Safety during long layover at Münster HBF

Hi,
I am not even sure the station is open all night. It might be, many German stations are, but I could not find the info for Münster.
And even then, spending 5 hours vaguely napping on a chair with your stuff lying around sounds like a bad idea. Where are you coming from and where are you going? In Germany there are many overnight trains, many of them with regular seating so not very comfortable, but much safer than spending the night at a random train station.

If the station is open at all after midnight access will be limited to tracks. I'd suggest to write to the Bahnhofsmission in Münster ([email protected]) for help.

Ive changed my train ticket, more expensive, but safer, I believe. Thank you for the advise!

waiting on any station from the last train to the first will never be fun, Münster or anywhere.

After working on US and British railways for decades I have seen my share of people haunting stations. Usually they are drunk or drugged, having missed their stop and been turfed off the train at its terminus as it was readied for the cleaners and overnight servicing. Usually not given a happy greeting.

Would you consider yourself safe sleeping in on a park bench alone with luggage? There is very little difference.

There are certainly seats, metal probably, and probably with metal armrests which double, by design, as preventing homeless and drunks from sleeping there.

If you are not told to leave the station you may well be visited by a security guard or station staff waking you up.

There has to be a better way.

Are you coming out of a concert?

Is there a hotel next to the station? Can you get an overnight train, even if it takes you out of your way? Can you travel earlier? Or stay the night in your originating town and travel in the morning?

What two places are you going between?

Thank you Nigel, as stated, Ive changed my ticket. I will no longer need to hang around at any train station at odd hours of the night.

I think we were all writing at the same time... glad you'll be safe

I know you resolved your issue, but for the benefit of others, I'm with Nigel. We spent several long hours one early morning at Kaiserslautern Station due to a schedule mix-up. The station was "open", but only the lobby area, no access to tracks, no services. The football match the night before meant we had company, mostly passed out fans, several we wished would pass out, some of the usual homeless, and a couple that wanted to talk at length, though in slurred German. There were security patrols that passed through, including one guy that asked why the heck we were there and checked back on and off over a couple hours. I will add that we at no time felt "in danger" or even just unsafe, just uncomfortable. A single woman might attract a well meaning, but annoying potential suitor at best, to some verbal harassment at worst. But hey, the experience is one we still talk (and laugh) about...so one of those memorable travel tales.

The Bahnhofsmission can be a great help and a safe haven in situations like these, but they are led by volunteers and not staffed around the clock in most stations.

Thank you for all the responses. Working as an au pair, I am on a very tight budget. I booked through Trainline, chose the cheapest ticket between the Netherlands and Berlin, and did not check the details! A mistake I will not make again... I did contact the Bahnhofsmission, but there was no reply. I have now bought a new ticket, with no long stops at stations at odd hours of the night. I could not get a refund for the first ticket, and the second is much more expensive, but this is a lesson well learned. I will still enjoy my trip to Germany, with less spending money, but a safer journey.

I am glad you chose to get a different ticket. You can check the opening hours of the Bahnhofsmission online, and the Münster one is definitely not open at night.

I see what you did. The Super Sparpreis Europa ticket is completely nonrefundable. I see a route from the Netherlands with the 5 hour overnight connection in Muenster is 32.90 EUR with that nonrefundable ticket. You could have got a refundable ticket for just 6 more EUR plus a 10 EUR cancelation fee, but as you say, lesson learned. Use the Deutsche Bahn website, which is perhaps a little clearer on the terms and conditions on the ticket, as well as other options.

I have no idea what journey details are available for viewing when you purchase tickets online at Trainline. But at the DB site, if you click on "Show Details" for any itinerary you pull up, you will see the arrival/departure times and the platform numbers for each individual train as well as the amount of transfer time you will have between trains.