backyardcritters

We got our passes and tickets today from RailEurope that I bought on line. Inside the package, there is a 2005 time table printed in foreign language. When I was trying to find my routes based on the tickets on the timetable, I could not find even one. So, I called its customer service. And I was told that this booklit does not usually print out all routes. And they do not have any other brochures to provide more info. Am I just too picky or is this normal way of running? So all I can rely on before I arrive at each station would be just my tickets. If I had found this forum earlier, I would have not ordered my tickets and passes at RailEurope. So, any suggestions? Should I just relax and wait till when we are there?

sandi_travelnut

that's normal for them, but don't sweat it. What routes are you looking for? You can go to:http://www.trenitalia.it/en/index.html

and print out your times.

Travelnut

You can pull up and print train schedules on any of the rail websites.
I think the German one is easy to use, and it works for any European route, not just German ones.

www.bahn.de

Also:
France - www.sncf.com
Netherlands - www.ns.nl
Switzerland - www.sbb.ch
Italy - www.trenitalia.it/

backyardcritters

Thank you, Sandi and Travelnut, both for your very helpful information. I have printed out my routes.

rex

See my post on http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34528737

Best wishes,

Rex

bob_brown

http://www.railfaneurope.net/links.html
Go to the above site and you will see an icon that leads you to the timetable for every national rail system in Europe.

Some of them may not be in English, but the German, Swiss, French, and Austrian systems have English captions.

I find the Swiss and the German sites to be the easiest to use. The French site is sometimes a little balky, but a good source of information for France.

I find even now that the RE prices for tickets are much higher than they are if the same passage is bought in Europe.

Geckolips

You have received good information. I also asked at the beginning of each train trip for the information services people to please print out the schedule with all the connections for me. We took the train from Garmish to Lucern, with 6 train changes. I wrote in the amount of time between each one so we would know how fast to run between changes! What a hoot! Some we had 5 inutes to run from one end of the train, all the way down to the stairs, under 6 sets of tracks and back up to the next train, and other times we had the luxery of 15 minute. The good thing is there is usally another train along shortly. We did get off at a wrong stop one time, but found a bus going our way and they saved the day. Just relax, you are there for an adventure, right? Happy travels.

Robespierre

You can print out the itinerary of each train trip before you leave home. Go to

<b>http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en
</b>

...and enter your <b>From:</b> and <b>To:</b> stations and the <b>Date:</b> and <b>Time:</b> you are traveling. When the schedule page comes up, choose the trip you want by checking its box at the left and clicking <b>Details for selection</b>. When the details appear, click <b>Show intermediate stops</b> and finally <b>Printview</b>. Print the page.

You will have a list that shows every station you stop at as well as the platforms at stations where you have to change trains.

backyardcritters

Thank you rex,bob and Robespierre for your information. And Geckolips, thank you for sharing your experiences. I am a planner, though not obsessive yet. So I'd like to be prepared as much as I can.

rex

You're welcome.