Should I assume that the standard transfer times Deutsche Bahn allows in its itineraries are doable? We have average agility, no children, and only carry-on bags; we just won't know exactly where we're going in each station.
I read (on another forum, I think) that if a late arriving train causes you to miss your connection, you are "excused," i.e., you can take the next train without penalty. Is that so? I cannot find that on the DB website.
I have generally relied on them. Now if it came up showing 6 minutes from one end of Munich Hauptbahnhof to the other, I might question it, but many changes take place at secondary stations with only 3 or 4 platforms, so changing trains means getting off one train, walking down a flight of steps, walk 50 feet, go up another flight of stairs and that's it. Sometimes, you just get off one train, stay put, the old train leaves the station and 5 minutes later, your new train pulls in. Or it is just across the same platform on the other track. The DB site normally gives the track numbers of both connections so you can get an idea of the distances.
You can specify a longer connection time if you like, but this will often mean a long wait, as the train times are pretty well coordinated with hourly trains.
PS and on my very first Sparpreis trip, the first train was 15 minutes late so I missed the connection, DB got us new reservations free on the next ICE, and once on the train, the conductor ordered us free coffees as compensation.
" I cannot find that on the DB website."
I assume you are talking about missing a train specified on a Savings Fare ticket. It is spelled out in the AGB (Conditions of Carriage), which is in German. If you miss a specified train due to a fault of the Bahn, you can take the next available train. It's probably best to go to the ticket counter and have them mark your ticket for the next train rather than just get on the next train.
This happened to me in 2008, when I was on a regional train with a SparPreis ticket to Nordhein. The train unexpectedly stopped for half an hour in a small station, therefore getting to Nordheim to late to catch my IC to Karlsruhe. I went to the ticket counter where the clerk checked the data base to confirm that the regional train had indeed arrived late, then marked my Savings Fare ticket with the next train, an ICE, which actually got me to Karlsruhe earlier than the IC would have (but no free coffee).
Of course, on a Standard (Full) Fare ticket is wouldn't have mattered, as you have the rest of the day, and probably the next day as well, to finish the trip.
Hi,
Assume that the "standard transfer times DB allows" is doable. Everyone else does it, you just have to scramble, and without being encumbered by luggage, catching the transfer train is very doable.
Regardless of what the other forum says, if you're on an ICE and are connecting to an ICE, that second ICE will wait until the one you're on pulls in. Listen for the announcements on your ICE given in German and English (more than once) about which track to connect. It's easy when the announcement says "dem Bahnsteig gegenüber" (the opposite side of the platform) where the connecting ICE is arriving.
