European Rail Travel - Online ticket from OBB - frankfurt to Vienna

I purchased an online ticket for ICE from Frankfurt to Vienna from OBB site ( Austrian railways ) . Do the German conductors on ICE train have the machines to check online tickets sold by Austrian Railways on a Germany-Austria train ?


Furthermore , the OBB site sells Mainz to Vienna online tickets with a stop-over in Frankfurt ( Mainz-Frankfurt ICE and Frankfurt to Vienna on an ICE ) . How can a german conductor check the validity of an online ticket sold by OBB for a german-german destination ( Mainz – Frankfurt ) ?

The third question is if an online ticket issued by OBB can be exchanged with an ordinary ticket using a ticket vending machine in an austrian railway station ?

Many thanks

Firstly, welcome to FlyerTalk!

Do the German conductors on ICE train have the machines to check online tickets sold by Austrian Railways on a Germany-Austria train ?
If the system sold you an self-print online ticket (rather than a traditional ticket sent by post) then this implies that the answer is "yes, they do". ÖBB and DB have quite close cooperation, and so I would expect that their ticket-reading machines are inter-operable*.

(Similarly, DB and SBB have close cooperation, and their ticket-reading machines are also inter-operable. However, note that this is not the case for all train operators in Europe. For example, it seems that DB and CD ticket-reading machines are not inter-operable, and neither are SBB and SNCF ones...)

See also my comments in these threads:
German trains 29€ discount tickets: Can I board from a different station? (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/european-rail-travel/1286865-german-trains-29-discount-tickets-can-i-board-different-station.html)
Itinerary thoughts (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/european-rail-travel/1360746-itinerary-thoughts.html)

How can a german conductor check the validity of an online ticket sold by OBB for a german-german destination ( Mainz – Frankfurt ) ?
See my answer above. If www.oebb.at will sell a self-print ticket for such a journey, it implies that the DB conductors' machines can read it.

The third question is if an online ticket issued by OBB can be exchanged with an ordinary ticket using a ticket vending machine in an austrian railway station ?
I don't know for sure, but I doubt it (I am fairly sure this would not be possible with a DB-issued online ticket and a DB ticket machine). However, why would you want to do this? Personally, I am much happier travelling with a self-print ticket (which I can easily re-print if I lose it) than a traditional paper ticket (which would be difficult/impossible to replace if lost). Are you still concerned that your ÖBB-issued ticket may not be accepted when you board the train in Germany?

* The other solution, which happens for some international trains run by a consortium of two rail companies, is to have two conductors on each train. One is from each rail company, and hence has the machine to read tickets issued by their website. This seems to be how TGV Lyria works, but I don't think this is how the Germany-Austria ICEs do it...

Firstly, welcome to FlyerTalk!

Thanks !


If the system sold you an self-print online ticket (rather than a traditional ticket sent by post) then this implies that the answer is "yes, they do". ÖBB and DB have quite close cooperation, and so I would expect that their ticket-reading machines are inter-operable*.

Would be the correct answer . My questions mark is raised because they have different means of identification ( online ticket + id card /passport for OBB and online ticket , bahn card or credit card for germans ) .



Are you still concerned that your ÖBB-issued ticket may not be accepted when you board the train in Germany?

In a way , but i doubt i am the first one to buy from OBB site an online ticket from Germany to Austria . Anyway i sent this question both to OBB and to bahn.de . It's interesting than bahn.de sells multi-leg journey in which you can find austrian-austrian leg . So the austrian conductors should be able to read bahn.de online tickets even in their regional trains ??!!!


The other solution, which happens for some international trains run by a consortium of two rail companies, is to have two conductors on each train. One is from each rail company, and hence has the machine to read tickets issued by their website. This seems to be how TGV Lyria works, but I don't think this is how the Germany-Austria ICEs do it...

Apart from Lyria , are there any trains between Suisse and France ?
On Lyria i bought a Zurich-Paris from SBB site . From SNCF site you can't buy unless you are in France . I suppose a Paris-Zurich leg should be bought also from SBB , if you can't from SNCF .

online ticket + id card /passport for OBB and online ticketor ÖBB Ticket + ÖBB "Vorteilscard".but I don't think this is how the Germany-Austria ICEs do it...For example:
Munich -> Salzburg = DB
Salzburg -> Vienna = ÖBB

Frankfurt -> Passau = DB
Passau -> Vienna = ÖBB

Vienna -> Breclav = ÖBB
Breclav -> Praha -> Bad Schönau = CD

Yes DB - ÖBB - SBB systems are integrated. Indeed, they can all validate eachother's tickets. This is how you have German crews working trains in Austria and Switzerland, and Austrians working trains in Switzerland and Germany. Some (maybe most) regional conductors have equiptment to read qr-codes. Though I think they often just assume the ticket is valid if its connecting from an intercity train.

Zürich -> Wien -> Hegyshalom = ÖBB
Hegyshalom -> Budapest = MÁV? Or maybe now also ÖBB.

Zürich -> Bregenz -> München = DB