Originally Posted by
bhomburg
You should be able to. DB sets the delay threshold from which the train-specific requirements are waived to twenty minutes:
Your ticket is no longer train-specific if timetable changes are made before your journey starts, If you originally bought a train-specific ticket, this restriction does not apply in the following situations:- If the timetable changes and the train is rescheduled to depart at an earlier time
- If the timetable change means your train arrives at your transfer station with a delay of over 20 minutes
- If a train/stop is cancelled
- If the connection is disrupted between your starting point and transfer station
Instead, you can use your ticket on another Deutsche Bahn service to reach the destination you booked.
. Source
:https://www.bahn.de/hilfe/view/pk/en/zugbindung.shtml
AFAIK, IC and EC are considered the same class of train so there should not be an additional supplement (there would be one for an ICE) .
I`d go to a service counter or ticket counter before travel and inquire about this
Thank you for the help and the link to the terms, very helpful!
We went to the ticket counter and they seemed pretty adamant that it was a no-go, but I asked the conductor upon boarding if we could take the earlier train and they kindly said “it doesn’t matter take your seat”. I’m sure sometimes you could have a more picky conductor, but it was all good for us.
The bus replacement from Koblenz to Wittlich messed with our plans a bit but I think we were able to totally resolve now 👌🏼. Cheers!