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RailJet question

I just bought two first class tickets for Dec. 7 from Salzburg to Vienna. I know that most people won't pay the extra 6 euro each to reserve the seats, but since it was so cheap I just did it anyway for piece of mind. However, I was not given the opportunity to reserve specific seats. Is there a way to do this after already printing off the tickets, or on this train does the reservation merely mean you are guaranteed a your seats on the train?

Posted by
1875 posts

There is no way to reserve specific seats, but only the seat types, i.e. window, aisle or at a table.
As far as I know a seat reservation cannot be changed.
But you may take any seat which is not reserved (and leave your reserved seat empty) if you are not happy with your reservation. Seat reservations expire 15 minutes after departure of the train, anyway.

Posted by
631 posts

if you have the tickets you should see a car (Wagen) number and seat (Platz) number. Railjets are fixed formations of 7 cars which can be coupled in pairs to make 14 cars. If it is a single set, for reasons best known to the planners the cars are numbered 21-27 with the high numbers at the Vienna end, 25 is mostly restaurant with a few first class, 26 is all first class, 27 is mostly first class with a small business class section. If the train is a double set the whole thing is duplicated with cars 31-37 further along the platform. The first class seats are pretty much identical. If you don't like the seats (probably because they face the wrong way) you can change to any unreserved seat on the correct train. These are interiors photos of car 26/36 http://www.vagonweb.cz/fotogalerie/A/OeBB_Ampz-1990-6.php

Posted by
49 posts

Okay, I can see now that we were assigned seats. I don't speak German, so I had no idea. But now that you explained what the words mean, it looks like Wagen 26 and then it has 041 FENSTER and 043 MITTE, which I guess means 41 is the window seat and 43 is the aisle seat. I didn't want to change my seats, as much as I wanted an actual reserved seat. But now I see that we do have assigned seats. I can't find any diagrams to see where in the car they are, but I will obviously just walk down the aisle until I find it. Thanks for your help.

Posted by
14481 posts

Walking down the isle until you find your reserved seats is what everyone else does too. The isle seat could also be labelled GANG 43, aside from Mitte.

Posted by
5362 posts

Ok folks, you are making this much harder than it needs to be. When the train arrives, there will be signs on the window of each car which CLEARLY indicate the wagen number. The numbers will be sequential, so it is easy to figure out where to board. There will be plenty of time. Once you are in the correct wagen (car) you find your clearly indicated seat number.

Posted by
49 posts

I have never been on a train in Austria before, and there are slight differences in trains around the world. Plus, if it's crowded, I don't want to be wandering around and annoying people. I like to be prepared so I know where to get on and where my seat is generally located so I am not a nuisance. I see that often.

Posted by
14481 posts

The Railjet trains are the same as other trains, regardless of the difference in color. If you want to know specifically where to stand in order to get on quickly assuming there is no crowd all boarding at the spot just as you, look on the platform at the sign "Wagenreihung" It indicates the spot where your coach number will pull in. There are times though when the train does not comply with that.

Posted by
631 posts

"There are times though when the train does not comply with that. " which is why I asked which train this was because the list I can look at doesn't seem to have a train with a car 46.

Posted by
19646 posts

You saw the train seat map I posted.

You should see a diagram similar to this on the platform at Salzburg Hbf showing where the various wagens will be when the train stops. The letters at the bottom of the diagram correspond to overhead signs on the platform. so you should be standing at the approximate spot on the platform where wagen 26 will be when the train stops.
https://wi9geg6s60ut0mms-zippykid.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/Train-coach-guide.jpg

Works good 90% of the time.

Posted by
631 posts

the other thing is to make sure you know the train number at Salzburg, there are 2 Railjets to Vienna just 4 minutes apart, 8 and 12 minutes past most hours. They can be several tracks apart. And the earlier one is often two trains (with different numbers) that couple together.

Posted by
1875 posts

The numbered platforms are divided into sections labelled A, B, C, D, ...
Somewehere on the platform (and in the concourse of bigger stations) there is a diagram of every train departing, showing which car will be in what section. Look up your train and car number from your seat reservation, and you can place yourself and your luggage at the right spot on the platform for speedy boarding.

Posted by
672 posts

Yes, you absolutely CAN reserve seats after buying your tickets from OeBB. This happened to me a few weeks ago. When I bought my tickets, on-line, I did not see anywhere to reserve seats. But, after buying my tickets, I went back to the OeBB website to investigate and discovered that I should have scrolled down further on the page where I bought the tickets because there indeed was a place to buy seat reservations. So, I wrote to OeBB Customer Service and asked how to reserve seats after buying tickets and here are the instructions how to do it: "In our online ticketshop https://tickets.oebb.at/en/ticket you can book separate seat reservations without a ticket as follows: please enter your travel details and number of passengers and select the connection. On the next page under "Our services" please choose "more results" and "Ticket already exists". Then you can select your reservation requests under "Reservation details"." I tried it and it worked. Like the tickets, you will receive a pdf via email that shows your reserved seats.