For short distances, European trains are fast, reliable and frequent. For longer distances they can be preferable to flying for several reasons. Trains have more spacious and comfortable interiors, may offer scenic routes, and do not require long waits at security like at airports. They usually run more frequently as well, and take their travellers to railway stations located in or very close to city centres, whereas airports, especially the ones that budget airliners fly into, can be up to 100 km away from the city centre, requiring expensive and time-consuming connecting services. Ultimately, many people may choose the train over the plane for the feeling of romantic travel they provide.
Trains are flexible in modern day society, the opportunities for destination travel in Europe are endless. Virtually any town larger than about 50,000 inhabitants has a railway station with frequent connections. The towns that aren't served by trains have good bus connections that are normally integrated with the railway system - railway stations normally also serve as hubs for local buses. Transfers are fast and convenient all over Europe; you rarely need to wait longer than 2 hours for a connecting service.
The quality, speed and price of train travel depends on the country, Western European countries generally offering higher speed and more luxurious trains at higher prices than Eastern European countries. When bought on the spot, trains tickets can be more expensive than cheap flights over the same distance, but this difference may disappear when the tickets are booked in advance. Not to forget the costs to get to the airport. Train travel is getting faster every year through the construction of new high speed lines which travel up to 300km/h (190 mph), and upgrading of conventional lines to 200 km/h (125 mph). Especially Germany, France, Belgium and Italy have extensive high-speed networks.
The one problem with rail travel is security. Railway passengers need to be alert about pickpocketing and luggage theft, especially on crowded commuter trains. Since baggage isn't screened, there is also the remote danger of terrorism, though the rarity of such attacks in Europe should not cause worries to the occasional traveller. Another problem with rail is overcrowding. Increasing numbers of commuters in Europe are switching to rail travel to escape congestion on the roads, and it is often impossible to find a seat at rush hours. Overcrowding is especially common in urban agglomerations such as South-East England, Benelux, The Ruhr region, and the Po Valley.
All trains have coach seating or often labeled as 2nd class in the local language. Most long distance trains travelling from one large city to another large city will have first class seating too. In some countries, such as the Netherlands and Germany, trains have so-called "silent" compartments, where you're not allowed to make noise or use mobile phones.
The only trains that have sleepers are trains that will take until the next morning to reach their final destination like the Brussels to Warsaw, Munich to Berlin or the Goteborg to Narvik route.
When planning your trip, Mappy [http://www.mappy.co.uk] is a good online tool for discovering if your hotel is near the train station. Mappy always indicates the location of the station with an engine icon. On other maps the station may be hard to find.
If you can, try booking in advance rather than walking up to the ticket desk on the day of travel. Train fares booked in advance are usually competitive with airlines fare, or cheaper. E.g., return tickets from Edinburgh to London are just __25 if booked in advance, a 75% discount on the walk-up fare of __94. German return tickets are 25% cheaper if booked 3 days in advance, 50% if you stay on your destination over a Saturday night, and up to 5 fellow travellers get another 50% off on top of the advance ticket fare. Three people travelling Cologne-Munich and back could thus pay ?224 rather than ?672 for their entire trip.
Advance booking can be done from home if you want to, through the websites of the national railway companies. For international tickets use the railway website of either country you are travelling through. Compare the fares, as they may differ. Tickets can sometimes be printed at home, they may be mailed to you or made available for collection at a railway station. You will usually be offered the option to reserve seats or sleepers; seats may be free or cost ?2; sleepers are usually ?20. Reserved seats are recommended especially on long trips.
Ticketing in most of Europe is based on a trust system: You simply buy the ticket on the station or online and hop on the train. Once you're on a train, a conductor will come around to check your tickets. Getting on a train without a valid ticket could land you with a fine, but purchasing a ticket on the train is often possible at a higher price. The UK is an exception to this system, where tickets are often required to get on and off the platforms. In some countries you yet need to date stamp your train ticket before boarding. Otherwise, the ticket is not valid and you will be fined (e.g. a ?108 fine in France).
For decades, basic international rail fares have been subject to the TCV (''Tarif Commun pour Voyageurs'' - ''Common Fare for Passengers'') which provided a common basis for calculating fares (normally based on distance) and conditions of carriage (how much luggage you can carry, what you're entitled to if your train is delayed or cancelled, etc). In recent years more and more trains have been introduced whose fares are ''not'' TCV-based e.g. Thalys, CNL, Cisalpino, many of which are "global priced" - you pay the same fare regardless of how far you travel on the train. Global-priced trains are often problematic when you try to use a pass like Eurail or InterRail on them, as they may require you to pay a "passholder" fare to get one of a limited number of seats made available for pass holders.
In France, you can make use of iDTGV [http://www.idtgv.com/] offers, which allow travel on selected high speed routes for as little as ?19 one-way if booked in advance. France offers a 12-25 youth card for 50?, which gives a 50% discount on off-peak trains (25% for peak trains), valid for one year.
If you stay a long time in the Netherlands it might be interesting to get yourself a 40% discount card for 55 euros. It is valid for 1 year and it allows 3 other passengers travelling with you to benefit from the same discount.
In the UK, advance purchase tickets (formerly called Apex or SuperAdvance, and more recently given different names for each operator, but now just called Advance following a simplification in May 2008) are a cheap way of travelling if you can get hold of them and can live with being locked into a specific departure time. They are however sold in very limited numbers and often sell out months in advance. To get the cheapest fare for long-distance travel in the UK you are very strongly advised to book in advance. Advance-purchase fares are available at many different rates in different quantities on particular trains - the cheapest fare may be only 10% of the full unrestricted walk-up fare, and in many cases return (round-trip) tickets may cost only __1 more than a one-way ticket for long journeys, or 10p more for short journeys. It is also possible to buy a 'young persons', 'family', 'senior' and 'disabled persons' railcards, which entitle the holder(s) to a 33% discount. These are available from train stations for __24.00 and are valid for one year. For more information see Rail travel in the UK.
Do consider carefully whether there is any possibility that you may need to travel earlier or later than you booked. If you're making a day trip somewhere, are connecting from a flight, have reason to fear local road traffic or otherwise can't commit to an exact time, ask before booking what the penalties are for missing your train, and how much extra a more flexible ticket would be. If you have a restricted ticket, do take care to get the right train, as if you get the wrong one by mistake you may have to pay a full open single fare, a "penalty fare" or a fine, or you might even be prosecuted. So:
In France, Ireland, Sweden, Portugal, Spain and Norway the Railplus scheme is only for those under 26 years of age. In Belgium, the under-26 version is ?20, while the over-26 card costs ?45 [http://www.b-rail.be/int/E/offers/railplus/].
The RailPlus card also provides a discount on some international ferries - For example Civitavecchia - Barcelona.
To save money on a multiple destination trip you may want to look into purchasing Inter Rail passes (''for Europeans only'') or Eurail passes (''for non-EU citizens/residents''). "Interrailing" is less popular in these days of discount airlines and various affordable air passes, but it remains a uniquely flexible way to travel — you can literally arrive at a city, decide you don't like the look of it, and zoom off on the next train out. This makes it a great way to get a feel for a large region, especially when heading out into the countryside. '''Do not''', however, fall into the trap of traveling so continuously that '''all you see is a blur of railway stations'''.
Rail passes work just like tickets. After validating the pass, the pass holder is free to board any train that does not require reservations and is within the area/countries specified on the pass. Aside from the small reservation fee, the pass holder can get free transit on most trains that require reservations. Note that with these passes, you may still need to reserve seats or sleepers on some trains; on international and high-speed trains, reservations are often obligatory. In eastern European countries Interrail tends to be bad value for money as the local cost of point-to-point tickets is very low.
The previous convoluted zone system has been abolished, and there are now only two basic types:
Extra fees can apply for making reservations, fast trains, couchettes and sleepers. The exact rules vary by country and can be very complex, so ask in advance, but a '''rule of thumb''' is that anything which requires a '''reservation''' in advance (shown with a '''black [R] in a box''' in schedules) will require a surcharge. If travelling overnight, the token fees for couchettes (usually less than ?20) are well worth the price. For fast trains, such as the German ICE and the French TGV supplements are generally under ?5, and occasionally even free. In peak season on popular routes seat reservations are definitely worthwhile.
Also note the one big exception of Inter Rail: '''travel in your home country is not included'''. Most countries do, however, grant a 50% discount for the trip to the nearest border. The same discount also applies if traveling from zone to zone through a country outside the pass.
The actual pass is a booklet the size of an airline ticket, each page filled with rows and columns. The front page will state the validity of the ticket (zones and time) and your personal details, which must match the ID you are using (usually a passport). Using it is very easy: whenever you board a train, write down date and time, where you're going from, where you're going to, seat or couchette, and the train number. When the conductors come to check tickets, show them the pass and they'll (usually) stamp that row. That's it! If you manage to run out of pages — a sign that you're travelling way too much — you can get extra ones added on at any larger train station. Your Inter Rail pass cannot be refunded if lost or stolen, so guard it carefully!
Available combinations are: Austria-Croatia/Slovenia, Austria-'''Czech Republic''', Austria-Germany, Austria-Hungary, Austria-Switzerland, '''Benelux'''-France, Benelux-Germany, Croatia/Slovenia-Hungary, Denmark-Germany, France-Germany, France-Italy, France-Spain, France-Switzerland, Germany-Switzerland, Greece-Italy, Hungary-Romania, Italy-Spain, Portugal-Spain.
The Balkan Flexipass allows unlimited rail travel for 5, 10, 15 days of rail travel in a 1 month period in Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Turkey. You can buy the Balkan Flexipass at trainstations in the countries mentioned [http://www.serbianrailways.com/active/en/home/glavna_navigacija/putnicki_saobracaj/medjunarodni_saobracaj/cene_prevoza_v01.html] (? 51,- for 5 days for youth), or, much more expensive, on the web.
Caveat is that trains in the Balkans are already really cheap and that it only pays off for longer distances. According to some travelers, Balkans Flexipass includes couchette. So for traveling for example, from Novi Sad to Istanbul, this pass is probably your best bet.
'''Select Passes''' are all flexible and offer 5, 6, 8, 10, or 15 travel days in a 2-month period (the 15-days version is only available for 5 countries).
Pricing naturally depends on the exact variation: a flexible 5-day 3-country Youth Select Pass starts at $265, a consecutive 15-day Global Youth pass can be yours for $415, while a "travel as much as you can" consecutive three-month 1st-class pass would set you back a whopping $1789.
There are no Senior rates for Global or Select passes, but '''Senior rail passes''' are sold for specific countries or regions -- France, the Balkans and Scandinavia. These passes are available in 1st-class only, and cost little more than 2nd-class passes.
Prices usually rise every new year to reflect the changes in exchange rate and point-to-point fares, but as passes are generally valid for six months from date of issue to first day of travel, if you got your travel plans fixed it would make sense to buy passes in December, yet travel as late as June of the following year. Passes are 85% refundable if cancelled before being validated, but after validation no refund is available for unused days of travel. Customers are offered an optional ''pass protection'', which allows refund of point-to-point tickets bought within the scope of the pass in case the pass is lost or stolen.
Children under 4 travel free, except if a reservation for a separate seat is requested. Children 4-11 receive 50% off any Adult pass when accompanied by an adult with the same pass.
Passengers with 1st-class passes may travel in second-class compartments at any time. Those with 2nd-class passes can pay the difference (generally 50%) between 1st and 2nd point-to-point fares to upgrade to 1st.
Travel on several types of trains, in particular '''high-speed trains''' such as TGV, Thalys, InterCity Express (ICE), Eurostar Italia, Cisalpino, X2000, AVE and Talgo 200, require pass holders to pay supplements. Eurail passes are not valid on [http://www.eurostar.com/ Eurostar] crossings between UK and France or Belgium, but a discounted '''Passholder Fare''' applies to those with valid railpasses for travel in France or Belgium (departure or arrival country).
'''Reservations''' are mandatory for many express services, and optional on most long-distance trains. Pass holders must pay the reservation fee, although groups of 6 paying adults traveling together get a 30% discount.
Overnight services also charge supplements for a ''sleeper'' cabin of 1 to 3 passengers, or ''couchette'', a bunk-bed compartment for 4 or 6 passengers, or reclined seats (''sleeperettes''). Several ''Hotel Trains'' offer deluxe cabins with en-suite bathroom, meals and other goodies.
Passes must be '''validated''' by a railway agent <i>prior</i> to first day of use. Holders of non-consecutive days passes should mark the date in the appropriate box before boarding a train or ship for the first time each day.
Unlike Inter Rail, there are no limitations regarding the starting country, and there are no discounts for travel outside the selected zones.
Inter Rail X-days-in-Y-days, Eurail Flexipass and Eurail Select Pass holders require use of a travel day for free passage on a ship; traveling at a reduced fare does not require use of a travel day.
For free passage travel, your pass must be valid for ''both'' the countries of departure and arrival; for discounted passage, either country is acceptable.
Always check the daily schedules during the specific week of travel. Some ferries cease operation in the off-season altogether, while others reduce service to one roundtrip daily, from several trips a day during peak season.
Eurail Passes cover border city stations outside their countries as well. For example, Salzburg, Austria is considered a border station of Germany and therefore is covered by Germany railpasses.
A vacant seat is not guaranteed unless you make a reservation.
Travel days are generally counted from midnight to midnight. There is one useful exception: If you board a direct overnight train or ferry after 7 p.m., your travel day will last until midnight the next day.
One-month passes last longer when validated (on any day) within a 31-day month.
Swiss Pass (but not multi-country passes including Switzerland) is valid for all means of transportation, including post bus, lake boats, cable cars and urban transportation. They also allow free admission to many museums.
In general, passes are valid only on trains operated by national rail companies. In some countries (Italy, Spain and Switzerland in particular) you'll find regional or private companies that don't accept Eurail passes.
When travelling, you need to watch your luggage and stay alert. This is true when you're on a train as well. Theft can be comparatively common on metros or trains with a lot of stops in short succession, since this will allow a thief to get off the train quickly. Trains that cover longer distances are usually safer; on high speed trains passengers routinely take laptops on their journeys. Late in the evening and on nights in the weekends, travel in well lit areas of the train and if possible in the same car as the conductor.
Always, report suspicious characters to the conductor and move to a more populated and lit area.