Austria Intl. Night Trains

• Q. I placed a booking on your website but received a message saying my booking needs to be reviewed by a Travel Consultant. Why?

  A. Sometimes, certain products within your booking are not available for confirmation at the time of booking and one of our Travel Consultants needs to manually confirm your booking. Once confirmed, we will contact you to advise it has been finalized and issued.

• Q. Do I need to tip the train staff?

  A. Tipping the train staff (other than bar-buffet car waiters) is neither necessary nor customary.

• Q. Can I use more than one credit card to pay for my booking?

  A. Yes. You can enter up to 10 different credit cards for a single purchase. At the time of payment, use the “Add additional card” button to display all credit card options. After entering each credit card’s information, you can modify the amount to be charged to each individual card. You’ll need to make sure that the total charged for all credit cards matches the total of your booking.

• Q. How do I use the bonuses that come with rail passes?

  A. Rail Pass travel bonuses must be redeemed locally.

  There are two types of bonuses. Free bonuses (such as a free airport transfer) require the use of a travel day on your pass. If all travel days have been used on your rail pass you will not be able to take advantage of any more free bonuses. Discount bonuses do not require you to use a travel day, but do require that your pass still be within its validity period. In other words, even if you’ve used up all your days on a pass, you can still claim discounted bonuses as long as the pass validity period has not expired.

  The exception to this rule is the Swiss Travel Pass. Although a discounted bonus doesn’t require you to use a travel day on your Swiss Travel Pass, the pass must still be valid and you must not have used up all your travel days.

• Q. How early should I arrive at the train station?

  A. We advise travellers to arrive at least 30 minutes prior to departure. This allows you time to clear any security checks and locate the platform where your train will be departing. If you are departing from a larger train station (typically a city’s main station) and need to activate your rail pass prior to boarding, you will want to arrive even earlier to make sure you have enough time to get your rail pass activated and avoid doing a luggage-hauling sprint through the station.

• Q. What is the "validity period" of a rail pass?

  A. The validity period of a rail pass is the time period in which you must complete your travels with your rail pass. This period is calculated from the date stamped on the rail pass by the railway official.

  With a flexi pass this period is defined as a certain number of calendar months – typically one or two.

  With a continuous day pass the validity period equals the number of travel days.

• Q. Do you offer e-tickets?

  A. Yes, on certain rail lines. There are two types of e-tickets:
  Print at home and Print at the Station

  Let’s begin with Print at Home e-tickets, of which there are 3 different types.

  The first type of e-tickets are those issued as a PDF’s which will be emailed to you and can be downloaded via a link contained in your Rail Europe email confirmation. You must print the PDF (using a printer) and bring your ticket with you to board the train.

  The second type of e-tickets are those that are individually emailed to you. You must print the email (using a printer) and bring it with you to board the train – this is your train ticket. Each ticket will be in a separate email, so if you booked more than one ticket, please be sure you print all tickets that were emailed to you.

  The last type of e-tickets are those which have a unique e-ticket confirmation code that is printed on your Rail Europe confirmation email. You must provide the e-ticket confirmation code along with your id to the conductor on board the train.

  Next, Print at the station e-tickets!
  You will receive a 6 or 8 alpha-numeric e-ticket confirmation code (also known as a PNR or Passenger Name Record) in your Rail Europe confirmation email, which you then enter into a self-service kiosk at the train station in Europe to print out your actual train ticket.

  Use this e-ticket confirmation code at a self-service kiosk at the train station to retrieve your ticket. Not all rail lines offer these e-ticket options. Once you have selected a ticket on our website, you’ll be able to choose from its available methods of issuance at checkout.

• Q. I understand that some of the train platforms in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Italy now have gates. How do I get to my train?

  A. Many train stations in the Netherlands and the Brussels Airport Station in Belgium now have platforms with entry/exit gates. To enter or exit from the train’s platform, you will need to pass through these gates that are controlled with a bar code reader.

  Most paper tickets and e-tickets and all Eurail Pass covers have a square barcode which can be scanned at the entry/exit point of the platform. Just hold the bar code on your travel document to the scanner on the illuminated area on the gate and pass through the gate.

  Some of the high traffic train stations in Italy, such as Milan Centrale, Roma Termini and Firenze Santa Maria Novella stations now have entry/exit gates. Access through these gates are exclusively reserved for traveller’s holding a ticket. It is suggested that you have your paper or electronic tickets ready to present upon arriving at these security gates.

• Q. Will the conductor take my passport?

  A. Conductors will not take your passport during day trips. If your passport does need to be checked, the local border control staff will simply walk through each train car checking each passengers travel documents and hand them back to you.

  With overnight trips you’ll generally provide the train attendant with your reservation voucher, rail pass or train ticket, and passport as you board. That way, they can take care of everything with conductors and customs officials so you can sleep uninterrupted through the night.

• Q. What are the benefits of registering on the Rail Europe site?

  A. When you register on our site, a wide range of exclusive tools and services become available to you. You will have access your booking details, ability to download your tickets and track your shipping. You will get notifications and alerts concerning your trip. You can save your searches, pages, and itineraries right in your account. And by registering, you will also have the ability to leave a review on your travel experience with Rail Europe.

Browse our FAQ

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 ...