Scrapping the 7pm rule seems a particularly unnecessary piece of meanness by Interrail.
If I understand it correctly, this means that if one's travel 'day' begins at 23.00 with a departing sleeper train, you have to enter that date in your diary, no longer having the option to enter the following day. This means that 2 days instead of one then have to be used if you travel onwards the following day.
So now you use up just one day if you start out at 8am, travel extensively then take a sleeper at 23.00. This is the same as before.
But if you start at 23.00, then continue your journey the next day by day train, you have to use 2 days.
So this change in rule only brings negatives with it to the passenger.
It's not really meanness at all. It simply benefits some people and disbenefits others, and creates a much simpler rule in the process.
Under the old rule, you had to use up 2 travel days if you wanted to use a sleeper that departed before 7pm or arrived before 4am. And similarly, if you wanted to take a late night service that terminated after midnight, you would have to use 2 days.
Since the rule change, it is quite simple - your pass must be dated for the day you board a train. The date/time of arrival doesn't matter.
So yes, anyone who previously took a sleeper that fell within the conditions, and who didn't travel on the day they boarded the sleeper but did travel on the day they got off the sleeper, they lose out as a result of this rule.
But anyone else - e.g. someone who previously travelled on the day they board the sleeper, but not on the day they got off, benefits as a result. As well as the 'edge cases' discussed above.
