Re: internet timetable displays was countrylink timetable

[Wollongong Quokka <quokka@zip.net.au>]

tony bailey wrote:
>Yes and if you are looking at one of the European servers for a journey of
>any distance, you need a good knowledge of European rail geography and
>operations to find the correct services - ie it pays to be a railfan before
>you start!

Err... quite sure?

For some time I've been planning to catch trains from Budapest to Vienna
and Vienna to Zürich on certain days next month and have had absolutely no
trouble getting all the information I need and then some, with the sole
exception of pricing information.

Deutsche Bahn's online timetable is the easiest to use... just drop in the
from and to locations and a date and off you go.  It comes up with a lot
of bizarre journeys (I think one of the Budapest-Vienna suggestions
included some *5* train changes), but it's not that hard to tell it to
come up with direct services only (and in any case, number of changes
required and full travel time is shown in the summaries, so it's easy to
see what's best)... or various other preferences you might have.  It gives
you summaries of various services, but it's easy to call up stopping lists
for your portion of the journey, or for the train's full route.  Other
information like reservation requirements or if supplements apply is
detailed as well.

The only thing that managed to stump me was when I was originally thinking
of going from Budapest to Zürich in one go.  It is possible to do this on
a through carriage, but the carriage is switched to a different train in
Vienna.  That's a little unclear at first, since the train numbers don't
quite match up.

http://bahn.hafas.de/bin/query.exe/en

And all that said, I haven't had trouble with online timetables from other
train operators, but the others are normally more basic... though the
Swiss site does tell me they think I'll be arriving at Zürich HB's
platform 5.  The people meeting me will check anyway. :)

--
Robs the Sydney Wollongong Quokka