Please sign in to post.

German Train says route is unavailable

Hello! I've tried searching this forum and I'm still very confused and I'm hoping someone may be able to help as this email I received for the German train website is very worrying.

This is directly from the email:
Due to a timetable change, your journey from Zürich Flughafen to Erding on 18 June 2024 cannot be carried out as described. Click "Get current information here" for alternative journey options to your destination.
The requirement for you to travel on a specific train on your booked connection has been lifted. This means you can also use your ticket on other Deutsche Bahn long-distance trains (e.g. ICE/IC/EC), as well as local trains and S-Bahn trains.

Please note that you must book a new reservation if your connection requires one (e.g. trains to France).

You can book a new seat for your new connection if one is available. You can submit the costs for the unused original reservation for reimbursement. You can do so via the digital passenger rights claim system.

The train from Zurich Airport was booked for 11:43 and I still see it on the Swiss and German train websites/apps. Does that mean it's still active and that the part of my train that changed is probably from Munich to Erding?

If I rebook the entire train it would be over 300+ € which was 3x the amount I paid for 2 people in first class with seat reservations.

I just want to make sure I can still get on that 11:43am train and that our first class seat reservations still exist for the long train between Zurich airport and Munich. Can we still sit in the seats we paid for to reserve on that leg on the train? If not, how do I rebook?

Lastly, once I get to Munich, do I need to find a different way to Erding? If not, how do I confirm I get the same seats/first class I paid for? It's my understanding we buy tickets for the route and not the train but in this case I purchased first class and seats and want to ensure I'm somehow not out of that money! Thank you for any help!

Posted by
2502 posts

I have mentioned this before: Confusing customers is something that DB does an order of magnitude better than any other railway in Europe.

Here is the important thing to know:

You may believe that you have a ticket for a train. You do not. What you have is a ticket for travel on the route from Zurich Airport to Erding on Jun 18th. And nothing the railway does should result in you having to pay anything. It is not even necessary for you to call them, to email them or go to the railway station and exchange your ticket. As you already have a ticket. And it is still valid.

What is going on is that due to flooding in the south of Germany the direct EC trains from Zurich to Munich cannot operate. So you need to take a different route. You will notice hat the railways tell you to change to the RE70 in Lindau. But you can take any other combination of trains that will get you to Erding. Note that the part from Munich to Erding was always going to be on an S-Bahn, where there is no 1st class and no reserved seats.

So just on the 17th check the schedule, and just then take whaterver is convenient. You are free to take an earlier train. You may even take a different routing. You have a ticket for travel from Zurich Airport to Erding, so you can travel. I assume you are arriving by air? Well, you are now free to get on an earlier train if you so wish.

Don't think of train travel to be anything like air travel. Think NY Subway, but with nicer trains. If one route is blocked, you just take another.

EDIT: There is a reason I am saying to check the schedule again on the 17th. If you look up the route for today you will see that they have decided to run buses direct to Munich from Lindau for the passengers of the EC trains. This because there is just not enough place on the regional trains. This buses have not appeared on the schedule for the 18th yet, but I expect they will.

Posted by
5 posts

Thank you! That makes sense. So in this instance, the Munich to Erding connection is not impacted and there are no seat reservations or different classes. But for the "international" portion of Zurich to Munich, has been changed. Because of this, do we still have a seat reservation on a different train, or how can we ensure we have seats on a different train from Zurich to Munich? If it helps, I booked through the German train website, not the Swiss one

Posted by
2502 posts

There is currently no direct train. You will have seats on the train till Lindau, and I assume they will have enough buses ready to take you to Munich. The busses will drop you at Hackerbrucke, where you can board the S2 to Erding.

Posted by
5 posts

Sorry, I must be really confused and stupid- so there is no alternative direct train anymore or altnertive option? We now can take the normal train from Zurich in 1st class with our normal reserver seats at the normal 11:43am time all the way to Lindau, and then from Lindau, we are forced to take a bus to Munich? Then in Munich, I can take whatever train is next to Erding with our normal original ticket. I think Lindau to Munich was still 2 hours by train so now this is significantly going to add time to our trip? I just want to make sure I'm completely understanding. We took this train for the scenery to get us to Munich for our flight and because it beats dealing with one additional airport :)

Posted by
2502 posts

Yes, unfortunately there is no direct train at the moment. The floods in Southern Bavaria damaged the railway line, and the alternative route is not electrified.
So you will be doing part of the trip in a bus. The railways are doing their best in dealing with the situation. They are however not very good ad communicating, and assume that the people they communicate with know how train travel works.

The last part to Erding is on an S-Bahn. That is basically a suburban train. Literally like taking a Subway in NY...

Posted by
33851 posts

It is very sad for you and completely unfair that your planned beautiful 1st class train trip will be partly on an awful (not 1st class) bus, just because the train company didn't put in better tracks that couldn't be flooded or washed away. The weather forecasters deserve punishment for not giving you enough information so you could plan how to avoid the storm.

Think of all the residents whose businesses have washed away or homes and cars flooded. Your bus will be on safe roads and you will be safe.

I'm sorry you are being inconvenienced.

Posted by
5 posts

Got it! It says RE7 and RE72 and both say train for our route now, which is confusing since you're saying it's bus but I take it just showing up at the normal time Zurich and going from there should be fine. Do we get assigned seats on the bus? My fear for such a long ride on a bus is not having room for our luggage and I don't want to be stuck standing for so long. I believe the bus shows 3 hours from Lindau to Munich instead of 1.5 hours by train, but I'm starting to doubt the time table since it still doesn't show any buses.

Posted by
2502 posts

What I am saying is ignore what the schedules show for the moment. It is changing all the time. But have a look at today and tomorrow.
Today and tomorrow they are running busses. What they will do on the 18th we will see then.

So yes, just leave on your intended train. Or leave on an earlier one. And I assume they will provide sufficient busses. I doubt they will have assigned seats though. They know how many people are going to Munich, so they should be able to provide the needed capacity.

Posted by
7914 posts

No rail replacement bus service anywhere in Western Europe ever has assigned seats.

I would assume that Germany is like the UK in that coach-buses are generally used for such long duties. That means that there is no standing allowed (by law)- the bus can only take the number of people there are seats for. Also that means that the luggage goes in the hold under the bus.

This kind of situation is extremely dynamic, in that rail service will be resumed ASAP, It may be that timetables for regional services are not updating as fast as you would like. The local people (who the trains are really there for) will just be travelling on whatever services exist. They will be interacting on the ground with duty railway staff.

Unless someone on this forum is actually on the ground at the relevant railway stations, and able to update us (and you) on an hour by hour basis it really is a situation of travelling with an open mind and judging things by how they are on the ground, in this difficult situation. Even when the lines do open there will be a situation where trains and train crew are in the wrong place, possibly even trains unserviceable after this flood event.

If you feel really aggrieved for not getting your 1st class seats throughout in the given circumstances, then I am sure someone here will be able to tell you how to apply for a refund in due course- after your journey.

Posted by
2480 posts

According to the latest information from DB, the damaged bridge near Mindelheim will not be repaired until the end of the first week of July. So you have the two alternatives mentioned above: 1) bus from Lindau to Munich ZOB, 2) train via the Bavarian Allgäubahn with a change in Buchloe. If comfort is more important to you, take the bus, if beautiful scenery, take the trains (which carry 1th class, btw). In both cases, take the S2 to Erding in Munich, in the first case from the Hackerbrücke station at the ZOB, in the second from the main station (underground level).

Posted by
5 posts

How would luggage work on the bus? Debating taking the bus or 2 trains due to the schedule change but we have checked luggage with us and I assume that can't sit with us during the entire bus ride. Will the busses have storage underneath? And if so, how do we let the driver know when we can get it?

Posted by
2480 posts

Will the busses have storage underneath?

Exactly.

And if so, how do we let the driver know when we can get it?

You will be not the only one with luggage, and the driver will simply stop you from taking your suitcase into the cabin.