Austrian Trains: Cheap Group Fares
Small Groups Save Big on Local Railways with the Einfach-Raus-Ticket
Austrian Railways (in German Österreichische Bundesbahnen or more commonly simply ÖBB) have reliable trains to most major destinations in this Alpine country. Inter-city travel on fast Austrian trains can be expensive but for sightseeing trips using the Einfach-Raus-Ticket on slower regional trains allow for great savings and surprisingly cheap ticket prices.
Austrian Railways’ Einfach-Raus-Tickets
The Einfach-Raus-Ticket (“einfach raus” is German for “simply out”) is a discount ticket available to groups of up to five traveling together. The main restriction is that only slower, regional trains may be used but even this is not too restrictive as traveling to popular sightseeing destinations in Austria usually means getting off the main lines and onto local trains.
Inter-City trains in Austria run between most major cities and towns but the only truly high-speed railway line currently in use is Vienna to Passau in Germany via Linz. (Munich via Salzburg to Vienna and Salzburg via Innsbruck to Zurich are on the cards.) The time difference between taking a regional train and an inter-city train in Austria is thus not as big as would be the case in for example France or Germany.
The Specifications of the Austrian Einfach-Raus-Ticket
Before buying an Einfach-Raus-Ticket at the station ticket counter, ticket machines, or via the internet, note the following:
- The Einfach-Raus-Ticket cost €28.
- The ticket is valid for groups of between two and five persons traveling together. (Children must be counted too!)
- The ticket is valid weekdays from 9 am to 3 am the following day.
- On weekends and national holidays, the ticket is valid from midnight until 3 am the following day.
- The Einfach-Raus-Ticket is only valid for Second Class travel on Austrian regional trains.
In Austria, the following trains (with abbreviation commonly used in timetables, on tickets, and trains) are considered regional trains (Regionalverkehrszüge): Regionalzug (R), RegionalExpress (REX), S-Bahn (S), Regio S-Bahn (RSB), EURegio (ER), and Erlebniszug (EZ).
- Groups of six or more traveling together qualify for special discounts on virtually all trains operated by Austrian Railways. However, if a child under 14 were the sixth person, the standard 50% children’s discount would probably offer the greater saving.
Saving with the Einfach-Raus-Ticket when Traveling on Austrian Trains
The Einfach-Raus-Ticket is aimed mostly at travelers on day trips from say Salzburg or Vienna to the countryside and rural villages. However, the largest savings can be on inter-city travel although several addition transfers and a large increase in traveling time should be added to the shortest and fastest routes.
Take for example one-way travel in second-class wagons of Austrian trains on the popular Salzburg to Vienna (Wien) route:
- Direct Inter-City (IC) or Euro-City (EC) trains on this route run at least every hour and take between 2h38 and just over three hours depending on the number of stops. On these trains, a standard ticket for one person is €44 while a discount ticket (1-PLUS-Freizeitticket) for five persons is €140 total.
- Using only regional trains, the fastest connection takes 5h17 and requires three transfers. Up to six connections per day taking less than six hours are available on this route requiring one to three transfers. The trains may be slow but the Einfach-Raus-Ticket price of €28 for up to five travelers is unbeatable and unlimited stops en route is permitted.
The Einfach-Raus-Ticket can offer huge savings when traveling on Austrian trains. The ticket is mostly designed for traveling to sights in rural Austria. Traveling for example from Salzburg or Vienna to Hallstatt will usually involve mostly regional trains anyway and restricting travel to regional trains only will add only minimally to overall traveling time.
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