Detailed info on European rail stations online

Yeah, that's about what I thought. I like being able to find Berlin, Frankfurt (incl the airport stations) and other German cities' stations on bahn.de, but I didn't think there was much else collecting all of Europe in one site. I thought perhaps Thomas Cook might, but so far no luck there either. Thx.

I guess the question is why? Is there something specifically that you are looking for? If there was a big demand for that information then someone would have done it. You might check with Seat61. While each station may be a little different, most are very similar.

The best bet would be to google the station you are interested in to find the most information about them. I am not aware of one website where you could find them all.

Once you have located all that info, why don't you write an app and see if anybody buys it?

The Bahn has information and plans for major stations in Germany, but just a table of information (no plans) for the rest. There is very good information, including plans, locker location, if any, bus stops, etc for stations in Bavaria in the Stationsdatenbank on the Bayern-Takt website. You can also find plans for stations around Frankfurt on the RMV (Frankfurt metro) website at www.rmv.de or for stations in Munich on the Munich metro site, www.mvv-muenchen.de. That's why you should just go to Germany.

That's why you should just go to Germany. Because plans are available for stations?

Works for me.

Stations come in three varieties: 1) Most common, by far, is the through-and-through variety. Trains enter from one end and come out the other. All the platforms and tracks stand parallel to each other on a single level. 2) Fingers-on-a-hand variety. Trains enter and leave only from one direction, but spread out as they enter. All tracks and platforms, once again, are parallel to each other on the same level. Munich, Frankfurt, and if memory serves me correctly, some of the major stations in London would be examples of this variety. 3) Miscellaneous, least common- involves multiple levels, both through-and-through or unidirectional. Trains on different levels may run parallel or perpendicular. Examples include Berlin, Stuttgart, and Antwerp. Just about all stations will have ample signage pointing you to the tracks, restaurants, WC's, taxi stands, bus stops, luggage storage, etc. Are there specific stations you have a question about? If so, someone on this website is sure to have visited it, and if not, it's probably a really small station.

Some years ago, I ordered the schedule CD advertised on the Bahn website. It included pdf files for over 100 stations in Germany. I've transferred a few to my website, www.germantravel-info.com/bahnhöfe.htm, but I have a lot more. If there is one in particular you want, PM me. In general stations are, as Tom described, pretty standard. Track (Gleis) 1 is at one end (closest to the station building for through stations) with it's own platform, 2 & 3 share the next platform, etc, but there are some idiosyncrasies. For instance, in Mainz, the trains to the local towns on the Rhein leave from track 11. It's not in the expected sequence but dead ends against the station building, across the platform from track 1 - something you might want to know if you are making a quick change in Mainz on your way to St Goar.

I think this has all helped me a lot. I really didn't mean to sound stupid or obsessive about details; I'm just curious since I did find really good diagrams of the main German stations and it made me wonder if the same sort of info might be found somewhere for other big cities. If I did get into more details, I guess I'd be curious about whether big stations all have lockable luggage lockers, for instance; or for-fee left-luggage windows, for instance. Nothing more strenuous than that. Thx for all the help folks.

The same area of the Bahn.de website has a table of general information about every Bahnhof in Germany (in German). You'll find it by following "Bahnhofssuche" and entering the name of the station. After the word "Gepäckaufbewahrung" will be the words "Ja" or "Nein", yes or no. Technically, Gepäckaufbewahrung means "check room" but I think here it might say yes for just lockers. If there are lockers, they might be indicated by "Schliesfächer".

Check out www.seat61.com. If you don't find what you need at the various city/country sites, ask the webmaster specifically to assist you. He's the expert on all rail and ferry travel across Europe.