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DB routeing guide?

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AJG3

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Dear All,

am planning to do a circular route: Hamburg Airport to Cuxhaven, out/back via Bremen/Bremerhaven, then the direct route from Cuxhaven to Hamburg Hbf.

I cannot find a "via" ("über") option on the DB website, hence cannot see what is a permitted route (if such a concept does exist on DB).

Can anyone advise please?

Thanks,

Andrew
 
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gordonthemoron

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Hamburg Airport to Cuxhaven via Bremen Hbf is €45
Cuxhaven to Hamburg Airport is €23

The thing to look for on bahn.de is STOPOVER in English or Zwischenhalte in German
 

Bletchleyite

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German routeing is prescriptive (it is on the ticket) so there is no Routeing Guide as such.

As fares are priced as singles and based loosely on distance, there's little need to worry about it.
 
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30907

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If you are doing the trip in one day (after 0900 M-F and avoiding IC trains), a Niedersachsenticket will cover the lot.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
German routeing is prescriptive (it is on the ticket) so there is no Routeing Guide as such.

As fares are priced as singles and based loosely on distance, there's little need to worry about it.

Worth saying that the routing may allow a great deal of flexibility within set limits if your ticket isn't train-specific. This is particularly the case for international tickets.
 

Bletchleyite

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Worth saying that the routing may allow a great deal of flexibility within set limits if your ticket isn't train-specific. This is particularly the case for international tickets.

Indeed so - the ticket effectively codifies boundaries between which you can largely do as you like provided you are heading roughly in the right direction.

I can't remember a German example, but if you had a London to Manchester ticket you might get something like:-

VIA: (HWY*BHM*STA)/(BDM*SHF)

which would allow travel on any route between the Chiltern Line and the MML. You'd probably be OK doing something like Euston-Bletchley-Bedford-Sheffield-Manchester if you liked. Though usually it is less wide-open than that rather extreme example, and sometimes only one route is permitted, e.g. Munich to Salzburg is routed RO*FREI i.e. Rosenheim then Freilassing.

It's a simple system that we would do well to copy, particularly now the 3-letter codes are well known.
 
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AlexNL

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If you are doing the trip in one day (after 0900 M-F and avoiding IC trains), a Niedersachsenticket will cover the lot.

A Niedersachsenticket is also what DB recommends as soon as you select "via Cuxhaven". This ticket allows you to travel through Niedersachsen as much as you want on a single day after 9:00 (mo-fr), as long as you do not use DB Fernverkehr trains (IC, ICE, EC, CNL, EN).

If you are travelling with more people, it gets even cheaper:
1 passenger: 23 euros
2 passengers: 27 euros
3 passengers: 31 euros
4 passengers: 35 euros
5 passengers: 39 euros

Indeed so - the ticket effectively codifies boundaries between which you can largely do as you like provided you are heading roughly in the right direction.

Two years ago, I traveled from Hengelo (Netherlands) to Leer(Ostfriesland) via Osnabrück and Bremen. I got a ticket for the whole journey (650 km) for € 29. The ticket stated as follows:

VON Hengelo
NACH Leer(Ostfriesl)

VIA: <1184>Bad Bentheim(Gr)<1080>(18.01.2014)BBnthmG IC143/Osnabr 12:23 ICE1028/HB-Hbf*NV
The restrictions read as follows:
- From Bad Bentheim Grenze (Dutch/German border) to Osnabrück, I have to travel on IC 143 (Arriving in O'brück at 12:23)
- From Osnabrück, a connection is allowed onto ICE1028 which goes in the direction of Hamburg
- After that, all Nahverkehr (regional trains) is allowed in the direction of Leer.
 
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30907

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The restrictions read as follows:
- From Bad Bentheim Grenze (Dutch/German border) to Osnabrück, I have to travel on IC 143 (Arriving in O'brück at 12:23)
- From Osnabrück, a connection is allowed onto ICE1028 which goes in the direction of Hamburg*
- After that, all Nahverkehr (regional trains) is allowed in the direction of Leer.

*It does go to Hamburg, but even DB aren't generous enough to allow that on a ticket to Leer. HB-Hbf is Hansestadt Bremen Hauptbahnhof, where you actually changed.

Another example - Schiphol to Lutherstadt Wittenberg via Berlin (overnight) and Oschatz, which involved a very long double back after Lu-Wi, and can only have worked by using Regional trains on day 2....
 

Bletchleyite

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I think I might have transposed the / and *, i.e. the / means "then" and the * means "or" / almost "Cartesian product".

That one is a fixed train one. Must admit I like the way the required trains are in the *route* and not pointless pseudo-reservations.

Given that DB operate a ticketing system that is very similar to ours, far more so than any of the other European railways, I have long thought ATOC should take a hard look at how this is done and look to adopt at least some aspects of it.
 

AlexNL

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*It does go to Hamburg, but even DB aren't generous enough to allow that on a ticket to Leer. HB-Hbf is Hansestadt Bremen Hauptbahnhof, where you actually changed.

Ah, you're right. My bad, "HB" seemed like a logical abbreviation for "Hamburg" to me :D
 

Gordon

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Dear All,
I cannot find a "via" ("über") option on the DB website, hence cannot see what is a permitted route (if such a concept does exist on DB).
Can anyone advise please?
Thanks,
Andrew

The DB website (and all other Hafas based journeyplanners which are all over Europe) has always had a simple 'via' option (including an option to change the duration of your stay at the 'via' location.)

The problem is that the 'via' field is in the 'advanced search' level.

In German you need to look for 'Weitere suchoptionen' (other search options)

then 'Zwischenhalte' (intermediate points).

I often use this method to plan a day's rover type journey as you can have your start and end points as the same place, and put in multiple 'Vias'.

Indeed last Friday I used it to get from western Switzerland to a Swiss freight hotspot in central Switzerland, and with a couple of clicks I could work out how long I could spend photting at the latter location before having to head back west.








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Groningen

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May i point out that there is now a Niedersachsen Plus ticket. This also covers also the line Leer to Groningen and v.v.. You pay an extra 5 euros for the first person.

1 person 23,- Euro + 5,- Euro 28,- Euro
2 persons 27,- Euro + 6,- Euro 33,- Euro
3 persons 31,- Euro + 7,- Euro 38,- Euro
4 persons 35,- Euro + 8,- Euro 43,- Euro
5 persons 39,- Euro + 9,- Euro 48,- Euro
 

AlexNL

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Be aware that you'll get to enjoy a rail replacement bus on that connection, the rail bridge got smashed by a freight boat last year and it looks like repairs can take many years...
 

Groningen

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There is however 1 advantage. With the bus between Groningen and Leer it is 20 minutes quicker than with the train. It is nonstop every 2 hours. Even hours from Groningen; odd from Leer. More time for change in Groningen and Leer. For at least 5 years we think that nothing will be done with the bridge.
 

Gordon

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Yes, H for Hansestadt is the prefix for many north German cities, which is what you will see on car numberplates, and why Rostock is coded HRO (Hansestadt Rostock), and why H = Hannover not Hamburg (which is HH)



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Groningen

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Luebeck, Greiswald, Wismar and Stralsund are the other Hansestadt cities with an extra H. So it is HL, HGW, HWI and HST. I think that those people inventing those citiescodes thanked the Gods that there were Hansecities. Hamburg would otherwise be an H, but than Hannover could be HA, but than you would wake up Hagen. Luebeck would find Leipzig and Bremen without the H is of course Berlin.
 
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