Train ticket cancelled

This happened to me in 2015, when I booked a three-country Eurail Pass for Poland, Hungary and Austria. I bought the Eurail Pass in the U.S. before my trip.

After four days in Krakow, I was supposed to take the train to Budapest via Katowice, Poland. Before the trip, I was warned that there was construction on the rail between Krakow and Katowice, where I was supposed to switch trains to go through Czechia and Slovakia on the way to Budapest. Eurail in the U.S. said to take the bus between Krakow and Katowice and that the bus service would honor the Eurail Pass. Turns out, the bus didn't honor the Eurail pass: I had to pay extra bus fare. Plus, the bus was late to Katowice, and I had to spend an unscheduled stop there. I got in a day late to Budapest.

If you have a Eurail ticket, make sure everything is in writing and set in advance. I believe Eurail in the U.S. was dishonest and misled me about the bus ticket between Krakow and Katowice.

Otherwise, you might have to do the same as I did: spend an unscheduled stop somewhere. In the end, I enjoyed seeing Katowice, a fascinating industrial town being reborn as an edgy tourist destination few Americans -- and probably Europeans -- get to see.

The issue here is that Keleti station is closed for construction work, with trains diverted to Budapest Kelenfold.

In general the trains are departing Vienna at their normal time, just serving a different Budapest station. As OeBB have said your ticket remains valid, so nothing to do, by you, except go to Kelenfold station in Budapest.

Others will tell you how to accomplish that.

The Metro will take you directly to the Kelenfold station, just board your train there.

Thats the M4 metro which will probably require 1 change to get on. But you are over 65 or have a travelcard so its free. Relatively small, simple station.

Hi, we also have reservations for the train from Budapest-Keleti to Vienna, on Sept 4th. I tried to rebook on the OBB website for an alternative station, Budapest-Kelenfold , but get error messages for all trains leaving any Budapest stations bound for Vienna... what should I do no to get to Vienna on the 5th to make my hotel etc bookings there? Many thanks for your help!

You do not need to rebook, you just board your train at Kelenfold station.

Thanks for the reply....So just to be clear, I just head to the Kelenfold train station, get on any train heading to Budapest and show the ticket I already purchased (which is no longer valid)? I had also booked seats, so I head to the class train I booked and find a seat?! Thanks all. I'm not really that worried about it since there are quite a few trains from Kelenfold to Vienna but just want to make sure I'm doing the correct thing!

EDIT: SORRY, just read your original post. Now the question is:

Did you get a refund. If yes, buy a new ticket. Buy it from MAV and a good chance its about 24€. But the message says your ticket remains valid. So I don’t think that's the answer.

If you did not get a refund, then I suspect what was voided was the Keleti to Kelenföld leg and not the entire ticket.

If you have a full price OBB ticket it should work on any train out of Kelenföld, but you will need to buy a new seat assignment which will cost you 2 or 3€. You will need to buy that a few days early (might be one day early not sure when they cut it off … don’t do this route without a reserved seat if at all possible)

If it was a discount ticket then you would need to ride the same train, same day, and you will have the same seats as what you bought, but you get on board at Kelenföld, not Keleti. When Keleti is open, Kelenföld is the first regular stop out of Keleti to Vienna, so very little has changed. If it were me i might go ahead and buy a new seat for CYA. Yes, you can buy seats separate from buying tickets. Makes no sense. But how it works.

Of course we are dealing with Germanic logic, so who really knows.

No, your ticket has not been cancelled. Read the text you quoted again.

"There has been a change in the timetable which affects your scheduled journey. Your ticket will remain valid. Please remember to find out about the alternative trains or transports available to you during the time the ticket is valid."

As far as I can tell from the message is that there has been a change in the schedule. My guess is that you bought a ticket from Keleti but the train will depart from Kelenföld instead. In that case there is nothing you need to do apart from making sure you get to the correct station.

I'm not really that worried about it since there are quite a few
trains from Kelenfold to Vienna but just want to make sure I'm doing
the correct thing!

Yes, there are quite a few trains. But wait too long and a seat reservation isnt a sure thing on the train you might want to take. Read this thread: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/train-to-vienna AND, if you were to have to buy a new ticket (I am positive that this is not the case for you), the prices go up quite a bit if you wait.

Unfortunately train travel isnt as simple to plan and purchase as is taking a flight. My wild guess as to why is that trains are mostly government run, flights are capitalism.

Thank you all for the clarification on my cancelled ticket. We will head to Kelenfold station and leave to Vienna from there.

And after a bit of a deep dive, I found my train at the Kelenfold station departing about 15 later than the original ticket. I was able to purchase my specific seats should we should be good to go. Super appreciative for the comments above.

The public transportation is so good here that Kelenfold takes no longer to reach than Keleti. By taxi, possibly a little longer if you are staying in Pest.