wsparkman

Ahoy hoy!
We are two students, aged 22 and 20 travelling Germany and would like to use the DB Bahn train system. What kind of identification would be required to do this? We are trying to book online, printable tickets. The day of activation is June 12th. We are aware of the Bahn card, but are unsure of its authority as a means of identification for travelling the railway. Is there a printable version of this available that is acceptable? Will physical documents in time before the trip? If not, can we supply a German address (friend of family) as the recipient of the documents?

THANKS!!!!!!

PalenQ

How many train trips do you envision doing? If more than a few the German Youth Railpass may well be cheaper than a3-4 discounted tickets and let you hop on any train anytime - nothing but your passport needed to prove you are eligible to use the German Pass as Germans themselves are not but foreign tourists can - for lots of great info on German trains and passes and discounted tickets check out these IMO fantastic sources - http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id9.html; www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com - the latter has goo dinfo on discounted tickets - but your can get a youth pass for about $50 a day (5 unlimited travel days to be used anytime over a one-month period) or about 38 euros a day - for fully flexible tickets you need do nothing in advance but hop on any of the zillions of trains running each day between zillions of cities.

wsparkman

We plan on taking three trains in Germany. Kaiserslautern to Munich, Munich to Berlin and Berlin to Amsterdam (Does DB Bahn offer this route?). So nothing more than a passport would be needed to validate online tickets? Are there significant savings in booking early as opposed to same day booking?

Thanks again

wsparkman

Also the DB Bahn website states that an identification card is required to use online tickets, and that a passport does not qualify as identification on the train. This has me slightly confused, as to what I need and how to obtain it.

lavandula

Basically when you buy the tickets you are asked to select a means of identification. It is possible to choose the same credit card you purchased the tickets with, or a passport, and I think Bahn Card is also possible. There are actually a few more choices for ID, but I don't remember them all. When we booked tickets last, even though I bought a Bahn Card I selected a credit card as ID because of the time lag between buying the tickets and Deutsche Bahn sending us the Bahn Card - I was worried that we would leave before our trusty postal service got it to us.

We took out a 'Probe Abo" (test subscription) which just shaved a few euro off the final price of all our tickets, but probably would not have been worth it if we had had fewer trips. If you can book 3 months ahead you get the best ("Spar-") prices, last minute is not so economical.

You can search routes and timings using www.bahn.com . DB does do Berlin to Amsterdam. Have fun!

Lavandula

wsparkman

Awww shucks!!! Thanks all for the wisdom!

lavandula

Sorry, I did not see your last post before posting my response. I am surprised you can't use a passport, I though that was one of about 5 options. Let me check and I will report back.

Lavandula

lavandula

OK, you can use a Bahn Card, a bahn.bonus.card, credit card, EC Card (a European debit card) or your Personalausweis (German personal identification card). This latter one is what I was thinking of - apologies.

Lavandula

Woyzeck

I believe the point of the ID requirement is simply to match you to the online tickets you bring on board with you. It's just a requirement if you buy online and print out the tickets at home. I purchased my tickets with a credit card and simply used that credit card as "ID" when I presented my tickets on board. There's no specific ID requirement for using the train, although I assume you will have your passport with you.

PalenQ

We plan on taking three trains in Germany. Kaiserslautern to Munich, Munich to Berlin and Berlin to Amsterdam (Does DB Bahn offer this route?)>

the discounted non-changeable tickets if available will be cheaper than a pass if that is all yous are going to do - the pass would not cover half the train to Amsterdam as well but the 29 euro cheapo fares will.

LABruin

I was never asked for ID when presenting my German rail pass on the trains. They date stamped it & gave it back to me. Didn't see anyone else showing identification either - just a print out of their ticket.

Cowboy1968

It is more the norm that ID gets checked (most people who have them have to show their BahnCard anyway). If your ticket had been checked on a prior leg of your journey you usually don't have to show ID over and over again as the conductor can see that another colleague has already done that job.

PalenQ

I was never asked for ID when presenting my German rail pass on the trains. They date stamped it & gave it back to me>

If you take enough trains you will be - I have been askewd for my passport several times - not any more than most countries but always carry your passport with you on a train if using a pass restricted to foreign nationals of certain countries.

Heck I was sitting on a platform in Berlin's new Hauptbahnhof when two German cops demanded to see my passport and checked it out for some minutes - and I was not even on a train!

PalenQ

Indeed on my last night train ride, between Amsterdam and Munich I was roused out of my sleep in the middle of the night and taken to the baggage car - yup I was thinking I was a Jew in WW2 - and had every little scrap of my baggage examined for about an hour before being told OK with all my stuff scattered about - yes I am a senior citizen with no record or anything to indicate I was carrying drugs or whatever - but you and your passport can always be checked on Germany trains.

PalenQ

I was never asked for ID when presenting my German rail pass on the trains. They date stamped it & gave it back to me>

If you have a pass be SURE to enter that day's date in ink in the box BEFORE riding the train - not sure is LABear did this or not as once the conductor comes round he will date-stamp it over what you wrote in - but I know of others who left the box blank thinking the conductor would fill in the date - which many will though the rules say clearly that the passenger must enter the date before boarding - one older American GI who served in Germany after WW2 was irate when he presented a pass to German conductors who seeing the box was not filled in with that day's date filled in the box for him AND another box to boot as a penalty they said for not having filled in the date himself before boarding.

So German conductors can be sticklers though most are not and understand a tourist's naivety in most cases but not always!

Cowboy1968

Pal.. what you encountered at Berlin Hauptbahnhof had been the other side of the Schengen compact. While the mandatory border controls had been abandoned, the Schengen agreement gives police the authority to perform random ID checks at any major transport hub (including railway lines, motorways etc).
When you get checked, your data runs thru the Schengen Info System - to check if you ever inhaled - the latter is just kidding , that's not illegal in Berlin ;-)

lavandula

But isn't it also the case that people can be stopped for ID anywhere in Germany - and if you are a citizen you have to show your Personalausweis, and if a foreigner, your passport? I usually carry my passport just for that reason. I don't think this is unreasonable - after all, you do want the police to be able to do their job.

Lavandula

PalenQ

Yes and in France too - anyone can legally be stopped by flics and asked for ID - even foreigners - of course if you are of Arab descent you may more likely be stopped - a bane of French young Arabs them being stopped so so much it has sparked riots at times. I always carry my passport and if hotels demand it I ask for it.

LABruin

I just returned last week.

Berlin ---> Fussen
Fussen ---> Heidelberg
Heidelberg ---> Strasbourg
Strasbourg ---> Frankfurt

All multiple transfers & not once was I asked for my ID. I had it of course so maybe I just got lucky. I did write in my dates of travel on my railpass & the conductor would then stamp over it. I don't think I wrote it in one day. I made a hand gesture for the conductor to stamp it & that's what he did. No angry DB employee cursing at me. Maybe b/c he had seen I had written in my other dates.

lavandula

Just an addendum to the test subscription for BahnCard - I received my BahnCard in the mail about 2 days ago (so it was pretty fast), and if you read the fine print, it says that the test subscription rolls over automatically into a normal subscription (BahnCard 25), if you do not cancel it six weeks prior to expiry. The test subscription is valid for 4 months.

I don't really need the normal subscription, so will be cancelling it after this trip - glad I read all the paperwork.

Oh, and if you do have one, make sure to bring it with you on the trip! The conductor will want to check it.

Lavandula