Stay away from OBB TRAINS!!!!!

It sucks when that happens, but sometimes things are beyond the control of the trains. We took the high speed from Paris to Avignon and it ended up having to go really slow because someone committed suicide by train. We ended up arriving about 2.5-3 hrs late. It was annoying, but nothing the train company could do about it.

I wouldn't tell people not to fly Air Canada because one time our flight was cancelled due to a plane malfunction and it was 8 hrs before we could be put on another flight. We got another connection but lost a half day at our destination, and had pretty much gone 24 hrs without any rest.

Did you find out why there was a delay?

It is very unusual for OBB to have such long delays. Maybe some accident? I traveled by train in Europe quite a lot and the least delays were in Switzerland, Germany, Austria. More delays in eastern Europe, sometimes Italy.

I've used OBB four times and always on time. Clearly something happened that was beyond their control.

I too understand your annoyance but stuff happens. I once had a flight on United that was delayed 9 hours. In Italy, my train from Orvieto to Rome was over four hours late. My Amtrak train from California to New York arrived in Chicago 18 hours late. I could go on but these things do happen and do not mean that you write off the entire train system of the country. I have taken OBB without incident but as I said above stuff happens. They actually have a very good reputation.

Thank you for all your responses. We are still on the train at 4:30pm, boiling hot without working toilets and no more drinking water. No one from the staff has come by to give us any information. I located one person with the train line who told us maybe we would be in at 4pm at 2:30pm. A woman waiting for the train with us from Austria told us this company is always late. I understand thing happen but no one has communicated anything to us starting at 9:30 pm when "delays" were on the line. This company is very unprofessional. If you would like to take this company, then again take it at your own risk.

Sounds more like a train ride in the US :)

Our OBB trains were almost all a tiny bit late, but only 5 - 20 minutes.

We never had a late OBB - Italy was the worst for us random strike - pulled over and parked the train for hours! Knowing why you are late doesn't make you any less late - you just have to make the best of it.

On this last trip I had 4 train rides which departed one hour or more late, eg 70 mins, ...never in any trip before so many. This was all in Germany and Austria...bad luck

One of them was the EN night train run by OeBB from Wien Hbf to Hamburg-Altona via Hamburg Hbf. I was waiting for that train in St. Pölten. It turned out to be one hour late before it arrived. Did this delay wreck my plans? Not this time since I was going to Hannover Hbf to transfer and was not under any time constraint. ...just unnerving. You put up with it by waiting, just as the locals do.

OBB trains are rarely late. Clearly there are circumstances beyond their control.

You speak about trains companies as if they were airline companies. As if there are choices or competition. Train companies, like ÖBB, are government run and really the only show in town. If someone really wants to take the train from Salzburg to Rome (who does that when flights are so cheap?), then your only choice is ÖBB. So what exactly are you suggesting people do? Fly?

I have to agree with other responses. We used OBB for the majority of our trip two years ago and had zero issues.

I've had some bad experiences with Delta airlines, but the overwhelming quantity of good experiences outweighs those few bad experiences. Hopefully the rest of your vacation will go much better!

Avoid a national rail line because of one delayed train? I think not. OK, I get that you just want a venue to blow off steam because you're pissed that you are delayed and have lost a day in Rome. I'd be annoyed too. But stuff happens. And sometimes that stuff is unanticipated by the operators, or there is nothing they can do to change the situation. Who knows why it happened? And would knowing why get you to your destination any faster?

I've never had a problem with OBB trains in the past. But I do recall a train ride in Canada that should have only taken 5 hours, but ended up taking twice the time. Seems that it was so hot that the rails were starting to buckle and they had to greatly reduce speed to avoid derailing. There was Diddly squat that anyone could do about it. I didnt go on social media to tell everyone to avoid using all Via Rail trains.

You can file a claim for a partial refund. The claim will be investigated, a decision may take thirty days. I got a 50% refund from Trenitalia when my Frecciarossa train was three hours late. Took about 30 days, but I had a couple of emails from them in the meantime.

Have taken OBB a few times, no problems.

Seems to have arrived at 16:45 which is a massive delay. No clues as to why though. Whatever it was the problem started in Germany but Google can't find any traffic warnings for the route for yesterday, which is odd because the Germans are usually all over big delays. It lost some more time within Austria and then lost and recovered time in Italy. My guess is a fault with the train before it ever began.

I'm afraid the whole concept of OBB Nightjet is seriously flawed. This train and several other international night trains were originally run as joint operations by the rail companies of each country. But the Germans and Italains decided to drop them because they made very little money and internal passengers would go by day time high speed so each company's own bit of income was safe. The Austrians decided to be over clever and use EU open access rules to run the whole service as a private operation and not share with the others. But this means their resources are spread thin, especially in Italy south of Bologna. If anything goes wrong with the train it will be difficult to get it fixed quickly, if it's simply very late there will be no local customer support staff, and if there is the option of bailing out and getting a Trenitalia high speed train to catch up the delay they have no arrangement to transfer tickets - and the onboard staff will know little about other trains anyway.

So while avoiding OBB is a bit strong, I would be wary about Nightjets outside of Austria and Bavaria.

STOP PRESS: The northbound train returning to Munich left Roma 6 minutes late, at Chuisi (should be 78 minutes from Rome) it was 10 late. And it seemed to have died again! Has just left Arezzo 78 minutes late.

And to prove my point, tonight's southbound train is currently flagged as 49 minutes late approaching Salzburg due to technical fault with the train.......

I take the Nightjets between Germany and Austria and within Germany, have yet to try between Munich and Budapest or other night routes. Just because the train is late is insufficient reason to stay away from them.

It may be insufficient reason to stay away from all OBB trains but I think we are building a good case against this one! Last night's southbound arrived finally staggered into Rome 20 minutes ago, 145 minutes late! When I went to bed last night the northbound was already 88 late, no idea what time it arrived at Munich as the german system doesn't hold data after the event.

145 minutes late may be classed as close enough by Amtrak/ Viarail standards but in most of Europe it's a disgrace, especially when it's regular and other trains on the line are running OK.

I called OBB customer service and they said that there are construction works in Germany which caused the delay. I think that the OP made a poor choice in selecting a routing that required multiple changes in the middle of the night, especially for a distance where flying should have been considered. Train delays happen everywhere with every train service. I think that the message should be to avoid night trains, routings with multiple changes and to fly instead rather than to malign an excellent OBB.

He didn't choose "a routing that required multiple changes in the middle of the night", he chose a direct train that should have left Salzburg at 22:00, except it was already over 4 hours late before it got that far.

OBB lied, the last 2 nights the train lost a lot of time in Italy, last night's did that in both directions. You can check live trains on DB's website, last night other Munich-Salzburg services were OK but this one was over 45 minutes late approaching Freilassing and the cause was given as a technical fault on the train.

Check the original post, there were changes. But I'm done with this post, too much whining.

no idea what time it arrived at Munich as the german system doesn't hold data after the event.

On 2nd Aug, EN 294 was late 174 min upon arrival in Munich, on 4th Aug. 238 min. You can look up the record of a train on the zugfinder web site

Whatever it was the problem started in Germany

According to that web site the delay of the OP's train (EN 295) was caused by a problem with the overhead cable in Salzburg Hbf.

Of the four train rides this time being one hour or more late, (above) two of them were the EN Nightjet trains, the first going Hamburg Hbf to Wien Hbf, 70 mins late in arrival at Wien Hbf, and the other, as mentioned above, St Pölten to Hannover....ironic.

The next trip in 2018 will include taking the Nightjet again but more cushion time will be factored in for such a contingency

The delays were likely not caused by ÖBB, but rather by other rail networks that they have to use on the routes you travelled through in Germany and Italy. They have no control over maintenance work or other disruptions on other rail networks, nor can they predict mechanical problems on the trains. There are a variety of reasons why the delays could have occurred in your case, so I'm not sure it's fair to blame only ÖBB for the problems. FWIW, I've used ÖBB on a number of occasions over the years, and the service has been quite good overall.

To put it into perspective, it could have been worse. A few excerpts from my trip notes of a train ride I had in Italy last year.....

"At the time I boarded, little did I know what a dreadful ordeal I was about to be subjected to. The inside of the coach was extremely hot, and I assumed that they would turn the A/C on when the train left the station – WRONG! The A/C was broken in that car so passengers had to endure the heat for the entire three hour (or so) trip. I estimated that the temperature was at least 45C (possibly higher) and the Conductor was nowhere to be found. At that time, I had thoughts of the scene from Bridge on the River Kwai where Alec Guinness was locked in a tin sweatbox in the hot sun, which I imagined would be similar to what I was now experiencing.
I found that it was slightly cooler in the foyer at the front of car by the washroom as there was a slight amount of air circulation there. I spent a lot of the trip standing in the front, along with a number of other people who were also trying to escape the heat.
A Conductor eventually appeared and he tried to use his "key" to open the windows in the front foyer, but they wouldn't budge. He also tried to open the doors at the front of the car but they were also jammed and would only open a few inches but that helped a bit.
The ride became even more unpleasant at the latter part of the trip as the washroom in the front foyer backed up, adding the odours of stale sewage to the experience. This presented the dilemma of either going back into the sweatbox or tolerating the stench and staying a bit cooler."

Unpleasant events can happen anywhere when travelling in Europe.

That happened on this last trip, ie the AC broke down on the ICE from Hamburg to Berlin. It was the late afternoon/early evening and I noticed the general seating area getting hotter and hotter. The DB conductor finally came, made this long announcement why it was getting hotter and hotter, told us that the AC was broken and the reasons why. and that DB was passing out cartons of water to help alleviate the discomfort...a very nice gesture I thought. Since I was sitting at the table seat right next to the door among 4 young Swedish guys, who obviously had understood none of the German explanation, one of them said to this DB guy and his assistant, "Could you repeat all that in English?" Both ignored the question, the DB guy just said, "It's free." Compared to what I've experienced on trains when it became a broiler/baker with no AC, the water was a relief.

Fred,

There was NO water or anything else offered to passengers on the Italian train. Passengers just had to tough it out. Fortunately I always carry a bottle of water so I had some.

Ken, Sounds like an Amtrak story to me.

I was surprised at the water offer. That's the first time I saw that on any country's trains when the AC was not working as it was supposed to. I'm too used to trains in the summer without AC, so that announcement by the DB guy came as a surprise...a pleasant one at that.

I have had a few "sweat box" train experiences, but there was one long ride where the train with the broken a/c pulled into an unscheduled train station and we all deboarded and got onto a train that had been called to finish the trip.

well it was another dreadful night for the Munich- Rome Nightjets. Southbound has just arrived Rome 3hours and 16 minutes late, it was on time when it reached the Italian border but things went wrong after that. Northbound was even worse, only 2 minutes short of a 4 hour delay at Munich. And it spreads because these trains swap cars with others at Villach.

So whilst the original sweeping statement about the whole of OBB is too strong I think it very wise to avoid Nightjets going to from Italy.

I'm pretty sure it was a train we took from Munich to Salzburg a few years back had an AC issue. We went into a car and it was sweltering. I lasted about 5 min before I'm like - we have to move. We checked a few other cars but couldn't find seats for two together and just sat in the flip down seats in the 'hallway' (for want of a better word). It was wayyyy cooler and we could watch the electronic box thingy on the wall that showed how fast the train was travelling! Not as comfy as sitting on one of the nice cushy seats, but no way was I going to endure that heat.

That could have been on a Meridan train going from Munich to Salzburg.

I also was caught on the train with not working AC and the windows were not made to be opened. It was terrible. In Slovakia from High Tatras to Bratislava. That's why I liked old Czech trains. You opened the window even in hot weather and survive. In these modern trains it's not possible.

The old days' trains be they Czech, German, Austria, French had the windows made to be opened since there was no AC. On the broiling days, if the windows in the compartment were pulled down to the max, just about half way, the window drapes were flapping back and forth as the train was speeding along, plus you had the compartment door open and all or most of the windows along the coach were also opened,...all to get that breeze/wind when the temp inside train stood at over 30C. Those were the days without AC.

And also, Fred, it was before global warming so unbearable heat did not happen so often as now.

You would think trains would be more perfect since they are run by such excellent governments.

You would think trains would be more perfect since they are run by such excellent governments.

In the 1970s I don't think I ever was in a train where the temp stood at 100F. But then I was not in Italy or Greece. The closest I recall in the early 1970s being a broiler in the compartment and the entire coach was the temp being ca 88F. That was in southern Germany where it certainly stood above 30C. I did see that a few times. Basically, you had two choices, sit in the compartment or stand in front of an open window, which in central Europe had the sign above the window, "Nicht hinauslehnen."