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International Coupon between countries

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Rammstein

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Hi all, just wondering if someone could answer my possibly stupid question.

I'm travelling to Frankfurt next Tuesday via Eurostar to Brussels. My train from Brussels is a direct ICE to Frankfurt. I've got two international coupons, one valid for DB AG, and one valid for SNCB NMBS.

My question is this: Should I fill in a date box for both coupons for my journey from Brussels, or do I just need to fill in the DB coupon since it's a DB train straight to Germany?

Very sorry if it is a daft question, it's my first time travelling Europe with FIP coupons so I want to make sure I get it right!

Many thanks in advance.
 
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Mag_seven

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My question is this: Should I fill in a date box for both coupons for my journey from Brussels

Yes you should fill in a date box for both coupons. Even though you will be on an ICE in Belgium, you are required to fill an an SNCB box for any journey within Belgium.
 

CC 72100

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Yes you should fill in a date box for both coupons. Even though you will be on an ICE in Belgium, you are required to fill an an SNCB box for any journey within Belgium.

I've often wondered this - I take it then, that any cross border journey will require you to date a coupon for both countries? So if you did Prague - Budapest with the train passing through Bratislava, you'd be filling in a coupon for each country (3)?
 

87015

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I've often wondered this - I take it then, that any cross border journey will require you to date a coupon for both countries? So if you did Prague - Budapest with the train passing through Bratislava, you'd be filling in a coupon for each country (3)?
Yes. The designated border is shown in the train detail on most journey systems.
 

Mag_seven

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I've often wondered this - I take it then, that any cross border journey will require you to date a coupon for both countries? So if you did Prague - Budapest with the train passing through Bratislava, you'd be filling in a coupon for each country (3)?

That is correct as confirmed by @87015. Funny you should mention Prague - Budapest via Bratislava as I did Bratislava to Prague using coupons just a few weeks ago. I showed both Slovakian and Czech dated boxes to the train conductor on departure from Bratislava as I was on a through service.
 

CC 72100

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Thanks very much for this 87015 and Mag_seven - definitely worth weighing up the price of a ticket for the journey too then, especially with how cheap several of the Czech fares can be to avoid dating a box for what would otherwise be a cheap journey.
 

dutchflyer

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Its a great mental exercise for many ways of the British-thinking, but the age-old principle for INTernational traintrips is the COUNTRY counts and not whatever runs on its rails-though the system dates from when there were only BR-style national companies and has simply not adapted at all to the new times of competitors. if it thus pays off for very short trips or buying locally with the 50% discount is better-you have to decide. It should still be possible to buy, f.e. just Sturovo-border (hranica) to Kuty-border for the Slovak part of the Budapest_Praha trains. In the past anywhere INTern. tix were sold could easily handle that, but alas, computers have made that extremely hard now. The system of FIP also assumed that your own home-railway could and should handle such things-also a thing of very distant past now in the UK (probably CIE/IR in IE can still do it, I assume). Compare it to how INternational mail works-it dates roughly from same times and was originally also always in French-as anyone knows, hats the language trains speak.
If you would have free travel on ZSR=slovak rails, then you would in that case still have to pay Border to Sturovo station and ditto from Kuty onward-but most railways now charge astronomical high sums for such short trips. Thus, alas BE to LUX (borderside stations) can now cost more as 8 eur for maybe just 5-6 kms!
 
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