YVR Cockroach

Got needlessly warned by the wagon attendant that the German police would board at Kufstein (which they did) so woken up at 0500 for breakfast wh8ch didn't come until 0524. Police did board but they didn't seem to bother with our carriage. Could have done with the extra hour's sleep.

DB seems to be falling apart. Station map at Muenchen Hbf has the DB lounge in the wrong place and bahn.de has the lounge opening at 0700 when it opens at 0630.

Fireflyer05

I don't know, which station map you looked at, but the one on www.bahnhof.de (which is the official one) is correct. And regarding the opening times, if you refer to the page at http://www.bahn.de/p_en/view/service...ce_lounge_LZ01, then have a look at the sentence "Every day from 7am to 9pm. Times may vary for each DB lounge, however." which means, the lounge is open at least from 7am to 9pm, but some lounges might be open longer. So everything is correct and i don't see anything related to "falling apart".

robtroxel

Any updates on the trains between Vienna and Munich? We will be traveling from Vienna to Munich on Dec 4th. The train schedule still shows a thru train with no connections in the morning around 6:30 AM. If not, is it a stop and clear customs process? Thanks for any advice.

linglingfool

The DB site shows the 06:30 RJ train terminating at Salzburg, with a 4 minute connection to another RJ train that only runs Salzburg-Munich. From the ÖBB website:

robtroxel

Thank you for the kind update on the current status of the Wein Munich rail trip. Best regards, Rob

robtroxel

We did not have any issues with my initial concerns. We left Vienna on 4 Dec for Munich in the morning and did have to connect thru Salzburg where there were authorities standing by a roped off entry point checking passports as needed before boarding. We left from the Vienna West station and did observe quite a few people lingering around the front entrance but no apparent problems. In Munich, same story, lots of folks by the entrances but compared to last year at this time, I'm guessing about a 20% increase in numbers. Munich felt safe and very festive with the Christmas Markets in full swing now.

We continued on to Zurich and Lucerne and noticed no increase in people hanging out at the stations. (all very busy) For now, it appears travel is not a problem in these areas.

Thanks again for the help and guidance many of you frequent travelers offered!

linglingfool

Thanks for the follow-up report.

submonte

Weekly I travel with ICEs from München (Munich) to Mannheim or Frankfurt/Main or further to Cologne, Dortmund. I haven´t seen any refugees at Munich station recently, nor somewhere in central Munich where I go sometimes a month by car.

German police enter shuttle trains (regional "Meridian" or long-distance) to Munich at Kufstein in Austria but I have never been IDed by them nor other persons who obviously do not look like refugees.

Wien (Vienna) West I have also not observed refugees. I travelled two days ago (Dec. 10th) by ÖBB (OEBB) Railjet from Wörgl/Tyrol (06:41) to Wien West (10:30). I could not identify any refugee at the station. Same when I went back, leaving 16:30.

This course (Wien West - Innsbruck) by the way stops at Salzburg main station before leaving Austria, crosses German territory passing by Rosenheim on a seperate track apart Rosenheim station, going south (Inn valley) and leaving German territory at Kiefersfelden border, stopping at border town Kufstein/Tyrol station again in Austria. It is an exterritorial course and normally not affected by any police controls.

Wien West from tomorrow Dec 13th on will mainly be a station for OEBB´s successful competitor "Westbahn" (partly owned by French SNCF) for their course Wien - Salzburg, and Wien Hauptbahnhof (Vienna Main Station) will fully operate, international and OEBB trains stopping there, with faster connections to Vienna Airport and Budapest station and other destinations.

robtroxel

Thanks for the very thorough report on what you are seeing. We came thru Munich just last week end and did see lots of people passing from train to train but did notice a fair amount people congregating at the left side entrance as you face the trains. Maybe just the usual smokers congregation.
Nothing that would impede one's travels.

JBord

Thanks everyone for the continued reports. I'll be on Munich-Vienna in about a week and the train situation has been the one continual concern with my trip. Please do keep updating!

submonte

I cannot exclude that. As I came always by shuttle train from Austria direction to go to another track for long distance departure I only saw inside the part of the hall where the tracks end and not in the entrance halls or the main or left side square in front of the building. It might be also that contingents of refugees are transported to Munich station and appear during the day to be transported further, but I got the impression they mainly are driven by buses recently.

Be sure that public safety is not affected in Munich, nor you will get any feeling of unsafety here. Federal Police and Bavarian Police have everything under control. Daily life is going on as usual.

Travel K

I was in Germany in late September and took the trains for a total of 5 days in a 12 day period. While in the US the news was reporting the trains were full, unsafe, and having issues due to refugees, I was all over southern Germany from Frankfurt to Munich and didn't see any noticeable refugees or difference in travel. I didn't cross any borders, but did spend several days in Munich, which was suppose to be a city with "issues". My experience was the rail system might be affected in a couple places, but no where I could find.

submonte

I ensure everybody in the US and elsewhere that Deutsche Bahn (DB) railway system is practically not affected by the refugee crisis.

To reduce my kilometers driven by car (and fines for speeding ) I started to use DB (and ÖBB) more regularly this year, and have gone around 4000-5000 km per month by train (In Germany ICE mainly, some IC, EC, regional trains, Railjets in Austria and from Austria to Switzerland). I have not experienced any problems related to that matter, neither at train stations, nor in trains, neither in South, nor in North Germany. Trains may be relatively full weekdays evening time or before weekends on important North to South routes (Cologne-Frankfurt-Würzburg-Munich, Frankfurt-Mannheim-Stuttgart) so reservation ahead is recommended.

Current problems are sometimes delays caused by track works which may cause lost connections (be aware also of short-term track changes for departuring trains, observe the display panels at platforms), as ICE high speed trains do not wait one minute for late shuttle trains. The wagons are clean, the ICE technique is up to date, speeding up trains to 300 km/h on some routes. Another problem is that the service level is not always up to the needs in trains or stations imho. Hope DB is working on improvements.


Munich Hbf-Vienna Hbf (Main station) is non stop going if you take a RJ train (Railjet by Austrian ÖBB). I see German trains (EC, RE) from Munich stopping in Salzburg and you have to change to an RJ (arriving Vienna Hbf) or private Westbahn (arriving still at Vienna West station).

Vienna Hbf-Munich Hbf here a kind of change in Salzburg due to police control is scheduled. There are RJ trains leaving Vienna with destination Munich and Innsbruck, containing two train sets, one to Innsbruck (no control in Salzburg, no stop in Germany, exterritorial), and one to Munich (will be uncoupled in Salzburg and connected to another engine). I understand a control by German police is executed in Salzburg for this train set before it leaves to Rosenheim and further to Munich. I would not take German trains on this route at the moment, I understand they might stop in Salzburg, being driven without passengers to the German side, and passengers enter the train again there, probably taken by bus. Avoid that.

RJ Vienna-Zürich Switzerland via Innsbruck is also exterritorial, same route as to Innsbruck, but less stops in West Austria.

ÖBB Railjets provide the fastes train connection between Munich and Vienna with less than 4h. If you take an RJ train book "business" for a small additional fee. It is above 1st class and seperated, providing more comfort (half open compartements with 3 seats like 1st class airplane seats, staggered arranged) and better service (coffee or drink for free, more attention by the staff).

robtroxel

I believe this thread has been reassuring to those who travel infrequently on this route. Thanks again for the continuing contributions!

Great tip on the Business Class with RJ. It is worth the small extra fees especially if you are going a distance. We too had full compartments to ourselves.

deniah

non-issue now.

did the railjet to munich trip last week
.
at salzburg there is a mandatory train swap (believe it used to be continuous in the past). they cordon off most of the entry doors/cars, leaving only 1 passage way for boarding that could be monitored by uniformed police.

no spot check (unless you look suspect). everyone just walked on by.


east bound vienna to budapest also problem free. just a few patrols walking on board as usual