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FU travel tips

Sustainable Travel

Take the train for your business trip!

Choose your favorite advantage of travelling by train over flying:

  • The train is an extremely energy-efficient and sustainable mode of transport.
  • You arrive right in the city centre – no hassle with airport transfers.
  • You can stay easily connected on the train; Wi-Fi is usually available.
  • Travelling by train is healthier and more comfortable than flying.
  • (Almost everywhere) No annoying baggage checks.
  • For journeys of two hours or more, first-class fares are covered!
  • You can explore Europe in comfort from your window seat.
  • On the train, you can move around, work, eat, watch TV, listen to podcasts, have a nice chat or sleep.

Useful links at a glance

Travel planning tips

Can I actually reach my destination by train?

Many European cities are accessible by train from Berlin. Prague, Munich and Cologne are four hours away, Warsaw five, Amsterdam and Gdańsk just under six, Copenhagen, Brussels and Vienna around seven, Paris and Zurich eight, and London nine.

You can find a map of the main train routes in Europe here (https://www.interrail.eu/en/plan-your-trip/interrail-railway-map).

From Berlin, you can reach cities in 13 countries within eight hours. You can find an overview of journey times to European cities (up to 8 hours) here (https://www.chronotrains.com/en).

If your destination cannot be reached by train from Berlin in a single day, that doesn’t mean that travelling there by train is impossible or particularly complicated. There are two very attractive options for reaching this destination:

What if my destination is more than a day's journey away?

Take the night train!

Night trains are a very comfortable alternative to flying, taking you right into the heart of your destination’s city centre whilst you sleep. After a hearty breakfast, you can start your day straight away. For business travel, travel in a sleeper carriage – the highest comfort class – is reimbursed. In a sleeper carriage, you sleep in a proper bed, can shower on board, and can often choose your breakfast to suit your preferences.

Night trains greatly expand the scope of your rail journey:

For one thing, there are numerous direct night train connections from Berlin (e.g., to Stockholm, Bratislava, Budapest, Vienna, Graz, Zurich, Kraków, Przemyśl, Amsterdam, or Brussels).

On the other hand, you can extend your travel range even further by cleverly combining day and night connections. For example, you can take a night train from Munich to Milan, Rome, and Zagreb; from Hanover to Villach; from Vienna and Budapest to Bucharest; from Przemyśl to Ukraine; and from Paris to the south of France in no time at all.

You can find a current overview of European night train connections here (https://back-on-track.eu/night-train-map/) and a search engine for the closest night train connections for your route here.

Split your trip into two days and stay overnight somewhere along the way!

Another option is to split the trip to your more distant destination into two days and book an overnight stay along the way.

It is very important that you specify the location of the overnight stay as your destination when applying for the business trip—otherwise, you will not be insured there, nor will the costs be reimbursed later.

 

But trains are always so late…

Yes.

But: On most days, you’ll arrive at your destination more or less on time.

Plus: Under European law, your carrier (e.g., Deutsche Bahn) is required to compensate you for delays and reimburse you for the cost of alternative transportation or a hotel stay if you’re stranded.

And also: Our judgments seem biased here: Everyone gets annoyed when a train is half an hour late, but no one complains about a flight delay of one hour. When we fly, we’re more aware of how important safety is. But that goes for trains, too...

How should I book my trip to ensure that I’m reimbursed for any additional costs in case of delays?

If you want to be sure you won’t incur any additional costs in case of delays, it’s advisable to book all segments of your trip with the same carrier (e.g., book your TGV from Frankfurt to Marseille through Deutsche Bahn as well). However, this is often not the cheapest option.

Buying a ticket from the cheapest provider for each leg of your trip can significantly reduce your overall travel costs, but it comes with the risk that you’ll be less likely to be reimbursed for additional expenses resulting from missed connections or hotel stays due to delays. If you arrive late in Hanover on the Flixtrain and miss your ICE to Stuttgart there, things can get complicated.

If you are traveling with Interrail (see below), compensation and refunds are generally not a problem. Although you may be traveling with different carriers (e.g., DB, PKP, and SNCF), you have purchased a single ticket covering all segments of your journey, so the applicable legal regulations apply.

What should I do if my train is delayed?

Three steps:

  1. Document the delay (e.g., a photo of the passenger information screen, a screenshot from the DB Navigator app, a certificate from the travel center, etc.).
  2. Buy yourself a coffee.
  3. Keep working on your urgent project. Be honest—the extra work time actually comes in handy. ;)
Which trains are prone to delays?

You can find an overview of your trains' susceptibility to delays here (https://www.zugfinder.net/en/start).

Booking Tips

Can I travel by train no matter the cost?

No. When it comes to business travel, we must adhere to both the principles of sustainability and economy. At Freie Universität, therefore, additional costs associated with sustainable travel are only covered up to a certain point. The Travel Expenses Office has compiled an overview of the key regulations on its website: [https://www.fu-berlin.de/sites/abt-1/referate/pe/welcome-service/einstieg/regelungen/dienstreisen.html]

But: Travelling by train in Europe is often more expensive than flying, as the Travel Expenses Office is well aware. Naturally, the costs of sustainable travel will be covered, even if they are higher than those of air travel – provided that the travel time and the duration of the business trip are reasonably proportionate and the costs are not excessively high. If in doubt: ask the Travel Expenses Office!

Plus: There are plenty of tips and tricks to help you travel by train across Europe affordably, even on long journeys. This allows you to travel sustainably to numerous destinations in Europe whilst keeping your travel costs down. We’ve put together some key tips on this page.

Travel across Europe on a Budget with a Single Ticket: Interrail

For international rail travel in Europe, the extremely flexible Interrail ticket is often the cheapest option (https://www.interrail.eu/en).

The basic idea is a kind of European train flat rate for a specific number of days. You buy an Interrail pass for a specific number of travel days within a validity period (e.g., four travel days within a month or 10 travel days within two months) and can take practically any train in Europe on those days.

Validity

You can find a map of the main train routes in Europe covered by Interrail here (https://www.interrail.eu/en/plan-your-trip/interrail-railway-map).

In addition to the Global Pass, which allows travel throughout Europe, there are also more affordable One-Country Passes, which are valid only in individual countries or groups of countries.

In principle, the Interrail ticket cannot be used in your own country; however, with the Global Pass, there is a certain number of travel days per pass that can be used for travelling to and from your own country. For example, a 10-day pass is also valid in Germany on three of the ten travel days.

Despite the requirement for seat reservations, Interrail is often the cheapest option.

For some high-speed and night train services, you’ll need to purchase a seat reservation in addition to your Interrail pass.

These reservations usually cost only a fraction of what you would pay for standard tickets on the same routes. In many cases, the combined cost of the Interrail Pass and the reservations is still significantly lower than the cost of standard tickets. Reservations can be purchased from various providers.

You can find an overview of the various sales outlets for reservations here (https://www.interrail.eu/en/book-reservations/how-do-i-book-seats). Be sure to compare the different providers listed: some are cheaper than others (RailEurope is sometimes cheaper than the Interrail website). Furthermore, some providers often still have seats available, whilst others are already fully booked.


Traveling Through Europe with Traditional Tickets

Booking sites of Europe's most important night train operators Booking sites of Europe's most important long-distance railway operators

Germany

Denmark

  • DSB (https://www.dsb.dk/en/)
  • SJ (https://www.sj.se/en)
  • Snälltåget (https://www.snalltaget.se/en)

Poland

Czechia

  • ČD (https://www.cd.cz/en/default.htm)
  • RegioJet (https://regiojet.com/)
  • Leo Express (https://www.leoexpress.com/en)

Austria

Switzerland

France

  • SNCF (https://www.sncf-connect.com/en-en)
  • Trenitalia (https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html)
  • Eurostar (https://www.eurostar.com/de-de)

Luxembourg

  • CFL (https://www.cfl.lu/en-gb/)

Belgium

  • SNCB/NMBS (https://www.belgiantrain.be/en)
  • Eurostar (https://www.eurostar.com/be-en)

Netherlands

  • NS (https://www.ns.nl/en)
  • Eurostar (https://www.eurostar.com/nl-nl)

Italy

  • Trenitalia (https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html)
  • Italo (https://www.italotreno.com/en)

Lithuania

  • LTG (https://ltglink.lt/en)

Sweden

  • SJ (https://www.sj.se/en9
  • VR (https://vrresa.se/en)
  • Snälltåget (https://www.snalltaget.se/en)
  • Vy (https://www.vy.se/en)

Slovakia

Slovenia

  • SŽ (https://www.zssk.sk/en/)

Spain

  • RENFE (https://www.renfe.com/es/en)
  • Iryo (https://iryo.eu/en/home)
  • OUIGO (SNCF) (https://www.ouigo.com/es/en)

Hungary

  • MÁV (https://www.mavcsoport.hu/en)

United Kingdom

  • Booking site for all trains: NationalRail (https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/)
  • Eurostar (https://www.eurostar.com/uk-en)