Will We Make It????

Those short connections would make me very nervous. Looking at the DB Navigator app for a sample journey tomorrow, the connection in Treutchlingen arrives at platform 5 and departs from platform 7 and has 7 minute connection. In that time you need to exit the train down a few steps, carry your luggage downstairs or find an escalator/elevator, walk to the next platform and go upstairs, then find your train car along the platform and board.

If you use the website for DBahn, you can set a minimum connection time. Scroll down the page to Transfer Time. If you give yourself a minimum of 20 minutes, it will eliminate some stress. But you may find yourself waiting a while longer between trains. And German trains tend to have a lot of delays.

Thanks travel4fun. Your insights are much appreciated.
Peg

Deutsche Bahn has a free-of-charge mobility service center which can help you with booking and related questions as well as with the actual journey.

Website: https://int.bahn.de/en/booking-information/accessible-travel

Brochure: https://assets.static-bahn.de/dam/jcr:7e6a6c06-f39c-42f3-9a41-e2df97e94e1a/A4-Flyer_ME-Reisende_engl%20(1).pdf

The station page of Treuchtlingen incl. site plan you can find here:
https://www.bahnhof.de/en/treuchtlingen

Hi MarkK,

Thanks for your help. Before posting my question I did research what assistance might be available through DB. From what I read it seemed that he would need some type of official medical statement of disability, which he does not have. Through further research I did find an area on DB where it seemed to state that they could offer help disembarking and perhaps with our luggage (one suitcase) as well. The web address was [email protected]. I sent them a note regarding any possible assistance available. Hopefully I’ll hear back from them soon. In the meantime I will explore all the sites you sent to me. Thanks MarkK. Your help is much appreciated.
Peg

It looks like the changes are 5 to 8 minutes, one or two platforms. You should be able to make those changes.

Don't stay seated until the train comes to a stop. That's only for aircraft.

Before you get to the station, know the number of the next platform. Get up, gather your luggage, and go to the door, ready to get off when the train comes to a stop. When you get off the train, most people will be headed to the stairs to the connecting tunnel. Follow then. When you get down into the tunnel, look for the large sign for your platform. As long as you don't dally, as long as you stay with the herd, the conductor standing on the track is not going to release the train if people are still trying to board.

If there is an overhead sign showing the train number and destination, make sure it is the right train you are getting on.

In that time you need to exit the train down a few steps, carry your
luggage downstairs or find an escalator/elevator, walk to the next
platform and go upstairs, then find your train car along the platform
and board.

My 82 yo father does this in 2 minutes.

Really these transfer times are not short, they are efficient, and you would not want them to be longer. What are you going to do in a small train station in a rural town? Further more these are regional trains, so you do not need "to find your train car". Most of the time the train is only a couple of carriages long. And you only need to be on board at the departure time, not beforehand. And if needed the train will even wait till everyone has boarded.

Hi Peg, the medical conformation is only needed when you ask for free transport of wheel chairs or assisting animals. You can use this service also as a person who just needs help. My 82-yr old mother uses it when she travels with Deutsche Bahn (walker usage and orientation). But she also loves to travel with her small convertible car.

For those of you familiar with this station does that seem doable given his mobility issues?

I go through the station of Treuchtlingen once a week and several times a year through the one in Steinach. From my point of view, you shouldn't worry.

In Steinach there is no elevator, but at least there is a luggage conveyor belt, and the distance from track 5 (arrival from Rothenburg) to track 3 (departure to Treuchtlingen) is very short (here is a map of the station: Gleis 5 = track 5). If there is a conductor on the Rothenburg train (which unfortunately is not always the case), you can ask him to inform the conductor of the Treuchtlingen train. Otherwise, simply ask a fellow passenger to do so on arrival in Steinach. Normally, the conductor of the other train will check anyway whether all passengers have already arrived.

In Treuchlingen there are elevators in the middle of the platform (cf. this map). If you look for a seat in the middle of the train in Steinach, your car should stop near the elevator.

BTW. from mid-September there will be some direct regional trains between Steinach and Munich every day, so there is no need to change trains in Treuchtlingen. You can find them if you search for a connection from Steinach to Munich and activate the option "Direct services only". Of course, you will have to search for the Rothenburg Shuttle separately. From September 9, the direct IC 2023 will also be running again (Steinach dep. 11:58; Bayern Ticket and Deutschlandticket not valid), but it goes to Munich East, so you will have to take the S-Bahn/U-Bahn from there to your hotel).

I am 66 in good shape and I would stress over a 4 minute connection with only stairs for moving between platforms.

So RobT to Steinach appears to be about a 15 minute taxi. Is it worth starting your trip in Steinach? Or, it looks like the train you want departs every hour or so. Relax, have a coffee and catch the next one?

This is a vacation, not a cross-country race.

With a concern like this, why not look at the worst case scenario in case you do not make the desired train. The post above says what it may be. Can you live with that possibility?

You can get a 12-minute layover in Steinach by specifying a stopover in Würzburg at the DB search page...

Then, after a 14-minute layover in Würzburg (use elevators there if you must switch platforms) you take the direct ICE train from Würzburg to Munich.

This routing will not appear automatically at the DB site if you only enter MUNICH as your destination. You must also use the stopover feature when you do your search.

I do not know what DATE you are planning to travel or what TICKETS you were planning to buy or which journey you were planning to take from Rothenburg or the total travel time you had in mind. You can enter your own travel info and have a look at the departure/arrival times to see what turns up. Below are the departure/arrival times for the 2-stopover journey I've suggested for a random date; the total travel time looks comparable to the journeys which DB generates automatically:

Lv Rothenburg 9:05
Ar Munich 12:40

Is a taxi from Rothenburg to Steinach feasible?

Some good info here related to Steinach Rail Station and accessibility: rail station

I can’t thank all of you enough for your thoughtful comments and great advice. Certainly gives us a lot more to consider and explore. We are leaving Rothenburg ob der Tauber on September 14th. Our final destination that day is Prague. There are direct trains from Munich to Prague. With all your help we will be able to figure this out! Thanks again.

Peg

Our final destination that day is Prague. There are direct trains from Munich to Prague.

So you are using Munich only as a place to change trains??? You will be forcing yourselves to complete a journey of 9-10 hours with a minimum of 3 transfers on this day if you start from Rothenburg. You have better options...

Instead of making Munich your stopover, test out Würzburg as a stopover instead. The 8:05 and 10:05 departures from Rothenburg have 3 transfers - with generous time at each stopover for making your transfers - and they take only 8.3 hours to Prague. The current price for the 10:05 trip for Rothenburg > Würzburg > Prague is €30.99 each. The prices for Rothenburg > Munich > Prague are higher. Both options arrive at the same time, using the same train in Prague... 18:23. How is this possible? The journey from Würzburg > Prague takes you on a shortcut via Regensburg, where you end up changing to that Munich > Prague train.

So why leave Rothenburg an hour early on a detour to Munich (9:05 train) and put up with those "blitz" transfers in Steinach and Treuchtlingen when you can board at 10:05, keep the trip to 3 transfers, have more time to change trains, and save some Euros, by changing in Würzburg instead?

HA! Well that really does make a lot more sense, Ross!
Heading to my computer now to check all that out!!
Thanks!!

Peg

Russ, I was “autocorrected” to “Ross”. Just caught it!
Sorry to have renamed you!!
Peg

Alternatively, you could take Bus #807 dep. 8:29 from Rothenburg to the S-Bahn stop of Dombühl, transfer to the S4 (8 min transfer time, 51m to walk, platform accessible by elevator) and arrive Nürnberg at 10:13. From Nürnberg, take the Flixbus to Prague (dep. Nürnberg 11:15, arr. Prague 3:25). That gives you one hour transfer time in Nürnberg to cover the 300m to the bus station and to buy some food for the journey (there is a REWE store in the central hall and an Aldi in the basement, accessible by elevator). If you are worried that the transfer will be too much for you, contact the Nuremberg Bahnhofsmission the day before and they will help you ([email protected], Tel. +49 911 2 29 96).

Price for this trip for both of you: 23.90 Bus/S-Bahn (buy a "VGN TagesticketPlus in Rothenburg) + 40.00 Flixbus (price as of today).