Buying tickets for train journeys through Europe should get a bit easier for travellers coming from or go to Germany this year as Deutsche Bahn (DB) is set to connect to a new booking system for international fairs.
By the end of 2026, DB will be able to "sell tickets from all major railways in our neighbouring countries directly via bahn.de and the DB Navigator app," the company told DPA.
This comes as the latest development in a broader European push to simplify cross-border train travel led by the EU Transport Commission.
So far the Austrian and Swiss Federal Railways (ÖBB and SBB) have been the first to be connected to the new pan-European booking system. In the coming months, more partners are expected to join -- including DB from autumn of this year.
The goal is that ticket booking on virtually all routes across Europe will be possible in one-step through the usual sales channels by the end of next year.
Isn't DB already selling international tickets?
Passengers can already buy tickets for trains that connect Germany to surrounding countries through the DB website or app.
But for many international journeys tickets may need to be bought individually from different companies. In some cases, they also come at a heftier price.
Mark Smith, founder of the European train travel website, The Man in Seat 61, told The Local that "DB is one of the best operators when it comes to offering through tickets to from or across Germany, including connections from Amsterdam to Prague or Zurich to Copenhagen."
But he added that DB's current ticket selling portal falls short on a lot of trans-European routes.
"Annoyingly it can’t do cross-Germany tickets to/from Paris, at least not at sensible prices," Smith said. "Ask it for Paris-Vienna and you’ll only see silly-money Flexpreis fares for a journey with a change at Frankfurt. But if you asked it for Paris-Frankfurt and then Frankfurt-Vienna on exactly the same trains it would happily sell affordable advance-purchase Sparpreis fares for both sectors."
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In other cases, you may find a possible international journey offered on the DB website that says "Determine Price." In these cases DB essentially sells a bundled ticket that includes fairs for multiple journeys, some of which are provided by other railway companies.
But Smith warned that the "determine price" button "is often a sign you should be booking on some other operator’s site -- not DB’s!"
All in one ticket
Assuming everything goes to plan -- and yes, with Deutsche Bahn that is quite the assumption -- all of the aforementioned issues will be dealt with by autumn, when passengers can expect to buy tickets across multiple countries at standard prices through the DB platform.
Michael Peterson, long-distance transport board member at DB, told DPA that the goal is to offer everything on one ticket.
He added that, "International long-distance transport is booming."
DB reported it's strongest year for cross-border ticket sales in 2024, with a 22 percent increase compared to the pre-Covid year of 2019.
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