How are interrail fares apportioned to participating rail companies?

[peteb]

As I travel using a paper pass, I was wondering how my journeys around Europe get recorded and the fare claimed back by the railway companies? Noone ever scans it, most TTIs just glance at the ATOC pinky beige ticket and check the validity date.

I assume the App version logs on the TTI's scanner device so that's an effective way of recording journeys.

But years ago you used to have to send the interrail paper sheets back (for a small reward) but not any more.

Are there so few of us using the paper version that effectively our journeys go unrecorded?

I'm intrigued as I've logged several hundred individual journeys in the past year!

 

[rvdborgt]

About 90% now use the mobile pass. AFAIK Eurail collect anonymised data about the journeys/trains that are added to the pass and use that to distribute the income. They also evaluate manually added journeys. I don't know however how exactly they calculate each operator's part. But the sample size of 90% is accurate enough so that they don't need the paper passes anymore.

 

[peteb]

About 90% now use the mobile pass. AFAIK Eurail collect anonymised data about the journeys/trains that are added to the pass and use that to distribute the income. They also evaluate manually added journeys. I don't know however how exactly they calculate each operator's part. But the sample size of 90% is accurate enough so that they don't need the paper passes anymore.

Ah, so maybe they just apportion the remaining 10% of income to the companies using an algorithm.

 

[43096]

But the sample size of 90% is accurate enough so that they don't need the paper passes anymore.

Yet they still persist with the utter charade of filling in the journey details.

 

[Flying Snail]

Yet they still persist with the utter charade of filling in the journey details.

If they removed that requirement from paper passes they would be considerably more user friendly than mobile passes requiring journey logging which would push up sales of the paper pass.

You would also have an issue of communicating the removal of the diary to rail staff who are used to looking for their train to be listed on the pass. Most don't bother but the ones that do are very insistent on it being there.

 

[peteb]

If they removed that requirement from paper passes they would be considerably more user friendly than mobile passes requiring journey logging which would push up sales of the paper pass.

You would also have an issue of communicating the removal of the diary to rail staff who are used to looking for their train to be listed on the pass. Most don't bother but the ones that do are very insistent on it being there.

I agree, sometimes when I've been in a hurry (to make an unexpected connection for instance) I've not filled in the time of the train forming that leg of the journey. Sometimes I'm asked to do it sometimes not. However this last trip in (mainly) Germany all they were interested in was the date in the boxes at the top of the ATOC ticket.

I still like the paper ticket and I especially like to have my seat reservations printed out so I can hand them to TTI staff or indeed someone sitting in my reserved seat. I wouldn't want to hand my phone over!

 

[biko]

I assume they fully determine the ratios per participating company based on the mobile app logs and then divide the money fully based on that. No need for algorithms or whatever, just accepting that the exact ratios aren’t correct for the last 10%.

I still like the paper ticket and I especially like to have my seat reservations printed out so I can hand them to TTI staff or indeed someone sitting in my reserved seat. I wouldn't want to hand my phone over!

I use mobile Interrail tickets with printed seat reservations. I think that’s the ideal combination as no need to switch between apps and easy to hand over the reservations. But logging the journeys is so much easier in the app

 

[Nunners]

I use mobile Interrail tickets with printed seat reservations. I think that’s the ideal combination as no need to switch between apps and easy to hand over the reservations. But logging the journeys is so much easier in the app

Agreed - it's also worth pointing out that for some journeys on NightJet you need a printed reservation. I print 2 copies of everything just in case!

 

[rvdborgt]

Agreed - it's also worth pointing out that for some journeys on NightJet you need a printed reservation. I print 2 copies of everything just in case!

AFAIK you don't need them for Nightjet but you may need them for other night trains.

 

[Nunners]

AFAIK you don't need them for Nightjet but you may need them for other night trains.

You might be able to show the full mobile ticket if logged in, but if you choose the PDF option, and the journey is outside Austria, you MUST print it off (it says this on the PDF).

 

[railfan99]

With Eurailpasses, I only have WiFi access so a paper pass for me, thank you.

For apportioning revenue, I agree the remaining 10 per cent would be based on the 90 per cent.

On the main lines in England, staff seemed mostly very used to Eurailpasses but on commuter or secondary lines such as one through Guildford, less so. But they cottoned on quickly when I had a chat to them, and some had even been to my distant country.

On one paper pass, the staff member who stamped it for initial date of travel validity obscured the '1' denoting first class. I had one conductor question whether it was only a second/economy/standard class pass: that was in France.

I am careful to fill out journey details as quickly as possible, wary about stories of conductors in Belgium handing out fines if one steps aboard and the journey hasn't been jotted down.

Frequently in Italy and France, there's no en route ticket checks, including on at least one TGV route (Brussels Midi-Lyon), amazingly. In contrast, many conductors/guards in England work hard. One lady in September 2023 on the interesting Northern Trains Preston-Blackburn-Colne railcar ('unit') route must have gone up and down a quite busy train several times, as there were many on/offs at a few stations. Apparently this is one of England's least (less?) affluent areas but almost all who checked had a valid ticket. Impressive.

I too carry a printed copy of a seat reservation as unlike mobile phone reception, it's reliable unless one's bag or wallet is stolen.

 

[rvdborgt]

With Eurailpasses, I only have WiFi access so a paper pass for me, thank you.

You only need internet to activate the pass or a travel day and once every 72 hours. After activating a travel day, you don't need internet anymore that day and you can still add and delete journeys as you like.

 

[DanielB]

You might be able to show the full mobile ticket if logged in, but if you choose the PDF option, and the journey is outside Austria, you MUST print it off (it says this on the PDF).

They do accept it however. When I travelled on a Nightjet one passenger had a mobile ticket and the guard just took a photo of it.
A printed ticket is just convenient as they don't need to wake you for ticket inspection during the night.

 

[rvdborgt]

They do accept it however. When I travelled on a Nightjet one passenger had a mobile ticket and the guard just took a photo of it.
A printed ticket is just convenient as they don't need to wake you for ticket inspection during the night.

On NJ, there's only ticket inspection when you board, or shortly thereafter. On other night trains though, there may be more inspections.

 

[Nunners]

They do accept it however. When I travelled on a Nightjet one passenger had a mobile ticket and the guard just took a photo of it.
A printed ticket is just convenient as they don't need to wake you for ticket inspection during the night.

Thanks. I don't normally bother logging in to my OEBB account so don't get the mobile ticket option (or can't remember seeing it anyway). For PDFs it definitely has to be printed as I've been told off for trying to show the PDF on my phone

 

[DanielB]

On NJ, there's only ticket inspection when you board, or shortly thereafter. On other night trains though, there may be more inspections.

Yes, but at that inspection after boarding they take your ticket and give it back with a stamp in the morning. That's somewhat inconvenient with a mobile ticket

 

[rvdborgt]

Yes, but at that inspection after boarding they take your ticket and give it back with a stamp in the morning. That's somewhat inconvenient with a mobile ticket

Last 2 times they just scanned my reservation in the ÖBB app (didn't ask for my Interrail) and didn't want to keep anything.

 

[AdamWW]

On the main lines in England, staff seemed mostly very used to Eurailpasses but on commuter or secondary lines such as one through Guildford, less so. But they cottoned on quickly when I had a chat to them, and some had even been to my distant country.

I had trouble once at a not exactly minor station in the UK where a member of barrier staff didn't want to accept my (paper) interrail pass because I hadn't filled in a box with that day's date.

I had to explain the difference between flexi and continuous passes.

(Of course what they really should have been looking for was whether I'd dated it for one of my two days of permitted UK travel....)

Nobody else gave me bother - not even at the gate line for the Elizabeth Line which I thought might have been a challenge.

 

[DanielB]

Last 2 times they just scanned my reservation in the ÖBB app (didn't ask for my Interrail) and didn't want to keep anything.

That's new then apparently, my last Nightjet trip was in 2022 and they couldn't scan anything back then. Got a nice stamp on my paper reservation, but indeed, the Interrail pass was never checked.

 

[railfan99]

As I travel using a paper pass, I was wondering how my journeys around Europe get recorded and the fare claimed back by the railway companies? Noone ever scans it, most TTIs just glance at the ATOC pinky beige ticket and check the validity date.

One other aspect is how the revenue distribution between operators is never made public from what I can see, despite some being government owned.

I'd love to know the breakup as it would tell us which countries see the greatest number of Interrail and Eurailpasses.

I'm guessing France, Italy, Spain and Germany would be in the top four though perhaps Switzerland and to a lesser degree Austria would also be very significant.

However I love using a Eurail in the UK as it's such a moneysaver, and I enjoy visiting England in particular and regard the trains as very good.

I wonder in the UK, does the Department for Transport or Rail Delivery Group receive any payments or are they electronically sent to individual operators such as Avanti West Coast?

 

[Watershed]

I wonder in the UK, does the Department for Transport or Rail Delivery Group receive any payments or are they electronically sent to individual operators such as Avanti West Coast?

It's largely a moot point whether the payments are made to individual operators (as I suspect happens) or whether a payment is made to Rail Settlement Plan, who would divide up the revenue in a similar manner to how they distribute revenue from interavailable National Rail tickets.

In either case, the vast majority of the revenue would ultimately end up with the Department for Transport - or whichever other devolved body, such as Transport Scotland, has responsibility for franchising for the relevant operator. Almost all of the train companies in Britain operate under management contracts whereby they pass all the revenue to their franchising authority and are reimbursed all of their costs, plus a small profit margin.

Only five companies operate on an Open Access basis whereby they are truly financially independent from the government.