Hungarian/Slovakian/Czech Haulage

[burns20]

I'm travelling throughout the above countries in March and it would be good to know what sort of units or loco haulage I will be getting. My route is as follows;

IC655 Budapest-Szerencs
R5224 Szerencs-Satoraljouihely
OS8810 Slovenske Nove Mesto-Kosice
R604 Kosice-Poprad Tatry
OS8112 Poprad Tatry-Strbske Pleso
OS8013 Strbske Pleso-Strba
R606 Strba-Zilina
EC120 Zilina-Valasske Mezirici
OS3104 Valasske Mezirici-Kojetin
R840 Kojetin-Brno
R660 Brno-Jindrichuv Hradec
OS208 Jindrichuv Hradec-Obratan
OS18430 Obratan-Tabor
R646 Tabor-Benesov u Prahy
OS2536 Benesov u Prahy-Cercany
OS9014 Cercany-Praha Branik
R1144 Praha Vysocany-Tanvald
OS16236 Tanvald-Liberec

Any help would be appreciated

 

[Zamracene749]

The Czech and Slovak train compositions should be on

http://www.zelpage.cz/

HTH

 

[Railjet]

I'm travelling throughout the above countries in March and it would be good to know what sort of units or loco haulage I will be getting. My route is as follows;

IC655 Budapest-Szerencs

Can only say this will be electric loco-hauled (with about 6 coaches). Interestingly, you will see it advertised on the departure boards at Budapest Keleti (and on the side of the train) as the IC to Budapest Nyugati. This train covers a distance of about 310 miles (via Szerencs and Debrecen) from Keleti to Nyugati, which are about 2 miles apart as the crow flies.

R5224 Szerencs-Sátoraljaújhely

This may be loco-hauled or may be some cruddy dilapidated railcar effort (diesel on this stretch). This is a poor part of Hungary, but the scenery is beautiful and if you like wines you should plan in a side trip to the wine-cellars in the village of Tokaj (about 10 miles from Szerencs - the IC from Budapest stops there).

 

[burns20]

Thanks guys for the posts.

Sadly we won't have time to visit the vineyards as we are on a tight schedule as we're doing the childrens railway in the morning

Budapest Keleti Pu 1130
Szerencs 1356

Szerencs 1413
Satoraljouihely 1509

Walk from Satoraljouihely to Slovenske Nove Mesto

Slovenske Nove Mesto 1602
Kosice 1706

One concern I have is that I will be travelling by interrail and my mate is buying individual tickets, is the Reservatio for the IC to Szerencs really needed?

 

[Railjet]

One concern I have is that I will be travelling by interrail and my mate is buying individual tickets, is the Reservatio for the IC to Szerencs really needed?

Yes, it is essential (for both of you) or you could be fined. You can buy it at the station on the day.

Tip: instead of going to the MAV ticket office (where there are often long queues), you can try the Wasteels travel agency on platform 9 at Keleti, next to the buffers (number 12 on this plan). They sell domestic tickets and reservations at the counter on the far left as you go in the door.

Otherwise, if you are in Budapest the day before, MAV has a ticket office (open Mon-Fri 09:00 - 18:00) in the centre of town (József Attila utca 16, 1051 Budapest) which is usually deserted.

 

[burns20]

We don't arrive at Keleti Pu till around 7pm the day before on the 24 Tram from Nagyvarad Ter, (Farce of getting from the Airport to our hotel at Keleti Pu involving 200E bus, metro and then 24 tram) will the booking office be open then? And will we be able to buy reservations the day before?

 

[Railjet]

We don't arrive at Keleti Pu till around 7pm the day before on the 24 Tram from Nagyvarad Ter, (Farce of getting from the Airport to our hotel at Keleti Pu involving 200E bus, metro and then 24 tram) will the booking office be open then? And will we be able to buy reservations the day before?

Yes, you can buy the reservations at any time. The MAV ticket office at Keleti station is open 24 hours according to their website.

From Airport to Keleti: I would not advise the route you suggest. For a start, you will require three tickets. These are HUF 320 if bought in advance (I'm not sure where you can buy at the airport - I think there is a ticket machine which might only take coins) or HUF 400 if bought from the driver. There are other ticket options if you buy at a ticket office.

The alternative is to use the 200E bus, then the metro all the way, changing at Deak ter for Keleti. This will be quicker than your route (the 24 tram is very unreliable), and you will need one ticket for the bus, and only one ticket for the metro (you do not need a new ticket to change lines, although this used to be the case). There is a transfer ticket which allows you to change once between bus/tram/metro, but I don't think you can buy this at the airport.

Alternatively, and not much more expensive, there is a new bus service direct from the Airport to Keleti, although it is not well advertised. It is called the Airport Express Bus operated by a company called Weekendbus, which is why some people get confused. It runs at :00 and :30 from Terminal 2, and :08 and :38 from Terminal 1, and takes around 30 minutes to get to Keleti. Ticket price is HUF 1400 and the timetable is here. (This is not the Airport minibus service, which is more expensive and can take you all round the houses - not recommended).

 

[burns20]

We were going to buy a 24 hour ticket for 1550 HUF at the Relay Newsagents at the airport terminal 1 (arriving on Wizzair from Luton)

But thanks for the express bus info, will be a lot easier, better to get there earlier and get dinner and a few drinks.

 

[route101]

At Keleti in 09 i waited nearly 2 hours to get served when buying a ticket to Belgrade

 

[Railjet]

At Keleti in 09 i waited nearly 2 hours to get served when buying a ticket to Belgrade

Sounds about right. :cry: