DB layover policy

"The price end-to-end is the same whether I buy Paris-Bingen or Paris-Bingen-Osnabrueck."

You must be talking about a Europa-Spezial Frankreich fare, or else Bingen to Osnabrück would add to the fare. I don't think you can take that long a layover with the Europa-Spezial, but you can find out by putting in Paris to Osnabrück with a via at Bingen for however long.

On a SparPreis ticket, which is only for within Germany, you do have until 10 AM the following day to finish your trip (even by regional rail).

As for having a break, from, say, Bingen to Koblenz, I'm don't think you could do this, but why bother? You could structure your trip to include a section from Bingen to Koblenz by regional rail (uncheck ICE, IC/EC, etc) for no extra price.

I tried putting in Paris to Osnabrück, leaving on a Tuesday in March, with a 20 hr stopover in Bingen, and it did come up with a Europe-Spezial connection, Paris to Kaiserslautern by ICE, to Bingen by RB, Bingen from 14:00 Tues to 10:11 Wednesday, RE to Koblenz, IC to Osnabrück, all for €39 per person. So it can be done.

I think you have to use the specified regional trains. Not that the ticket would be invalid if you didn't, but you could not substitute a different regional train and have it covered by the ticket. If you used a different regional train than that specified on the ticket, you would have to pay for it separately.

Thank you, Lee, that's exactly the specifics I needed to sort this out. That's an especially useful tip about having to board the specified regional train. I'll keep it in mind.

As to why I want to reboard up the line, we'd like to take the boat for a ways, then when we're wet or bored, get off the boat and back on the train. But we want to avoid the dreaded backtracking!

That's actually the point of this whole exercise - we want to see the Rhein but don't want to backtrack from Northern Germany once we get there. If you draw straight lines on the map, Bingen is straight east/northeast from Paris with no detours, then Osnabrueck is pretty much straight north from Koblenz, so it seemed logical to me to make the stop on the way. Yes, it's slower than the direct route, but isn't that the raison d'etre of back door travel?

Anyway, philosophizing aside, thanks for the very targeted help.

I take back that part about only the specific regional train in the middle (Bingen to Koblenz). I had looked up the definition of "zulassen" on my online dictionary, and the brief description said "not allowed". However, in the expanded definition "not allowed" was in conjunction with a negative word, "keine ... zugelassen", as in "no ... is allowed".

See Angebotskonditionen on this Bahn webpage. "Producte: ... Vor- und Nachlauf in Nahverkehrszügen der DB sowie in parallel verkehrenden NE-Nahverkehrszügen ist zugelassen." "Pre- and post-travel in regional trains of the Bahn as well as parallel traveling non-Bahn-owned regional trains is permitted."

The question remains as to what the Bahn considers the trains between Kaiserslautern and Koblenz. Is it Nachlauf from the TGV from Kaiserlautern AND Vorlauf to the IC from Koblenz to Osnabrück?

Regardless I don't think you would be penalized for not taking the specific regional train to Koblenz, and I now think that any regional trains to get you to Koblenz probably would be covered by the ticket. But ask at a DB ticket counter (in Kaiserslautern).

Somewhere in the Conditions of Carriage for the Bahn it says that Vor- und Nachlauf includes any regional trains required to get to or from the express train, as long as travel commences no sooner than midnight (morning) of the first day and finishes by 10 AM of the following day. Only the express train connection(s) is binding.

Thanks for checking on the conditions. I haven't gotten back to the Bahn site yet. It appears that this plan is going to work, and I've got my calendar marked for the date and hour when the Spezial tickets will be released. I love Deutsche Bahn!

Your postings are always so helpful and I've bookmarked your website. Thanks again.