European Rail
26th August 2008
I’d always got the impression that rail travel in mainland Europe was much more efficient, reliable and sensibly organised than it is in the UK. Maybe it is within a single country but from trying to book trains for a two week trip I discovered that the European rail network seems to have as much lack of joined up thinking and just as complicated a fare structure as there is in the UK.
The main failing as far as I can see is the lack of a single easy to use booking system. If you want to book online, the site you need to use depends on where you’re going. Rail Europe is not bad, but it doesn’t give results on many long distance searches, particularly ones that involve more than a certain number of changes. It also only has the larger stations in its database. For example London to Malaga which you wouldn’t think was too demanding gives no results, and directs you to phone the call centre. Looking up Paris to Malaga reveals that there is a handy overnight train on this route that you can get with a cabin for as little as £59, but if you wanted to go from London or Bristol, you probably wouldn’t have typed that in.
I’ve found the best sites for looking up long distance Euro rail travel are the German and Belgian national rail sites, which seem to allow searches between pretty much any UK/European station and another. The problem with these sites is that although they give routes and times they are unable to give prices for any journey that doesn’t begin or end in the site’s home country.
I’m trying to avoid flying these days, but the companies who provide the alternatives don’t make it easy for you.