Dbahn Specific Train Question

I presume you have pre-purchased a saver fare; in this case the only trains you must ride exactly as scheduled are the long distance trains named on your ticket. As long as your MUC > Munich Ost train is the "Nahverkehr" variety (local/regional train such as the S-Bahn, NOT IC, ICE, EC or other long-distance train) then you can do just as you have in mind.

Your ticket will likely not have any time indication at all for the MUC > Munich Ost, only *NV ** short for Nahverkehr, ANY Nahverkehr train you wish that same day.

Thank you, Russ. In looking ta my ticket it does appear that I am on the ICE train. If I may, I am curious as to what might happen to me if I were to board an earlier train? How likely would it be for my ticket to be checked on the 20 minute trip before I arrive at Munchen Ost? If checked, would they allow an uninformed tourist to continue with a stern reminder to never do that again :-)

I wouldn't do that. I'd stop at a ticket-vending machine and buy a new ticket just from the airport to Munchen Ost. (Now let's see whether the Germany experts think I'm wrong.)

DB checks tickets quite frequently, especially on segments of the lines that are highly trafficked (as this one is). If they check and you do not have a valid ticket, they can (and often do) fine you. Here is an article in English about the new fine rules that came into effect this year. You may find someone who takes pity on you as a tourist, but I would not bet on it.

If you really want to take the earlier train, just buy a ticket for a regional train when you arrive. It will not be expensive for this short trip, and then you will be travelling in compliance with the rules.

Related question and the background for all of this - is a 9 minute connection at Munchen Ost a cause for worry?

Azra, there is a firewall to that article & thus is blocked. Is there any way to read it on another website that provides the same information but has no paywall as I would really be interested in reading it. Thank you.

In looking ta my ticket it does appear that I am on the ICE train.

There are no ICE or other long distance trains going from MUC to Munich East. It's S-Bahn only. So you can take any train you like. Your ticket is train specific only for long distance trains, i.e. from Munich East onwards.

sla019 - yes, my tickets states S 8.

Your indication of the 9 minute change makes the distinction of the trains clear . The first leg is the S8 from MUC to Munchen Ost . You can ride an earlier S8 , and extend your transfer time . With luggage , the switch to the Italy bound EC train will be a bit easier and less stress

Continental, I could not find another article about this in English, sorry! Do you read German/want links to articles that you could read with DeepL or similar? If so: here are two. Article 1, Article 2.

@Continental, I was able to read the article in its entirely. I used Chrome and had no problems. You DO have to whitelist it, which is very easy - in Chrome, I use AdBlock and have the option of clicking on it to allow Adblock to allow ads for a one time read. That being said, it basically says that passengers can no longer buy paper tickets retroactively on the train. If you do not have a ticket you will be liable for a fine of double the fare (up to €60 or potentially €300 under some circumstances).

The article also says: If there is no ticket counter and no other functioning ticket machine. Anyone who quickly buys a ticket online after departure must do so within a time limit of 10 minutes. If they don’t do so within the time limit, they will have to pay a fine.

I would definitely make sure you have the app on your phone and set up an account. It's very easy and then you just store your tickets on the app. I have about 6-7 tickets on my app right now, and having the info in there ahead of time makes it easy to access quickly.

I can confirm that sla is correct, you can take any S-Bahn from the airport to Munich east if you ticket covers the local transport. You are not bound to a specific S-Bahn.

DJ

Thank you for all your responses. This give us some flexibility that we did not think we would have.

The situation to which I think you refer is covered in the AGB (Conditions of Carriage) for the Bahn. It is specifically called Vor- und Nach-lauf and says, in German, that for Sparpreis tickets, only the train(s) of the Bahn (long distance train: ICE, IC, or EC) are specific to that ticket. Any regional train (the S-Bahn is a regional train) with the same route as the ticketed regional train can be taken to get to and from the specified train on the day of validity until 10:00 the following day.

Beförderungsbedingungen für Personen durch die Unternehmen der Deutsche Bahn AG (BB Personenverkehr), § 3.3.1.2

I believe your ticket also has some wording saying, in German, the same thing.

If your ticket starts from the Munich airport and goes through München Ost to Italy, it has to include an S-Bahn from the airport to Ost and your Bahn train from there is an EC (not an ICE) via Rosenheim, Innsbruck, and Brennero. The departure board for the Munich airport shows only a few regional trains (NV) to Regensburg and the S-1 and S-8 into Munich. The departure board from München Ost shows only a few ICEs, those going to either Austria or Frankfurt.

At the airport, the departure schedule will show the S-1 going to Ost and the S-8 going to one of several station, Herrsching being one of them. Those are the end stations for those train. The S-1 goes around the west side of town, through the Hbf, and terminates at München Ost, but takes longer to get to Ost than does the S-8. The S-8 goes around the east side of town, stops München Ost, then at the Hbf, then terminates in one of the towns to the SW of Munich near Ondechs. Take the S-8 even though the S-1 says München Ost.

Mardee, thank you. I do have a DB account & I have the app.

To highlight what Lee describes above, you'll also see in the following PDF how the S8 is a shorter ride from Flughafen München to München Ostbahnhof than the S1.

• https://www.mvv-muenchen.de/fileadmin/mediapool/03-PlaeneBahnhoefe/Netzplaene/MVVNetzplanSU_R.pdf
• Munich MVV transport website, in English ➡ Maps ➡ Network maps ➡ Urban rail and regional train