Border crossings

All of those countries are part of the Schengen Zone fyi;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Area

This means that the borders are open the equivalent of like driving from state to state in the USA.

All 4 countries are part of the Schengen Area. Which means no regular border controls.
It is 100% legal to cross the border wherever and whenever you want, subject only to the laws of trespass.
I regularly cross borders by bus, train, car, on foot; there is nobody at the border, just a sign beside the road.

Switzerland is not part of the EU, so there is customs. That is only for commercial vehicles (trucks carrying goods). Other travellers need not stop if they have nothing to declare. Only major roads (which trucks use) have customs posts.

Thanks for the great input. This certainly does simply things for tourists to be able to move about easily.

This certainly does simply things for tourists to be able to move about easily.

It's also pretty useful for the locals. There are rail lines from Garmish-Partenkirchen to Austria (for example Innsbruck), in the old days with checks it was a pain and a time waster. Now the only way you notice is that the signage changes from DB (German Railways) to ÖBB (Austrian Railways).

And if you go into Czechia you will notice it by the fact that the Czech conductor speaks a more intellegible German than his Saxonian counterpart. ;)

And if you go into Czechia you will notice it by the fact that the Czech conductor speaks a more intellegible German than his Saxonian counterpart. ;)

Yes, I've even heard intelligible German spoken in Oberpfalz these days! ;)

DJ

The train doesn't stop for border crossings -- but we have been on trains where there were people who were asked for their passports. Random checks ? Profiled ?? We couldn't tell. We were never asked.