# Tell me about Eurail and/or European trains
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-eurail-and-or-european-trains/971032
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [September 6, 2022, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-eurail-and-or-european-trains/971032 "2022-09-06T03:33:05Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2022, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-eurail-and-or-european-trains/971032/41 "2022-09-09T09:30:05Z")
One example of how you can incur a fine for _schwarzfahren_ even as a local:
I commute by rail in southwestern Germany. Since the beginning of the Corona pandemic I have been able to work from home pretty often, so I have cancelled my yearly ticket and now buy a ticket on my phone every day that I do commute.
In the three months June-August 2022 Germany has done a grand public transport experiment, as an emergency measure to reduce imports of Russian oil: you could use all public transport (excluding long distance rail but including arbitraily long trips on regional trains) by buying a _[9-Euro-Ticket](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9-Euro-Ticket)_, at 9 € _for a whole month_. Of course millions of people took this up (52 million tickets sold) - not only commuters but also people who made touristic trips.
My experience as a commuter: trains were significantly more crowded; ticket inspectors continued to inspect tickets which was not very onerous - everyone just showed the 9-Euro-Ticket.
Come September the 9-Euro-Ticket scheme was at an end (for the time being - a future scheme is being negotiated between federal and state governments).
The first time in September I used my regular train I forgot that we had been expelled from 9-Euro-Ticket paradise. I was promptly controlled and now I am 60 € (the standard fine) the poorer.
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### Author:  [@FrenchDunadan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrenchDunadan)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2022, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-eurail-and-or-european-trains/971032/42 "2022-09-09T14:56:34Z")
> [@Cervaise](#):
>
> Well, yes, Etoile is a holdover from the way it used to be everywhere.
Oh sorry, you meant “old rule” in the sens that it was no more in use.
It was a rule in the time when there was way less cars on the road. It stayed on the Etoile because otherwiseno one could enter the roundabout…
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2022, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-eurail-and-or-european-trains/971032/43 "2022-09-09T15:02:47Z")
> [@bump](#):
>
> Sure- I was thinking more US TSA style airport security. I didn’t have to take my shoes or all the crap out of my pockets, etc… Just go through the old-style metal detector and that was it before passport control.
Whereas i was comparing it to typical train security, which is comparable to “standing in a public square” security. That is, yeah, there are some cops wandering around who might question you if you do something threatening or extremely unusual, but you can expect to have zero interaction with “security” boarding and riding the train.
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### Author:  [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2022, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-eurail-and-or-european-trains/971032/44 "2022-09-09T17:18:41Z")
It was 15 years ago the last time we were in Italy, riding the trains between Florence and Pisa and Rome. Rick Steve’s guidebooks helped us figure out the intricacies of the validation system used in Italy.
I was fascinated by the flip-card style display boards, like used in the Pisa station, similar to this one in the [Paris Train station](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMqtcXTPZyI). The rest of my family wanted to keep walking, but I made them wait several minutes just to watch - and listen - to the display being updated. I hope they’re still in use.
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### Author:  [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2022, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-eurail-and-or-european-trains/971032/45 "2022-09-09T21:19:10Z")
> [@JohnGalt](#):
>
> I was fascinated by the flip-card style display boards,
I thought those were standard issue in railway stations and airports for quite a long time …?
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### Author:  [@filmstar-en](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmstar-en)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2022, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-eurail-and-or-european-trains/971032/46 "2022-09-10T13:12:22Z")
Those are known as Solari boards and they were in wide use. Not so many remain in use. Most have been replaced by electronic LED/LCD affairs.
Here are some rail geeks waxing nostalgic about their use in the UK.
> **[Solari boards](https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/solari-boards.201063/)**
>
> When was the last Solari Board removed in the UK or is one still out there?
>
> https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-51470599
>
> The now-familiar design, with white numbers on black flaps, won the prestigious Compasso D'Oro award in 1956. In the same...
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2022, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-eurail-and-or-european-trains/971032/47 "2022-09-10T13:27:34Z")
Maybe I’m wrong, but i thought there used to be one of those in Penn station, NYC.
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### Author:  [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)
#### Post date: [September 10, 2022, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-eurail-and-or-european-trains/971032/48 "2022-09-10T15:25:48Z")
> [@pkbites](#):
>
> Every train we took in Europe I don’t recall anyone ever checking if we actually had a ticket.
We got asked for tickets on the Frecchia trains- possibly because we were in first class.
On the local that we took from Milan to Lecco (and it continued past Lecco) the conductor reached our car (first class again) just as we reached the Lecco station and we were getting off. A friendly local assured us that we could just get off and ignore the conductor, so we did.
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### Author:  [@jjakucyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjakucyk)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2022, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-eurail-and-or-european-trains/971032/49 "2022-09-12T13:19:02Z")
> [@pkbites](#):
>
> I asked my wife if she remembered anyone ever checking our tickets and she said she remembered it happening mid-trip on the train from Brussels to Amsterdam and she remembered someone buying a ticket from the guy checking tickets. I don’t remember this. I may have been in the restroom.
>
> That sounds prime for scammers. Get on the train without a ticket and buy one when they check for tickets, don’t buy one if they don’t. How often does that happen?
Typically there’s an extra fee when buying a ticket from the conductor (guard in the UK), but that’s waived if the passenger boarded at a station without ticketing facilities. It won’t discourage everyone, but that’s one way to deal with it.
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2022, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-eurail-and-or-european-trains/971032/50 "2022-09-15T07:44:37Z")
When I was in Paris, some of the cars on the Paris metro had doors that didn’t open automatically. You had to unlatch them if you wanted out, and they would spring open. (They closed automatically… slowly.)
This was a little odd to see at first, but after watching people do it, I got used to it, and it became fun to unlatch them.
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### Author:  [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2022, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-eurail-and-or-european-trains/971032/51 "2022-09-15T11:24:05Z")
And the trick was to turn the handle as the train entered the station, which would open the door so that you could get off while the train was still slowing down - and pretend you were a real Parisian.
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### Author:  [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2022, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-eurail-and-or-european-trains/971032/52 "2022-09-15T16:32:31Z")
Is that really still possible? I haven’t been to Paris for 35 years, but the trains in Germany that you have to manually open have buttons that only react if the train has already come to a total stop.
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### Author:  [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2022, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-eurail-and-or-european-trains/971032/53 "2022-09-15T21:23:17Z")
There are still some lines with the old rolling stock. I’m fairly sure I did it in April when I was there (and it may even be that the slightly newer stock with push buttons to open also allow it to happen, but I’m not entirely sure)
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### Author:  [@gnarator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnarator)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2022, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-eurail-and-or-european-trains/971032/54 "2022-09-16T16:51:43Z")
I was in Germany this spring. Every single train we rode, someone checked our tickets. And because we bought tickets online and didn’t have a physical ticket, just a QR code and receipt, they wanted to see ID to make sure we were who was listed on the ticket.
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### Author:  [@filmstar-en](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmstar-en)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2022, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-eurail-and-or-european-trains/971032/55 "2022-09-16T19:10:31Z")
The Eurostar service between London and Paris does not inspect tickets on the train. You present your ticket to the automatic reader, it scans it and lets you in. There is no check at the other end.
If you have a ticket you cannot use, you can sell it to someone else who can use it. There are websites dedicated to putting buyers and sellers in touch with each other.
The customs and immigration services at each end are interested in passports and visas not train tickets.
I have found these second hand tickets to be very convenient for last minute trips to Paris when the cheap tickets are sold out. Regular travellers buy up lots of tickets at the lowest prices and sell those they find they later do not need. Eurostar have already made their sale, so they are not out of pocket.
This secondhand train ticket market is very popular in France.
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