I'll be in Munich next May and amongst my day trips from there I plan to take the train to Giengen an der Brenz to visit the Steiff museum (I've been a collector for 45 years, kind of excited about seeing where it all began). Preliminary research on DB shows it's a 2 hour trip, with a change in Ulm and that's where I get anxious. How does one make an 11 minute connection, is it possible? Get off the train and immediately search for the right platform, or will it be obvious where to go? It'll just be me and my purse. I've only ever taken trains that went directly to my destination.
Posted by
Augsburg, Bavaria
2333 posts
A 11 min transfer time is nothing unusual or exceedingly short for a station like Ulm (8 tracks). Most probably you will arrive in Ulm at track #1 and depart from track #4 or #5, that's a distance of 50m and two staircases.
Look up your connection the day before at the DB web site (www.bahn.com), click on "details" and note the (a) track number, (b) train number, (c) final destination of the regional train you are using (Aalen, Ellwangen or Crailsheim) and (d) the name of the station before Giengen (Hermaringen). If you have data on your cellphone you could use the fine DB Navigator app as info center. By the train number and final destination you can verify your train at the overhead display on the platform (if you are hyper-nervous just ask the conductor on the Munich-Ulm train, he has last minute informations).
BTW, if you use a regional train from Munich to Ulm, the station before Ulm is "Neu Ulm" - don't get out there. Long distance trains don't stop there.
Posted by
OP
alameda, ca, usa
2602 posts
Thank you--this is exactly the information I need!
Posted by
Green Bay
20103 posts
If you buy Saver tickets on-line beforehand (that will give you about a 50% discount), you must travel on the IC/EC/ICE train from Munich to Ulm, but you can take any regional train from Ulm to Giengen. So if you did miss the connection, worst case is you wait 1 hour for the next train.
For the return, make as late a ticket as you deem necessary. Then you could take an earlier train back to Ulm, then visit there until your required connection back to Munich. Off-hand, the Ulm Minster is still the tallest church tower in the world.