Trains in Germany

[fmarin]

I have just been to Germany for a few days and spent the weekend in Frankfurt. Following the advice of a friend, I went to Heidelberg, for which I took a train.

At Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof I checked the price of the trip in the machines and the price with ICE was 196 euros for all of us, four people (49 euros per person). From another trip to Germany I remembered that there was a special ticket for groups up to 5 people. So, I asked and they told me that it doesn't apply to ICE tickets.

By chance, a very kind person at the railways station suggested to try with regional trains instead of ICE. The time was just 20-25 minutes more and there was no change (direct train Frankfurt-Heidelberg). When I checked it, I was shocked because the price was 36 euros (for the entire group!). So, we saved 160 euros!!

I just wanted to leave this comment because maybe it is useful for other people too.

Regards from Spain,

Francisco Marin

[Sprachprofi]

Thanks for sharing!

The ICE indeed means an expensive surcharge. It's only worthwhile when you're going long-distance - for example Chuck went to an Esperanto new year's party in Xanten, Nordrhein-Westfalen one year. He traveled all the way from Heilbronn (near Heidelberg) by regional train, because he used this 5-person ticket with a couple friends, and that took him more than 7 hours with several changes in between. With the ICE, it would probably have been 4 hours. Note that you could also check if the same connection is served by an IC train. IC trains are still more expensive than regional trains, but not as expensive as ICE trains. In exchange they are not quite as fast (probably 5 hours Heilbronn-Xanten) and they don't have electricity at the seats.

At some point you have to decide how much your time is worth to you.

Flying is not really an alternative within Germany, because if you factor in the waiting times, the ICE is just as fast as a flight.

[ktnagel]

The trouble is, the german train company (Die Bahn) is struggeling for survival.,
so they are cutting off service wherever possible (and even impossible).

You'll be much better off if you either look on the website of the Bahn (www.die-bahn.de),
or maybe aks at a travel agency.

Regards from Unna,
Thomas Nagel

(using the german train every day