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FIP in Germany

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TheEdge

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I've never used FIP facilities but am planning my first trip to Germany.

I'll be buying a FIP Eurostar fare to Aachen (inc. ICE) to get me to Germany (assuming that can be purchased with FIP). Once in Germany I'm going to use the free travel coupons for DBAG to do my travel in Germany.

A few questions for those who know.

1.Reservations, would I need to pre-plan if and when I want to use certain services, most specifically ICE? Are there any others?

2. Sadly DB discontinued their City Night Line sleeper services but several of the routes have been taken over by OBB as Nightjet, including some services wholly within Germany (Hamburg - Berlin/Munich) for example. If I wanted to use those wholly inside Germany would that be covered by a DB coupon or will I need an OBB coupon too?

3. Franchised services in Germany. Are the coupons valid? If not do they even offer FIP discount?

Looked on Seat 61 but these are a bit more detailed than their staff travel page.

Thanks :)
 
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Jordy

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You don't need any reservations (unless you want one to get a seat) for DB trains - with the exception of the few "ICE Sprinter" services as far as I know.

FIP coupons are only valid on DB services and I don't believe any of the private operators offer discount - although I'm not 100%
 

Suraggu

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I've never used FIP facilities but am planning my first trip to Germany.

I'll be buying a FIP Eurostar fare to Aachen (inc. ICE) to get me to Germany (assuming that can be purchased with FIP). Once in Germany I'm going to use the free travel coupons for DBAG to do my travel in Germany.

A few questions for those who know.

1.Reservations, would I need to pre-plan if and when I want to use certain services, most specifically ICE? Are there any others?

2. Sadly DB discontinued their City Night Line sleeper services but several of the routes have been taken over by OBB as Nightjet, including some services wholly within Germany (Hamburg - Berlin/Munich) for example. If I wanted to use those wholly inside Germany would that be covered by a DB coupon or will I need an OBB coupon too?

3. Franchised services in Germany. Are the coupons valid? If not do they even offer FIP discount?

Looked on Seat 61 but these are a bit more detailed than their staff travel page.

Thanks :)

I thought the FIP fare was as far as Brussels and a FIP ticket required to Aachen?

Answers.
1) ICE is mandatory reservation. Last time I was in Germany a reservation was advised for EC/IC but could be different since 09.

2) OBB operate the NightJet now with DB providing advertisement and ticketing.I would take both DB and OBB coupons and get reservations although RST site has info about sleeper supplements, if you are unsure but NightJet has some insanely cheap fares ie €29 single Innsbruck to Koln in a 2nd class compo. To upgrade to a 6 berth couchette was an additional €20.

3) Franchised services as in National Express, Abellio etc? No coupons or FIP discount allowed. Only services operated by DB.
 

TheEdge

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I'm not entirely sure about the Aachen ticket. If not will I also need an SNCB coupon to get me from Brussels to Aachen on the ICE service or will the DB coupon cover it?
 

306024

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Based on my experience:

Study the RDG (was ATOC) staff travel site. Under 'where can I go' you will find a list of DB trains that are restricted to FIP. It looks a big list but they are only on some days, and sometimes only on part of the route. The one I always have to watch is Hamburg - Copenhagen via the Rodby ferry.

Outside of that I don't usually bother with reservations on ICE/EC/IC trains unless I know a train to be busy. Never had to stand yet, but I'm fortunate to get 1st class FIP. Suraggu advises ICE is mandatory reservation, well that's news to me, I'd wager that is not correct.

The coupon is relevant to the country you are in. If you don't leave Germany you won't need any coupons for adjacent countries. If you can't get a priv Eurostar to any Belgian station you will need the Belgian coupon too to travel via Aachen.

Beware the private operators where FIP isn't valid. I haven't found a definitive list of those.

Finally Aachen Sud is the border station between Belgium and Germany.

Hope that helps.
 
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Bletchleyite

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1) ICE is mandatory reservation

No, it isn't, except for 2 (I think) specific peak-time "ICE Sprinter" train pairs.

DB's reservation policy is near identical to ours with the exception that they charge for them (even on "Advances" i.e. Sparpreis tickets) and we don't.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
The coupon is relevant to the country you are in. If you don't leave Germany you won't need any coupons for adjacent countries. If you can't get a priv Eurostar to any Belgian station you will need the Belgian coupon too to travel via Aachen.

Beware the private operators where FIP isn't valid. I haven't found a definitive list of those.

I'm not quite sure what the OeBB Nightjet counts as - is it technically a private operator? It is I believe open access.
 
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TheEscapist_

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I used my fip coupon for DB in May last year and it was great never had a problem. Just check the list on the rstl site for ice trains you cannot use it on. I used a few of ic & ice trains without a reservation and never had a problem. But on the db Bahn site you can select exact seats on ice trains. I used this to get a seat behind the cab on an ice 3.


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TheEdge

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Thanks for all the replies, really helpful.

Would it be worth emailing RDG for clarification on what I would need to use Nightjet services in Germany?
 

Suraggu

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Thanks for all the replies, really helpful.

Would it be worth emailing RDG for clarification on what I would need to use Nightjet services in Germany?

If you want but after reading open access I wonder if coupons are valid, plus NightJet fares are dirt cheap.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
No, it isn't, except for 2 (I think) specific peak-time "ICE Sprinter" train pairs.

DB's reservation policy is near identical to ours with the exception that they charge for them (even on "Advances" i.e. Sparpreis tickets) and we don't.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


I'm not quite sure what the OeBB Nightjet counts as - is it technically a private operator? It is I believe open access.

I must of had a grumpy Bert then a few years back. He fleeced me of reservation money on my first trip onboard a few years ago onboard an ICE.
 

Bletchleyite

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I must of had a grumpy Bert then a few years back. He fleeced me of reservation money on my first trip onboard a few years ago onboard an ICE.

Are you sure that wasn't the price difference to ICE if you held a normal ticket (or e.g. InterRail)? It isn't reservations only, but it does have its own fare system which is more expensive than other trains - it's market priced like UK services rather than kilometric as the "base" regional fare is, and has long been like that.
 

Jordy

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InterRail is perfectly valid on ICE too, and there's no supplements and the like, in vast contrast to certain other countries!
 

Bletchleyite

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InterRail is perfectly valid on ICE too, and there's no supplements and the like, in vast contrast to certain other countries!

There used to be supplements for InterRail on IC/EC and ICE until about 10-15 years ago.

(Yes, my views on SNCF's general dislike and mickey-take on InterRail are well known :) )
 

gordonthemoron

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also beware of private operators that are owned by DB, e.g. UBB (Usedom Baeder Bahn), the fip probably isn't valid on those either
 

davetheguard

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Unless something has changed since I did the trip in June 2015, as 306024 says, buy a FIP Eurostar ticket to Brussels and apply for a SNCB coupon too - it will be valid on the ICE while on Belgian tracks. No supplement is payable, nor is a reservation compulsory (but you might want to consider one for peace of mind's sake to guarantee a seat the whole way).
 

davetheguard

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also beware of private operators that are owned by DB, e.g. UBB (Usedom Baeder Bahn), the fip probably isn't valid on those either

In my experience, FIP is definitely not officially valid on UBB trains either on Usedom island itself or on the through trains which operate to/from Stralsund on the mainland. Surprising when you see the DB logo on the front of the trains.

Having said that, we inadvertently boarded a UBB train at Greifsdorf with the return half of Deutsche Bahn FIP tickets from Stralsund (having expected a DB train) and the Guard decided to deliberately not stamp the tickets, and to look the other way. I've no way of knowing if this was typical or not.
 

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TheEdge

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Is it safe to assume if the stock is in DB red or ICE red and white its a DB service, anything else is a franchise or open access?
 

306024

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Is it safe to assume if the stock is in DB red or ICE red and white its a DB service, anything else is a franchise or open access?

Difficult to say. For example I travelled from Nuremberg to Dresden with my German FIP coupon last year, changing at Hof. Nothing to alert me in the train number (sometimes that's a clue) that the train from Hof to Dresden would turn out to be a yellow / green EMU. So I assumed my FIP coupon wasn't valid.

With just a 4 minute connection there wasn't time to make enquiries, so off we went with me rehearsing my best German for when the conductor came round. Sure enough I showed my coupon and asked if it was OK. "Ja Danke", so no problem.

To this day I don't know whether my coupon was actually valid, it may have just been a friendly railwaywoman doing a fellow railwayman a favour.
 
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Suraggu

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Are you sure that wasn't the price difference to ICE if you held a normal ticket (or e.g. InterRail)? It isn't reservations only, but it does have its own fare system which is more expensive than other trains - it's market priced like UK services rather than kilometric as the "base" regional fare is, and has long been like that.

I was using my DB Coupon between Koln and Frankfurt. I read that I didn't need a reservation but got chinged a few € with him stating in perfect English I needed a reservation. I didn't argue after a while. So I had a source taste afterwards hence I've avoided ICE since.
 

306024

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I was using my DB Coupon between Koln and Frankfurt. I read that I didn't need a reservation but got chinged a few € with him stating in perfect English I needed a reservation. I didn't argue after a while. So I had a source taste afterwards hence I've avoided ICE since.

That was all back in the day. It was a pleasant surprise when DB abolished the inter-city FIP supplement. Only for the Austrians to now take up the cause.
 

30907

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Is it safe to assume if the stock is in DB red or ICE red and white its a DB service, anything else is a franchise or open access?

There is virtually no open access in Germany. Apart from NJ, it's HKX and Locomore which between them run about 10 train pairs a week.

In general franchised services are part of the public "offer" just as in the UK, so Laender-Tickets, Schoenes Wochenende and ordinary tickets are valid (except on lines which are NOT part of the national network - and Usedom which is an oddity). I have no expertise about FIP coupons, sorry, as franchising didn't exist when I last used one - so that may not help.
 

Bletchleyite

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I was using my DB Coupon between Koln and Frankfurt. I read that I didn't need a reservation but got chinged a few € with him stating in perfect English I needed a reservation. I didn't argue after a while. So I had a source taste afterwards hence I've avoided ICE since.


What did he issue you for your money? Or did he perhaps pocket it?

FWIW I just Googled the ICE Sprinter and they are no longer compulsory reservation. So Germany is now the same as the UK - reservation optional except night trains. But there was never an ICE Sprinter on your route.

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TheEdge

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Well I'm waiting for an answer from RDG for the Nightjet question. Need to be careful of these other operators then. Are there any of them (I'm thinking Metronom) that do accept FIP?
 
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CC 72100

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Someone mentioned train numbers and differentiating between DB and local operators. Unfortunately the Interrail app (very useful!) doesn't show the operators, and only lists train numbers with the unique train ID (ie. RE 42315)

But if you have the DB Bahnhof live app (required data connection) then it will show you the operator (if private) and the service, but not the unique train number.

For example, for Hamburg Hbf at present:

RE 8 - 13:04 Lubeck Hbf (this is a DB Regio service)

ME RE5 - 13:06 Cuxhaven. (ME mening Metronom)

The seat moquette on Metronom's doubledeck stock is rather loud and garish, can't imagine it too pleasant if one has consumed a few drinks the night before! :lol:
 

TheEscapist_

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Well I'm waiting for an answer from RDG for the Nightjet question. Need to be careful of these other operators then. Are there any of them (I'm thinking Metronom) that do accept FIP?



I don't believe Metronom accept FIP. I was looking to use them last year but didn't.


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DaiGog

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In my experience the only compulsory reservation ICEs are the Paris - Strasbourg - Frankfurt/Stuttgart services. I have used ICE Sprinters within Germany, and international services between Brussels and Köln, and have never been charged anything with my FIP coupons. Thalys ticket inspectors are very keen however, so expect to be relieved of some cash if you board one of those with a FIP coupon.
 

Marklund

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Thalys ticket inspectors are very keen however, so expect to be relieved of some cash if you board one of those with a FIP coupon.

That's because they're "Global Fare" Trains, and coupons alone aren't valid.
And there used to be only so many FIP places per train.
 

30907

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UBB Train in my photo is at Stralsund before departure to Swinemunde.

.....and Swinoujscie Centrum has two platforms, one set of points and 3 signals IIRC. Generous by DB standards where they are quite happy to go for basic railway BR style.
 
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