For Mr Hamer,

Our experiences differ. In the past four years I think I have seen a drop in couchette staffing, and rise in couchette attendants who cover two cars each. But I have tended to take sleepers recently, and may be outdated, so if just one reader here will agree that each couchette car has an attendant then I will return to giving my old advice, which was your advice.

Ben Haines