How to deal with a cancelled train trip

I did a quick look at bahn.com and see many trains that day, Frankfurt HBF to Bruges. What exactly are you seeing? On which train were you booked?

I just searched that date and got results listing trains running to Brussels. What time did you book?

Station/Stop Date Time Duration Chg. Products Flexpreis
Frankfurt(Main)Hbf Sa, 01.09.18 03:08 5:27 1 IC, THA Fares not available
Bruxelles Midi Sa, 01.09.18 08:35
Frankfurt Hbf (tief) Sa, 01.09.18 03:17 5:18 2 S, IC, THA Fares not available
Bruxelles Midi Sa, 01.09.18 08:35
Frankfurt(Main)Hbf Sa, 01.09.18 05:24 4:11 0 ICE 104,00 EUR
Bruxelles Midi Sa, 01.09.18 09:35
Frankfurt(Main)Hbf Sa, 01.09.18 06:15 4:20 1 ICE, THA Unknown tariff abroad
Bruxelles Midi Sa, 01.09.18 10:35
Frankfurt(Main)Hbf Sa, 01.09.18 07:15 4:20 0 ICE There are only a few free seats available on this train. We recommend you reserve a seat. 104,00 EUR
Bruxelles Midi Sa, 01.09.18 11:35
Frankfurt(Main)Hbf Sa, 01.09.18 07:42 5:53 1 IC, ICE There are only a few free seats available on this train. We recommend you reserve a seat. 104,00 EUR
Bruxelles Midi Sa, 01.09.18 13:35
Frankfurt(Main)Hbf Sa, 01.09.18 08:42 4:53 2 ICE There are only a few free seats available on this train. We recommend you reserve a seat. 104,00 EUR
Bruxelles Midi Sa, 01.09.18 13:35
Frankfurt(Main)Hbf Sa, 01.09.18 08:42 4:53 2 ICE, IC There are only a few free seats available on this train. We recommend you reserve a seat. 104,00 EUR
Bruxelles Midi Sa, 01.09.18 13:35
1 traveller (Age: 56 Years), 2nd class

Two guesses here:

• This is the result of the "runs not every day" note in the DB connection search. Whoever wrote this apparently tried to maximise confusion (it's not just the translation, the German message is similarly confusing). A message like "runs not every day, 26. Aug" is supposed to mean: This connection is not available every day [which is relevant to commuters, who want to do this trip regularly], but it does run on Aug 26th. If a connection shows up as a search result, it is definitely available on the day for which you did the query.
  • You may have looked at a different departure station (airport instead of main station, or vice versa). Always enter the place you actually want to depart from - if you are at the airport, do not just enter "Frankfurt", but "Frankfurt Airport" or "FRA".

I wonder if Gerald's confusion is because his ticket is for a connection with only one change, in Brussels. There are lots of one change connections during the week, like on the day before (Fri), but there only appears to be one such connection (at 7:15) on Saturday (maybe that's too early for Gerald). It could be that the Bahn just cancelled the Köln to Brussels part of the first train's route and put him on the next connecting train from Köln to Brussels.

Note that, for the one change connections, the train from Frankfurt to Brussels goes through and stops at Köln Hbf, and the two change connections on Saturday stop and change trains in Köln, so both follow the same route. Assuming you have a full fare, "flexipreis" ticket, it is valid for any train on that route that day, so you should just be able to use it on any connection with a Köln change. I did this very thing in 2013, when I had a flexipreis ticket for FRA to Karlsruhe, direct, but with a stop (no change) in Mannheim. I missed that connection and had to take the next one, which had a change of trains in Mannheim. It was no problem.

There are connections on Saturday that go through Koblenz (the details show an IC from Mainz to Koblenz). That's not the same route; you can't just substitute it for your ticketed route. Since it's a less expensive connection, the Bahn might let you take it, but check at the ticket counter before doing that.

The two change trains seem to use a Thalys (THA) train from Köln to Brussels; again, you might be able to substitute, but check at the counter.

However, if you have a discounted, advance purchase, "Savings Fare" ticket, things are a bit more complicated. Since such a ticket is "train specific" and the specified train was cancelled, you will miss the specified train due to a fault of the Bahn, and they will make it good. Just go to a ticket counter at FRA when you arrive and point out to the ticket agent that the specified train was cancelled and they will rewrite the ticket, probably for the next following connection.

Or perhaps instead of looking the website of the Bahn Gerald is looking at something like RailEurope.

Gerald, can you please come back and fill us in? Look at your ticket please and write down what it shows for the stations, the train numbers and times. You do mean September 1, 2018 right?

We can sort this out for you but need the details.

And, do you have a flexipreis (full fare) ticket or a Savings Fare ticket?

Let me start by thanking everyone who has made suggestions on my problem. To clarify, the trip I booked departed Frankfurt(Main)Hbf at 10:29 with a transfer in Brussels and arrived in Bruges at 14:49. So it was a 1 change trip. I'm not sure what type ticket it was as it was purchased awhile ago and I can't read the German text on the ticket. But if I log on to my account at DB and display the online ticket it appears to be the same as before; certainly the dates and times are the same as are the trains. I created a .pdf from the ticket displayed and tried to attach it to this note but it didn't work. Neither did a screen shot of the image so I copied the train information from the .pdf ticket and pasted it here :

Halt
Frankfurt(Main)Hbf Bruxelles Midi Bruxelles Midi Brugge
Wichtige Nutzungshinweise:
Datum Zeit Gleis Produkte/Reservierung
01.09. ab 10:29 18 ICE 16 01.09. an 13:35 5
01.09. ab 13:51 16 IC 1535 01.09. an 14:49 5

Note - the rows are in a different order on the .pdf ticket but the information is the same. The note "runs not every day, 1 Sep." was not on the DB page when I booked the ticket (I have the screen grab). If DB has cancelled the trip or changed the schedule would they not contact me as I have a booked and paid for ticket? I am waiting on a response from DB and I'll have to wait until at least Monday I expect.

The next best train trip is the one that departs at 10:17. The 07:15 is rather early and the later trips are quite long. The 10:17 would be acceptable but it also shows the confusing note "runs not every day, 1 Sep." Interestingly, the RailEurope site does not show any trains on Sep. 1 other than one at 07:24 and 07:42. The trainline.eu site shows lots of trains on that day but not the one at 10:17 and most of them are 3 or 4 changes and very long. This is all very confusing.

If I do not hear from DB before I leave (Aug.30) then I will have to go to the DB ticket counter the day before and straighten it out. However, I'd feel better if I had the answer beforehand. The saga will continue. Gerry

Just checked this on the DB website. Apparently, there is planned construction on the fast route between Frankfurt and Cologne this weekend. So yes, your train has been cancelled and the alternatives are slower. You could ask whether DB can give you a ticket for the Thalys train that leaves Cologne at 12:42 (departure from Frankfurt at 10:17) - that would be your fastest connection. Unfortunately, DB tries to avoid that (as Thalys is considered as a competitor), so you are likely stuck with a slower connection.

On the bright side, the slower route to Cologne is also the more scenic one, and with a delay of an hour or more, DB has to reimburse you for 25% of the ticket price (50% in case this goes up to more than 2 hours). Just pick any of the connections that DB is now showing on their website. If you have a seat reservation, you can exchange it free of charge. If not, you can just take an alternative connection. If you choose one that is reasonably close to the original departure or arrival time, the ticket will be accepted without any problem. Conductors will know that your train has been cancelled, as the construction work affects all trains on that route.

Looks to me like your trip has been cancelled. What time does your plane land on 8/31? I would suggest cancelling the Frankfurt hotel and leaving from Frankfurt Airport station upon arrival on 8/31 for Brussels Nord or Brussels Midi - and booking a room in Brussels. (Of course if you get in really early that day and you think you can manage the train ride to Bruges, make Bruges your first night destination instead.)

There are numerous DIRECT train options to Brussels on 8/31 that take less than 3 hours (at 10:43, 12:43, 14:43, for example.) I suggest you request that they issue you a ticket for FLEXIBLE travel at no extra charge. I also suggest you request an overnight stopover in Brussels, with a connecting train departure the following morning to Bruges (this stopover is something you can actually pre-book online anyway for no additional charge, not some special favor they'd be doing you.)

Not sure they will go for all that - they may offer only a refund, in which case you may have to fork over full fare for flexi travel (plane could arrive late!) or choose a saver fare for a specific train schedule (with a 2-3 hour "cushion" between scheduled flight arrival and train departure to ensure that you make that train.) You could book that overnight layover in Brussels yourself if you like with your saver fare.

Thanks, chris-s, for what is the likely explanation of the cancellation. Maybe expecting them to inform me of this is expecting too much. I'll raise it with them if they respond to my emails. I prefer your alternative to that proposed by Russ as I don't favour taking a train on Aug. 31 after spending 14 hours on flights to Frankfurt. An overriding principle in planning this entire trip was to minimize connections, transfers and one night stays. I'll spend the night in Frankfurt, recover from the long flight and sort it out at the train station the next day. It's good to know that I have some leverage in securing a comparable train trip.

If I get a reply from my emails to DB, I'll let everyone know what they suggest. Thanks, Gerry

I think there is a checkbox somewhere in the ordering process, something like "Inform me about delays". Not sure when they do that, though; I usually book shortly before departure, so cannot receive any information days ahead. Anyway, I would have expected an information as well in your situation. Good luck with the trip.

I'm not sure what type ticket it was as it was purchased awhile ago

If the ticket was for 125€ for one person, it is a full fare, fully flexible ticket. It's good on any train that day, as long as the train goes via Köln. You should be able to just get on any ICE going to Köln, but any reservation would not be valid unless they change it at a counter. If it cost significantly less, it's a train specific ticket. You'll have to get them to change it at a ticket counter.

If it is a train specific ticket, it should have the word "Sparpreis" printed somewhere on it. Also, it will have

Gültigkeit: ab {date}
GILT NUR FÜR EINGETRAGENE ZÜGE / TAGE / ZEITEN (ZUGBINDUNG);

on it somewhere.

If it's a ticket that you printed from a pdf file, that information will be in a shaded box on the upper left.

I have made it successfully to Brugge. I went to the DB information office at the Frankfurt train station, took a number and waited about an hour to see an agent. Apparently, DB has had a lot of problems lately and there are many unhappy customers. All they did for me was initial my ticket with a note about the cancellation. I took a train via Cologne earlier the next day and after 3 transfers arrived in Brugge at the same time as the cancelled train would have. The trains were running late and I almost missed a connection but the next train was just leaving on an adjacent track. The train to Cologne was packed so I took a seat in a first class car and the conductor didn’t notice my second class ticket. So it seems the German railway is not running as efficiently as it was in the past.

Thanks for all the suggestions here. Gerry

Nobody ever said Deutsche Bahn was perfect, but they get you there eventually. I've had several such experiences, and in the end, I got where I wanted go.

DB tends to take excellent care of its tracks, which is the reason for the disruption of service you and the others experienced. The alternative to track maintenance is disaster.

I don't know how one measures current efficiency against the past. Today's Bahn carries 7.5 million passengers per day on 24,000 trains per day and has expanded and added operational systems that were only a dream in the past. All this progress raises expectations while it challenges performance standards.

"I took a train via Cologne earlier the next day and after 3 transfers arrived in Brugge at the same time as the cancelled train would have."

This sounds more like grounds for praise. DB shut down a major artery for repairs - and still got you to your destination on time?

"The trains were running late and I almost missed a connection but the next train was just leaving on an adjacent track. The train to Cologne was packed..."

I would expect crowding on a train route that has to carry not only its own passengers but those from a route that is shut down. And I would expect at least a small delay as well since picking up and dropping off extra passengers on every stop takes longer. Yet you did NOT miss your connection. Mission accomplished.

"So it seems the German railway is not running as efficiently as it was in the past."

I think the wiser conclusion would be closer to Sam's. They got you where you wanted to go.

You would not assess your own running fitness on a day when you slipped on a staircase, twisted an ankle, and had to visit the ER. So considering that you got where you planned to get on time, the facts used for this assessment of the entire DB rail system seems more than a little skimpy. One train trip - on one day - a day when your one train route needed emergency surgery? DB operated 23,999 other trains that day and repeated that feat on 364 additional days in the year prior. For a conclusion like yours, I would want a look at DB's performance on those other days as well.

It's by no means a secret that one out for four long distance trains is running late currently (local trains,
which run over much shorter distances, are usually on time). After two decades of neglect of the network in the west in favour of rebuilding the rotten tracks in the east they've just started to rebuild it. 2019 is going to be even worse but hopefully it's end will bring the turnaround.

Punctuality...

DB's statistics for this year show that about 94% of all trains run on time (or less than 5 minutes late.)

95% of regional/local trains are on time or less than 5 minutes late; about 77% of long distance trains (IC, ICE, EC, etc, the "high-speed trains) meet those criteria. On the plus side for this second group is that 90% of them are less than 15 minutes late:

https://www.bahn.de/p/view/service/auskunft/puenktlichkeit_personenverkehr.shtml

What this means for people traveling long distances is that connecting after a long-distance train ride is the iffiest change of train. If DB offers a tight connection (like 10 minutes) after a long-distance train, you might instead search with a slightly longer built-in layover time (like 20-40 minutes) or at least have an alternative train departure time in mind in case you miss your connection.

As some of you have mentioned, I got to where I wanted go. Perhaps my expectations were too high but I based them on comments from German friends who raved about how efficient DB was and that “all” the trains ran on time. I wasn’t the only customer with problems to be resolved sitting waiting for an hour to be served by one of 15 agents. My comments reflect what those sitting around me had to say. A first class passenger on the Cologne to Bruxelles train was a consultant in train signaling and safety systems who works with railways around the world. We spoke on many topics and he told me DB had experienced safety issues with some of the newer tracks installed in the last few years and were having to go back and upgrade them. This newspaper article goes into detail about how service has deteriorated in past years: https://global.handelsblatt.com/companies/hell-of-a-way-to-run-a-railroad-853591

But as one of you mentioned, DB carries millions of people every day and most of them get where they wanted to go. I was one of those but it was good luck and a wise choice on my part to select a route with longer transfer times. The agent had suggested a later departure time with tighter transfers. My next leg of my holiday is on the Belgian Railway and later I’ll be on Trenitalia (Italy), an OBB NightJet train (Austria) and Ceske drahy (the Czech Republic). So I’ll have ample opportunity to evaluate several European railway systems. I can report on this if there is interest.

I went to the DB information office at the Frankfurt train station, took a number and waited about an hour to see an agent

As said, there was not really a need to do this (except if you wanted to get on the Thalys train, but even then, I would not have expected a good chance of success...).

"I based them on comments from German friends who raved about how efficient DB was and that “all” the trains ran on time."

Most Germans who ride the trains regularly have surely been late at one time or another. In fact, a late train is something Germans sort of enjoy complaining about among themselves, IME. But that's because most of them expect efficiency - because efficiency is what they generally get.

Anyway, they were talking to you, and they were probably not trying to be completely accurate. Maybe they had in mind how superior German train travel is to train travel in certain other European countries or elsewhere in the world (like North America - a night-and-day comparison that easily evokes superlatives like "always" and "all.")

When I used DB in 2012 every train I took was always on time to the minute-maybe I was just lucky! I was utterly amazed!

Thanks for the feedback, especially you Russ, as I have a better understanding of what to expect. For long trips involving transfers I will try to select longer transfer times on all the trips in the various countries I’m visiting. Sometimes this just isn’t possible and I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

It’s good to know that I can use a ticket for other routes and trains. In this case I booked the tickets a long time ago at a specially low fare and wanted to be sure it was valid. I think the hand written note on my ticket distracted the conductor such that he didn’t notice I was in a first class car.

I have a trip on Belgian Rail tomorrow and it’s no trains for a week. Bye for now Gerry

I've been home for a few weeks since returning from my European holiday and I'll pass on some comments about the different railway systems I used.

Deutsche Bahn : Frankfurt to Bruges (via Cologne and Brussels). Confusion with a cancelled train is what started this discussion. The DB Help Centre put a note on my ticket and I was able to use it for this trip without any problem. I did find the DB staff somewhat curt and not too sympathetic with one platform person even being rude. Perhaps the problems they are having are wearing down their patience. The train to Cologne was late probably due to there being a lot of passengers and we almost missed the connection (scheduled to be 15 minutes) to Brussels. Thankfully the platforms were adjacent.

SNCB (Belgian) : Bruges to Amsterdam. The staff were friendly, helpful and spoke good English. The train was comfortable and on time with good a connection in Brussels. Signage in the stations was excellent.

SNCF (French) : Strasbourg to Basel. A short regional train trip with no transfers so nothing untoward to report; I don't think we even saw a conductor.

Trenitalia (Italian) : Basel to Rome. This was a long trip with a transfer in Milan. The first train was comfortable and the scenery was beautiful, both in Switzerland and northern Italy. The last leg from Milan to Rome was on the Frecciarossa, a high speed train that topped out at 305 KPH and took less than 3 hours! Signage in Milan was good so the transfer was easy; the train was comfortable and on time. No complaints here.

OBB (Austrian Railway) : Rome to Munich. This was the OBB NightJet overnight train, leaving Rome at 7:00PM and arriving Munich at 8:15AM. If I had it to do over, I would have taken a daytime train. There was a lot of noise, stopping and starting and noticeable swaying in the top bunk. Also, strangely, the police knocked on our compartment door at 6:00AM to check passports. I expected the seats to be down when we boarded but the beds had already been made up and we didn't have a table to sit at to eat our dinner (which we brought on board). The same was true at breakfast. A day train would have been more comfortable and we could have enjoyed the scenery.

Deutsche Bahn : Munich to Passau. A short trip but with one glitch. When the conductor checked our ticket she told us something in German which we did not understand and she did not speak English. Another passenger said something about us being in the wrong car. We didn't do anything about it until later when we stopped at a station and someone else said we had to move two cars up the train because ours was being disconnected for a different route. We left the car with our bags but the train pulled out of the station before we could get on the other car. Fortunately, there was another train in an hour. I suppose there was some way we should have known about this from our ticket(?) or on the platform but it could have been worse if we didn't get off and went elsewhere.

Ceske drahy (Czech Republic) : Budapest to Prague. Signage in the Nyugati station was poor.This was an old train with 6 passenger compartments and not very comfortable seats. The distance was not that long but the trip took 6 hours. We decided to spend time in the dining car and this was the best part of the trip. The train was called the Metropolitan and it apparently had one of the finest remaining dining cars in Europe with an actual kitchen in the car. The meal was excellent and cheap. There were no transfers although there were several stops and the train was late. All in all, an interesting trip for our last train ride.

I do not regret taking trains for this trip (except for there NIghtJet) as overall it was a comfortable, enjoyable experience. For the most part, the trains ran on time. I would have preferred more transfer time on some trips but that's not always possible. Oops out of text - I'll answer any questions you have.

On comparing the various train companies I have used in the few years, DB is much better now, I mean, on this last trip in May, than it was in 2015, (?), which was the absolute worst in my train traveling in Germany since 1971. If my train wasn't late, someone else was experiencing a late train...just listen to the announcements while you're standing on the platform waiting for your scheduled train to pull in. Not only late trains, I mean in excess of 10 mins, but also canceled trains (Zug fällt aus)

Last year's trip and that of this year the frequency of late trains was hardly noticeable. True, last year I experienced the Night Jet leaving from Hamburg-Altona 75 mins late. That was a fluke.

You can realistically expect certain routes to be crowded, ie packed, eg, Frankfurt to Munich in either direction, 2nd class.

OeBB and CD are good, no problems with them, very nice. Westbahn in a way is even better.

SNCF ...riding the TGV from France to Ger and the return is worth it in 1st class, always punctual at departure...very nice.

The Belgian Thalys trains...no experience with them anymore since 2007 since I avoid those routes, if possible.

"This was the OBB NightJet overnight train, leaving Rome at 7:00PM and
arriving Munich at 8:15AM. If I had it to do over, I would have taken
a daytime train. There was a lot of noise, stopping and starting and
noticeable swaying in the top bunk."

Your experience is not uncommon. I too prefer that my bed remain completely still beneath me.

But with the daytime train it's a very long sit for such a long journey. To break it up, I sometimes book a ticket with a 9-to-12-hour overnight stopover somewhere mid-way - and book a room near the station. Many travelers are unaware that booking such long stopovers is not only possible but free of charge at DB. Sometimes I book an even longer stopover if the stopover town looks interesting. This year DW and I booked a June train trip with DB from a town in Northern Germany near the Dutch border to Budapest with a 36-hour stopover in Salzburg. (As I recall, we also scheduled a separate stopover in Munich for the dinner hour.) We spent 2 nights just outside Salzburg and later completed our journey to Budapest on the same ticket. The saver fare for the entire trip was €50 each and the stopover €0.00.

On that packed Frankfurt to Cologne trip that replaced my cancelled train, we kept walking forward from full car to full car until we found one near the front that was quite empty so we stayed there. It was a first class car but the conductor seemed to be more interested in what was written on my ticket that he didn't notice the class. Seating wasn't that much different.

The longest daytime trip we took was from Strasbourg to Rome, a total of 9 hours with two transfers. It was not uncomfortable and on a train one can get up and walk around or go to the bar car. Thanks for the tip about breaking up a long trip with an over night stay near a train station. How do you do this? Increasing the transfer time doesn't allow for a long stopover. Breaking the rip into two separate legs seems to cost more.

Choosing the NightJet overnight train was a tough decision (I started another thread just for this) but at least I can say I've done it. We also opted for a deluxe compartment so we didn't need to stagger down the corridor several times a night to pee. That probably made the cost greater than a daytime trip with a hotel. One learns from one's mistakes.

Russ's method of getting a free overnight stopover does not work for Rome to Munich. The only direct train between Rome and Munich is the OEBB Nightjet, and DB will not give you a price for that train. There are direct trains from Bologna that DB will give a price, but the stopover must take place within the German station network, of which Kufstein and Salzburg are, even though they are in Austria. So for Bologna to Munich, the only city that you could get a free overnight stopover is Kufstein. If you are at Kufstein, you are only a little more than an hour from Munich, so why bother?

I must say that it took me about 20 minutes on the DB site to figure out how Russ got a dinner stop in Munich and 2 nights in Salzburg for free. You really have to know your way around the DB site to find it. Note the stopover city was Salzburg (or maybe Freilasing), a city within the DB network.

Just curious about Russ's method. Too complicated for me. This trip was likely our last one to Europe.

Thanks everyone for your help with European trains. I hope my experiences have helped others. Bye for now, Gerry

it took me about 20 minutes on the DB site to figure out how Russ got a dinner stop in Munich
and 2 nights in Salzburg for free. You really have to know your way around the DB site to find it.

I think only people who know their way around the DB site would know you could do it, but once you know it's possible (you do now), it isn't that hard to find it. You have to use the stopover function that show on this page when you first access it. (Note: as soon as you get a schedule, some of the options at the bottom of the page disappear. Click on "change", then "change other data" to bring them back.) Click on "add intermediate stops" and fill in "Salzburg Hbf" (or wherever) and "36:00". This seems to work with either a full price Flexpreis Ticket or a Sparpreis Ticket, although I suspect that with the Flexpreis Ticket the train after the stopover might still be specific. Free travel on a Flexpreis Ticket is normally limited to the end of the day following the day of validity, so if you stopover extends the end of the trip into the third day, you might not have the same flexibility.

Because Flexpreis Ticket of over 100 km are valid until the end of the second day, you can often, depending on the length of the trip and when you start, just take a stopover (even overnight) without it being built into the ticket. Of course, with a Sparpreis Ticket, because the ticket is train specific for long distance trains, that would be harder to do.

This seems to work with either a full price Flexpreis Ticket or a Sparpreis Ticket, although I suspect that with the Flexpreis Ticket the train after the stopover might still be specific.

Is this a typo? With a Flexpreis ticket, you are not bound to any specific train - neither before nor after a stopover. It is simply valid for a specific timespan (two days for long distances, with the requirement to start the journey on the first day), route, and type of train.

But it looks like, with a long enough stopover, the Bahn will allow you to ticket into the third day, which is outside the two day window. Would you still be able to finish the trip on the third day with a train that was later than the one on the ticket, or would you be limited to the specified train, at the latest?

According to the terms and conditions, a Flexpreis ticket (for routes longer than 100 km) is valid until 3am on the third day, and that is also what I see when trying to book on bahn.de. This is true for journeys within Germany; international ones may be subject do different rules.
I have sometimes seen errors in the booking system, though. That may have been why you saw such a ticket?

Russ's method of getting a free overnight stopover does not work for
Rome to Munich.

Gerald's trip is just memories now, so my long-stopover tip was not meant as a tip for him, or for this specific route, but as a general booking strategy for readers looking to avoid sleeping overnight on long train journeys.

I think Lee explained how to book such a trip nicely enough.

If the journey is domestic (within GERMANY) DB doesn't offer multi-day stopovers; you must reach your final destination before 10:00 on the day after departure to use the stopover feature. This worked nicely for me a few years ago on a Trier - Nuremberg saver fare ticket. I was able to pull into Frankfurt's main station just before 23:00, sleep nearby for about 7 hours, then get to Nuremberg just before 10 the next day.

Longer stopovers are handy for lots of routes. Example... for various reasons, lots of people with no interest in Frankfurt fly into FRA anyway and move on quickly to other places. Someone who flies into FRA with Verona Italy as a goal could easily book a 1-or-2-night stopover in Munich on a saver fare ticket if he so wished. The reverse trip would also qualify (Verona - Munich - FRA.)