Examples of trains that pass through other countries without stopping and without formalities

[Tester]

Did Austria not also pay for the South to East curve at Rosenheim - used almost exclusively by Austrian transit traffic between Kufstein and Salzburg?

That is indeed correct, and well worth their while.

 

[Taunton]

I think the thing with East Berlin was that the East didn't mind Westerners coming and spending their plentiful money there, it was all about stopping their own people escaping to the West. Thus while no doubt if you pulled the cord and opened the doors at one of those stations you'd get more than a bit of a stern telling off, the main reason the guards were present was to ensure no East residents could board the trains.

There was a huge hoo-hah about Westerners going into the East, in particular if taking your car (which I did in 1984), which required visas from both the GDR and Poland, and having in the car one Brit and one American only doubled everything. in London, Poland would not give me a visa until I had a transit one from the GDR, and on applying to the GDR they of course wanted a Polish one first as that's where were were going .

The former arrangements in Berlin would take a book to describe, and that's what the travel agency Cooks actually published, written by the editor of Cooks Continental Timetable. Two of the U-Bahn lines now passed in tunnel under a salient of East Berlin, Line 8 ran nonstop there with all the stations closed and guarded, while Line 6 stopped at Friedrichstrasse, and this was actually a principal way to get between the two halves of the city, with the controls above in the surface buildings. As already described here, there was a GDR shop, an "InterShop", down on the platform which sold all sorts, mainly slightly cheaper (western) cigarettes, those in West Berlin could just get out, shop, and get back on a next train, I think it was the first such but such shops then spread out in the city, in major hotels etc, and had a good range of items, western currency only. I bought many elements of my trusty old Praktika film camera there (made in the GDR in the old Zeiss camera factory), they had all the attachments.

 

[The exile]

Two of the U-Bahn lines now passed in tunnel under a salient of East Berlin, Line 8 ran nonstop there with all the stations closed and guarded, while Line 6 stopped at Friedrichstrasse, and this was actually a principal way to get between the two halves of the city, with the controls above in the surface buildings.

I was very surprised to discover on my first visit post-Wende that Friedrichstrasse surface station had a triple arched train shed. The GDR S-Bahn section of the station was so well sealed off from the rest that I hadn’t realised it was there!

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

The annoying thing about getting a day visa for East Berlin is that you had to change a certain amount of DMs for Ostmarks on a 1:1 basis - the 'normal' rate was far more advantageous of course. It became quite difficult to find things to spend Ostmarks on - I still have some in drawer somewhere I think.

 

[Taunton]

The annoying thing about getting a day visa for East Berlin is that you had to change a certain amount of DMs for Ostmarks on a 1:1 basis - the 'normal' rate was far more advantageous of course. It became quite difficult to find things to spend Ostmarks on - I still have some in drawer somewhere I think.

There were a good number of quite decent restaurants and bars in East Berlin, where although they were well used to visitors most patrons seemed locals. I actually used to spend more than the minimal daily allowance in them - you could change additional currency in any InterShop.

 

[The exile]

There were a good number of quite decent restaurants and bars in East Berlin, where although they were well used to visitors most patrons seemed locals. I actually used to spend more than the minimal daily allowance in them - you could change additional currency in any InterShop.

On my only visit it would have been impossible to eat my way through the 25M minimum. I needed more however as I got one if the best seats in the Opera House. You could change back anything over the minimum but I missed the booth on the way out and had to ask quite well through the process. I was then escorted back to the booth and back again to where I had got to - avoiding the checks the second time, which certainly turned a few heads!

 

[mountainpixel]

Doubt if those are real corridor trains as the parallel S-bahn trains do stop at the German stations.

The direct trains used to be sealed before Schengen. So no person could alight or board illegally.

Today you don't enter Germany as long as you are "in transit" and it does not matter if you take a direct or stopping train. You only enter Germany when leaving the train. Otherwise, this would create a huge hassle, for example when having stuff on you that would not be legal or require documentation to take across the border.

It fits every definition of a corridor train.

 

[geoffk]

Until the late 50s, the Bundoran Express linked Dublin with the seaside resort of Bundoran in Co. Donegal. Partition had resulted in the line crossing an international border, and, to avoid the stops for customs, the Express ran non-stop through Northern Ireland.

 

[AdamWW]

Today you don't enter Germany as long as you are "in transit" and it does not matter if you take a direct or stopping train. You only enter Germany when leaving the train. Otherwise, this would create a huge hassle, for example when having stuff on you that would not be legal or require documentation to take across the border.

It fits every definition of a corridor train.

I'd be interested to know where this is documented so passengers know where they stand (or, with luck, sit).

I must say I'd just assumed that it did formally enter Germany and if that might cause someone trouble it would be their problem.

Historically, I believe Canada had trains running through Maine as "corridor trains" (I don't know a better term for it than that in English).

 

[etr221]

Something not mentioned are the DB (formerly Baden StB) lines into/through Switzerland, at Basle (Basel Badischer Bf is a DB Station) and Schaffhausen - parts of the Baden (German) network in the 'wrong' country. I understand that at Basel Bad, the ticket barrier included frontier formalities, and as long as you didn't leave the station, you were regarded as staying in Germany. While cut-off lines were built for both to enable through freight traffic (military in particular) to avoid transiting Switzerland, my understanding is that passenger traffic has normally always gone on the main line through Switzerland. The German Schaffhausen avoiding line - the Wutachtalbahn - is quite spectacular with some steep grades, and was retained at NATO request until quite recently, and part (the most spectacular bit) is now a preservation operation. There are several other bits of railway in that area that are owned by the 'wrong' national railway (Jestetten previously mentioned is on an SBB line).

There was a Polish corridor train (don't think it still runs) from Zagorsk/Kroscienko to Malowice/Przemysl via Khyriv in Ukraine (formerly Khirov in the USSR). I did it in the 1980s when it was still steam worked. The USSR border was quite as much an iron curtain (even against their socialist brothers) as those further west! We stopped just into the USSR to pick up an 'escort' of Soviet border guards for thrun through - apart from those on the loco, there was a smartly dressed officer who came the train, checking papers/passports (he might have had a chat, but we had no common language), and some well wrapped up men in fatigue uniforms - four of whom stood in the (open) doorways at each corner of the passenger coaches, to spot anyone jumping off, with a fifth as a spare in case one fell off...

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

There were a good number of quite decent restaurants and bars in East Berlin, where although they were well used to visitors most patrons seemed locals. I actually used to spend more than the minimal daily allowance in them - you could change additional currency in any InterShop.

I was of rather limited means in those days, so the compulsory exchange each day blew up my budget. Still I'm very glad that I did it - it was a very exciting and memorable holiday with just a hint of menance! I also did the 'corridor' trains from West Germany - inbound Hamburg to Berlin and outbound Berlin to Munich via Hof. Little did I think that just a few years later the wall would come down.

 

[DanielB]

Another curiosity was the line from Tiburg (Netherlands) to Turnhout (Belgium) which closed in 1973. In the Dutch town of Baarle and environs there are numerous Belgian exclaves which consist of just a street or even a few houses - the railway passed through Belgian territory no less than five times in a short distance. It is now a cycle path. I always wondered what happened in WW1 when the Netherlands were neutral and Belgium was in German occupation.

According to the Dutch wikipedia the line was fenced off at the border during WW1. In Baarle there are still Dutch buses crossing through Belgium by the way without stopping. This nowadays also applies to bus route 19 which crosses through Belgium to get from Hulst to Roosendaal.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Oct 2025 ==

I'd be interested to know where this is documented so passengers know where they stand (or, with luck, sit).

I must say I'd just assumed that it did formally enter Germany and if that might cause someone trouble it would be their problem.

With a through train you formally don't enter Germany, with a stopping train you do. Wikipedia provides a link to the law in German in which this is documented.
As visible on the linked page, there is even a Swiss customs checkpoint (for written declarations) at Jestetten station.

 

[AdamWW]

With a through train you formally don't enter Germany, with a stopping train you do. Wikipedia provides a link to the law in German in which this is documented.
As visible on the linked page, there is even a Swiss customs checkpoint (for written declarations) at Jestetten station.

Fascinating. Thanks.

 

[MarcVD]

Somebody mentioned examples at the russian/khazak border. There were dozen examples of that, scattered everywhere on the ex Soviet territory. Republic boundaries in USSR were mainly administrative divisions, no special papers or authorizations were needed to cross them. Railway lines were built with no regards whatsoever for those borders. But that suddenly mattered when those republics became independent countries. Where relations between bordering countries were good, like on the example cited above, arrangements were made. No double entry visas required, etc. Otherwise it sometimes became very complicated, as countries would use right of passage as bargaining power with their neighbors. That was particularly the case in the Stans, where borders are sometimes quite intricate and enclaves/enclaves abound. Uzbekistan, for example, was left with a network made of five totally isolated sectors, that could be joined together only by going through neighbor countries. It took them 30 years to build the missing links - sometimes in very difficult terrain - needed to reunite their network. Today there is still a line from Samarkand to the ferghana Valley going through Tajikistan. And several Tajik, Kyrgyz, and even Afghan cities are only served by rail lines that come from Uzbekistan.

 

[Cloud Strife]

I understand that at Basel Bad, the ticket barrier included frontier formalities, and as long as you didn't leave the station, you were regarded as staying in Germany.

There were no ticket barriers, but access to/from the "German" part of the station involved passport control and customs controls. It worked exactly the same way at Basel SNCF too: access to the French side of the station was only possible by going through passport and customs controls. These days, the same arrangement still applies: you can stay within the German or French customs territory if you want, or you can cross over into the Swiss customs territory.

The customs line is well marked in both cases, just as it is in Geneva station.

As already described here, there was a GDR shop, an "InterShop", down on the platform which sold all sorts, mainly slightly cheaper (western) cigarettes

They weren't just slightly cheaper, but quite a bit cheaper., despite West Berlin having lower taxes than West Germany. They made a lot of money from these shops at the borders, and while I'm not sure of the exact pricing, there are reports from the 80s that prices were around 50-75% cheaper than in West Berlin. The West Berlin Zoll knew about people buying there, and they would often get on at the first station after the border to check people, or they would wait at the exit from the first station in West Berlin to check them there. The goods in the Intershops (both at border crossings and in-country) were tax and duty free, even for East Germans buying there, although they clearly made a good profit from whatever was being sold for hard currency.

Interestingly, while some things like alcohol and cigarettes were much cheaper, they were gouging people on other things. Computers were a brilliant example: the Commodore 64 was being sold in East Germany at a large markup compared to the same thing in West Berlin.

You could change back anything over the minimum

One interesting sidenote is that you could 'bank' whatever wasn't spent as well. It wouldn't absolve you from the currency exchange next time, but it was one way of not falling foul of the currency exporting rules. My father used to exploit this quite repeatedly: he would go to East Berlin, do whatever he wanted there, but first he would 'bank' the currency exchanged. In fact, he would carry in 25 Ostmarks for the specific purpose of depositing in the Staatsbank, so that the 25 Ostmarks that he was forced to obtain would be spent on whatever he wanted. No-one ever cottoned on to this, because he always deposited the money in a normal bank rather than at a border crossing. His theory was that perhaps they could be spent on something.

When the Wall fell and currency union came about, he ended up with several thousand DM from all his visits there.

I don't think the concept really applies any more within Schengen and the EU customs area, because there aren't really any immigration formalities to complete (unless temporary ones are in force). Thus it's in effect just a domestic train service.

Strictly speaking, the concept does still exist in some places. For instance, the corridor trains between Liberec and Zittau are an example: the trains never enter Poland from an immigration or customs perspective. So, someone banned from Poland can still use these trains, whereas they couldn't use a train that stops at Krzewina Zgorzelecka.

 

[Gordon]

On another thread (amid confusion on the meaning of the term "cabotage", which doesn't mean this) there was mention of Korridorzuege - "corridor trains" - whereby a train passes through another country between two points in the first country without immigration formalities because there are no stops for boarding or alighting (though little would stop the use of the door release if stopped at a signal).

On another thread (amid confusion on the meaning of the term "cabotage", which doesn't mean this) there was mention of Korridorzuege - "corridor trains" - whereby a train passes through another country between two points in the first country without immigration formalities because there are no stops for boarding or alighting (though little would stop the use of the door release if stopped at a signal).

While Schengen makes it a bit moot, trains from western Austria to Wien pass through Germany in this way.

Also what is the correct English term for it?

There has been an awful lot of detail given in responses to your question but, put simply, in the majority of cases Corridor trains (the simple English term) exist(ed) where country borders changed for political reasons after the railways were built. The classic European examples have been listed above, ie lines which when built were wholly within one country but aftermath of geopolitical change altered the boundaries.

The most obvious examples were Austria/Hungary line east of Wien which were all within the Austro Hungarian empire when built and the lines on the borders of present day Poland. The railways down the Oder/Neisse river axis were wholly in Germany when built and the line mentioned above Poland to Poland via Chyrow (Ukraine) was wholly in Poland when built


.

 

[izvor]

Many thanks @stadler for your interesting list of these oddities. I can think of several more, but being historical they are rather off-topic.

One minor correction:

Simarly there is the line from Divaca (Slovenia) to Pula (Croatia) which is yet another example sort of similar to the Luxembourg one. The line in Croatia here is completely isolated from the rest of the Croatian railway network. It is mostly served by Slovenian trains.

The isolated passenger service is operated by Croatian railways. One summer-only weekend train runs across the border, operated by Slovenia.

 

[The exile]

Although Schengen may have rendered many of the formal legalities moot, there must still be regulations to cover events such as a death in the train occurring or a crime being committed while in transit. Being by nature in border areas there is likely these days to be a great deal of cooperation between police forces but it does somewhere have to be laid down which jurisdiction applies (and in what circumstances).

 

[Golghar]

But one of these allowed those nasty capitalist westerners-with their precious hard D-marks!- to alight and buy cheaper stuff (alco+tobacco mostly) at the ´INterShop´. As border as such was not recognised, there were thus also nu customs checks coming back in the west.

The GDR used to permit persons arriving at Berlin-Schönefeld airport, which was situated in the GDR proper outside the city limits of Berlin, to transit to West Berlin via the Friedrichstrasse station. In the 1980s as anxieties about unauthorised entry into West Berlin grew ID checks were introduced in the U- and S-Bahn trains transiting through Friedrichstrasse. As Berlin was still formally under Allied occupation it was compulsory for all persons to carry an id, though most of the time this wasn't enforced. The checks were carried out by West Berlin police. At the same time custom spot-checks started too, especially for passengers alighting at Anhalter Bahnhof from southbound trains.

 

[mountainpixel]

I'd be interested to know where this is documented so passengers know where they stand (or, with luck, sit).

I must say I'd just assumed that it did formally enter Germany and if that might cause someone trouble it would be their problem.

You're right, I think I interpreted the law wrong. You enter Germany but are excluded from any formalities unless you break German law. Which is something you would do if transporting that would not be considered legal in Germany or requires special documentation.

This also seems apply to the direct RE and IC not only the S9. Which in case of the direct train is kinda ridiculous and no one in their right mind would get proper Schengen documentation when traveling to Schaffhausen. Chances of being checked are zero too.

Although it could be all wrong. Take this with a grain of salt.

 

[AdamWW]

Although Schengen may have rendered many of the formal legalities moot, there must still be regulations to cover events such as a death in the train occurring or a crime being committed while in transit. Being by nature in border areas there is likely these days to be a great deal of cooperation between police forces but it does somewhere have to be laid down which jurisdiction applies (and in what circumstances).

Or you just have no special rules at all - if a train crosses into another country and back that's exactly what it does.

Which is how I assumed it worked.

I can imagine edge cases where this could cause trouble (like someone without the right to leave the country, Schengen or no) but in practise I suspect it's not something that would be likely to actually cause trouble.

 

[The exile]

Or you just have no special rules at all - if a train crosses into another country and back that's exactly what it does.

Which is how I assumed it worked.

I can imagine edge cases where this could cause trouble (like someone without the right to leave the country, Schengen or no) but in practise I suspect it's not something that would be likely to actually cause trouble.

The situation that occurred to me is the following (we’ll assume the Austrian transit route via Germany as its long enough for incidents to arise):
Are Austrian police officers authorised to carry and if necessary deploy firearms on Austrian territory? Yes.
On German territory without special agreement - AFAIK no.
Two Austrian police officers on duty are travelling by train from Kufstein to Salzburg. As the train crosses the border an incident occurs which would warrant the drawing of firearms - are they permitted to or not. I don’t know the answer - but the mere fact that the question arises means it would require an agreement / treaty to cover it.

 

[A S Leib]

The situation that occurred to me is the following (we’ll assume the Austrian transit route via Germany as its long enough for incidents to arise):
Are Austrian police officers authorised to carry and if necessary deploy firearms on Austrian territory? Yes.
On German territory without special agreement - AFAIK no.
Two Austrian police officers on duty are travelling by train from Kufstein to Salzburg. As the train crosses the border an incident occurs which would warrant the drawing of firearms - are they permitted to or not. I don’t know the answer - but the mere fact that the question arises means it would require an agreement / treaty to cover it.

I think in Baarle-Nassau/Hertog Belgian and Dutch police patrol together so at least somebody has jurisdiction whichever side of the border they're on; I don't know if that's the case for any of the railway examples.

 

[The exile]

I think in Baarle-Nassau/Hertog Belgian and Dutch police patrol together so at least somebody has jurisdiction whichever side of the border they're on; I don't know if that's the case for any of the railway examples.

May well be - but the point is that special arrangements still have to be made for such corridor trains despite the advent of Schengen that means the travelling public is now barely aware of their significance.
Or, to reverse the position - if there are no special agreements / arrangements, then it isn’t a Korridorzug!

 

[riceuten]

The line from Serbia into Montenegro briefly goes through Bosnia-Herzegovina

This geographical anomaly (the town of Štrpci) was the scene of a gruesome occurrence during the Balkan wars - the Belgrade to Bar train was much used by people going on holiday on the Montenegrin coast. On 27th February 1993, a group of uniformed men entered the office of the Štrpci railway station and demanded - with menaces - that the Belgrade to Bar train be stopped. They entered the train and abducted 20 passengers after checking their IDs - 19 of whom were Bosnian Muslims. The victims were trucked to the a house in Mušići, where they were shot dead. The reason for this was that the short strip of railway land was in "Republika Srpska", a lawless enclave run mainly by militias, where simply not being a Serb was reason enough to kill you.

Štrpci massacre - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

There's a short film dramatising the incident, which won the Short Film Palme d'Or at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

February 1993: Štrpci, Bosnia. Paramilitaries stop a passenger train and arrest civilians. Of the 500 or so passengers, only one man puts up resistance. This film tells the true story of the man who would not remain silent.

The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent | FULL FILM | ARTE.tv Culture
Available until 14/11/2025

The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[The exile]

I also did the 'corridor' trains from West Germany - inbound Hamburg to Berlin and outbound Berlin to Munich via Hof. Little did I think that just a few years later the wall would come down.

Pedant hat firmly screwed on, but as it’s the topic of the thread- the Transit trains to West Berlin weren’t true Korridorzuege as passengers were subject to East German controls.

 

[ABB125]

The line from Rogatec (Slovenia) to Hromec (Croatia) crosses the border an incredible fifteen times. That is fifteen border crossings within about ten minutes. This railway line goes from Slovenia to Croatia to Slovenia to Croatia to Slovenia to Croatia to Slovenia to Croatia to Slovenia to Croatia to Slovenia to Croatia to Slovenia to Croatia to Slovenia to Croatia all within a space of around ten minutes or so. This line has seven separate sections of Slovenian railway that are disconnected from the rest of the Slovenian network and seven separate sections of Croatian railway that are disconnected from the rest of the Croatian network. With fifteen border crossings it must hold the world record for the most amount of times that a train crosses the same border.

Though many of those crossings are incidental, for only a few meters at a time. You have to wonder why they didn't make the border follow the railway slightly more cohesively...

 

[35B]

Though many of those crossings are incidental, for only a few meters at a time. You have to wonder why they didn't make the border follow the railway slightly more cohesively...

Because the aftermath of WWI and the collapse of the central European empires was not a good time for that?

 

[Nottingham59]

Though many of those crossings are incidental, for only a few meters at a time. You have to wonder why they didn't make the border follow the railway slightly more cohesively...

Depending on when it was built, the line was entirely within Yugoslavia, or before that entirely within the Austro-Hungarian empire. What is now the border was a minor local administrative division, I guess.