I know it's not perfect, but I kind-of feel that Interrail is already pretty close. I know it's meant for tourists and some operators have stand-alone booking systems, but it's universally accepted and pretty effortless for the end user.
this post was submitted on 15 May 2026
69 points (98.6% liked)
Europe
11166 readers
402 users here now
News and information from Europe 🇪🇺
(Current banner: La Mancha, Spain. Feel free to post submissions for banner images.)
Rules (2024-08-30)
- This is an English-language community. Comments should be in English. Posts can link to non-English news sources when providing a full-text translation in the post description. Automated translations are fine, as long as they don't overly distort the content.
- No links to misinformation or commercial advertising. When you post outdated/historic articles, add the year of publication to the post title. Infographics must include a source and a year of creation; if possible, also provide a link to the source.
- Be kind to each other, and argue in good faith. Don't post direct insults nor disrespectful and condescending comments. Don't troll nor incite hatred. Don't look for novel argumentation strategies at Wikipedia's List of fallacies.
- No bigotry, sexism, racism, antisemitism, islamophobia, dehumanization of minorities, or glorification of National Socialism. We follow German law; don't question the statehood of Israel.
- Be the signal, not the noise: Strive to post insightful comments. Add "/s" when you're being sarcastic (and don't use it to break rule no. 3).
- If you link to paywalled information, please provide also a link to a freely available archived version. Alternatively, try to find a different source.
- Light-hearted content, memes, and posts about your European everyday belong in other communities.
- Don't evade bans. If we notice ban evasion, that will result in a permanent ban for all the accounts we can associate with you.
- No posts linking to speculative reporting about ongoing events with unclear backgrounds. Please wait at least 12 hours. (E.g., do not post breathless reporting on an ongoing terror attack.)
- Always provide context with posts: Don't post uncontextualized images or videos, and don't start discussions without giving some context first.
(This list may get expanded as necessary.)
Posts that link to the following sources will be removed
- on any topic: Al Mayadeen, brusselssignal:eu, citjourno:com, europesays:com, Breitbart, Daily Caller, Fox, GB News, geo-trends:eu, news-pravda:com, OAN, RT, sociable:co, any AI slop sites (when in doubt please look for a credible imprint/about page), change:org (for privacy reasons), archive:is,ph,today (their JS DDoS websites)
- on Middle-East topics: Al Jazeera
- on Hungary: Euronews
Unless they're the only sources, please also avoid The Sun, Daily Mail, any "thinktank" type organization, and non-Lemmy social media (incl. Substack). Don't link to Twitter directly, instead use xcancel.com. For Reddit, use old:reddit:com
(Lists may get expanded as necessary.)
Ban lengths, etc.
We will use some leeway to decide whether to remove a comment.
If need be, there are also bans: 3 days for lighter offenses, 7 or 14 days for bigger offenses, and permanent bans for people who don't show any willingness to participate productively. If we think the ban reason is obvious, we may not specifically write to you.
If you want to protest a removal or ban, feel free to write privately to the admin that applied the rule (check modlog first to find who was it.)
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Interrail is a very good idea, but way too expensive; unless you perfectly plan out your trip you're most certainly better off flying or paying for normal train rides. It can definitely be cheaper, but you're going through 2 months of planning out the proper travel plan for that to happen.
But it might be more expensive than it should be for those tickets and it limits the days traveling through your own country in outbound and inbound days. Not optimal for someone living near borders and still interrail often doesn't even have seat reservation. This needs to be booked through a different portal. Also private train operators are often not included at all which is another downside
And funding for transitious, right? No reliance on proprietary garbage?
Just based on the headline it's nit that much different from what we get now. We already get compensated on missed connections for cross country bookings and although I get multiple tickets, I can have one booking for a long trip.
Price and reliability have been the biggest hurdles.
We already get compensated on missed connections for cross country bookings
Where do you book? Afaik this is not a thing everywhere
It is very different from now, but it will take more time to become reality I guess. The compensation is just the nice to have. The core is that operators will be forced to open up their booking systems make them accessible so that unified booking platforms are made possible, if necessary by force. That would be a game changer. After all the booking systems exist, but rail companies are guarding them, hence the lack of interoperability.
Price and reliability do matter but don't underestimate the role that booking and finding stuff makes. If you have to call somewhere, or worse, even go to an office somewhere to book a train trip, this is turning off a lot of people from even considering that option. Of course, things have become a lot better, gradually, over the years and on many trips one can book nowadays online but the offer is very splintered and very incomplete.
Ursula going beyond her mandate again?
Maybe she should start being held accountable, she's done enough damage.
Better connection across non-major would be quite useful. Last time I was there it was still more plausible to pass to Slovenia from Italy via bus.
Slovenia is a very unreachable country. I remember last time I went the bus from Milan was 30€, which is not a bad price. A train would be nice, but not high priority. It would be good if they actually got any flights actually landing there.