Montafonerbahn through services

[Segedunum]

Hi all,

Just a question about the through services from Schruns to Bregenz and Lindau.

It used to be that between Schruns and Bludenz, these functioned as separate Montafonerbahn services with dedicated stock, but now they operate as through services with ÖBB units.

The Interrail app insists that *all* services from Schruns, no matter where you join them, are not valid with Interrail passes.

I assume that there is effectively a change of operator at Bludenz and services to/from Bregenz operate as ÖBB?

I'm asking as I'll need to use an early morning service from Bludenz to Bregenz which originates in Schruns for several days in the coming weeks and the app insists it isn't valid. I assume it just isn't capable of recognising trains that are only valid for part of the journey?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Austriantrain]

Hi all,

Just a question about the through services from Schruns to Bregenz and Lindau.

It used to be that between Schruns and Bludenz, these functioned as separate Montafonerbahn services with dedicated stock, but now they operate as through services with ÖBB units.

The Interrail app insists that *all* services from Schruns, no matter where you join them, are not valid with Interrail passes.

I assume that there is effectively a change of operator at Bludenz and services to/from Bregenz operate as ÖBB?

I'm asking as I'll need to use an early morning service from Bludenz to Bregenz which originates in Schruns for several days in the coming weeks and the app insists it isn't valid. I assume it just isn't capable of recognising trains that are only valid for part of the journey?

Thanks in advance.

To the best of my knowledge, that is the case, yes. Between Bludenz and Bregenz ÖBB is the operator of all services and Interrail will therefore be accepted.

Edit: the ÖBB ticketing app confirms it.

 

[Segedunum]

To the best of my knowledge, that is the case, yes. Between Bludenz and Bregenz ÖBB is the operator of all services and Interrail will therefore be accepted.

Edit: the ÖBB ticketing app confirms it.

Great, thanks. I thought as much- will just have to manually enter the journey for those trips.

 

[30907]

If that doesn't work, choose the nearest available train on the same route - in a fortnight's travel no one has been interested in the info in the planner, so long as the ticket scans (and you have any compulsory reservations).

 

[AdamWW]

If that doesn't work, choose the nearest available train on the same route - in a fortnight's travel no one has been interested in the info in the planner, so long as the ticket scans (and you have any compulsory reservations).

Recently using a paper Interrail pass I did have one guard who actually looked at the travel planner and even clipped it.

(And a German guard who tried scanning the "bar code" on the cover which is for getting through barriers in a few countries that use them, discovered that didn't work and decided not to bother actually looking inside).

 

[Segedunum]

I'll be sticking to the rules myself following a couple of negative experiences of not filling the diary in fast enough or being half asleep and writing the previous day's date in (despite the actual pass having the right one on).

I'm currently dipping in and out of a 2 month mobile pass and the first train I used (in Latvia), the guard studied what I'd manually written in very carefully (LV isn't in the planner) before issuing a zero fare ticket.

 

[30907]

Recently using a paper Interrail pass I did have one guard who actually looked at the travel planner and even clipped it.

Yes, that was my experience with the paper version too.

 

[rvdborgt]

The Interrail app insists that *all* services from Schruns, no matter where you join them, are not valid with Interrail passes.

What the Rail Planner App says is irrelevant because it is unreliable and contains many errors. You should therefore never use it to plan.
This may sound harsh but unfortunately, that is what experience learns us.

 

[Segedunum]

For most countries its perfectly fine to use as a baseline before double-checking against local planners. However, I did find that the "planner" function would either fail to find connections between trains (such as a +4 at Feldkirch, even when you reduce the minimum allowed connection time) or insist that no trains existed between station pairs at all (Praha-Smíchov and Praha hl.n).

I did query this with Interrail who proceeded to blame Česke Drahy for...some reason.

Back to the topic of the thread, in the end I was given a Gästekarte for my time in Bludenz which gave me free travel on public transport so I was able to pop up to Schruns anyway. Very pleasant little line, too.

 

[rvdborgt]

For most countries its perfectly fine to use as a baseline before double-checking against local planners. However, I did find that the "planner" function would either fail to find connections between trains (such as a +4 at Feldkirch, even when you reduce the minimum allowed connection time) or insist that no trains existed between station pairs at all (Praha-Smíchov and Praha hl.n).

That's just one of the many reasons why it is unreliable.

 

[Watershed]

What the Rail Planner App says is irrelevant because it is unreliable and contains many errors. You should therefore never use it to plan.
This may sound harsh but unfortunately, that is what experience learns us.

In some cases (ahem, SNCF) it's probably still better than the local planner. Though obviously you can use the SBB/ÖBB/DB planner instead for countries such as France, where timetables are at least properly published to MERITS. No such luxury for Spain!

 

[rvdborgt]

In some cases (ahem, SNCF) it's probably still better than the local planner. Though obviously you can use the SBB/ÖBB/DB planner instead for countries such as France, where timetables are at least properly published to MERITS. No such luxury for Spain!

The SBB/DB/ÖBB/CD planners are always better than the rail planner app. The latter is updated only every few weeks, whereas the railways often update their planners twice per week, so mistakes are corrected much faster and timetable changes (including those for engineering works) are included much sooner. On top of that, the railways' own planners have far fewer mistakes when it comes to showing which trains have mandatory reservations and which ones haven't. And as we have seen, the app is not reliably showing in which trains the pass is valid and in which ones it isn't. I have seen many more examples.

 

[Watershed]

The SBB/DB/ÖBB/CD planners are always better than the rail planner app. The latter is updated only every few weeks, whereas the railways often update their planners twice per week, so mistakes are corrected much faster and timetable changes (including those for engineering works) are included much sooner. On top of that, the railways' own planners have far fewer mistakes when it comes to showing which trains have mandatory reservations and which ones haven't. And as we have seen, the app is not reliably showing in which trains the pass is valid and in which ones it isn't. I have seen many more examples.

I make that reason #1023 on my list of reasons to stick with traditional paper Interrail passes...

 

[rvdborgt]

I make that reason #1023 on my list of reasons to stick with traditional paper Interrail passes...

What the planner knows or doesn't know is not relevant for that choice IMO. Just don't use it to plan, only to look up the trains you're ging to use and add to your pass. The possible problems of the mobile pass are other ones.

 

[AdamWW]

The SBB/DB/ÖBB/CD planners are always better than the rail planner app. The latter is updated only every few weeks, whereas the railways often update their planners twice per week, so mistakes are corrected much faster and timetable changes (including those for engineering works) are included much sooner. On top of that, the railways' own planners have far fewer mistakes when it comes to showing which trains have mandatory reservations and which ones haven't. And as we have seen, the app is not reliably showing in which trains the pass is valid and in which ones it isn't. I have seen many more examples.

It's also rather unforgiving with using English names for foreign cities.

BUT - it does work from a downloaded database and thus has the advantage that it can be used off-line. I don't know if the railway company apps do that - I suspect not.

 

[rvdborgt]

It's also rather unforgiving with using English names for foreign cities.

BUT - it does work from a downloaded database and thus has the advantage that it can be used off-line. I don't know if the railway company apps do that - I suspect not.

The rail planner app is rather inconsistent in its city/station names. Try Praha or Prague for example. Not sure where that comes from. They say they're using whatever there is in the MERITS data.
The ČD app (Můj vlak) has the possibility to download timetables for offline use.