Planning to see Europe by rail? Get rolling online first

RESERVING train tickets for travel within Europe has always presented a challenge. Not only are there numerous options on destinations, but the rules also vary from country to country and train system to train system. For example, you can book 120 days or more in advance on some trains; on most, it’s only 60 days.

It’s one reason flexible options such as Eurail passes have been so popular with American tourists. Depending on the type of pass, you can show up at a train station, flash the pass and hop on the next train.

“I’ve heard it said that there are more railway stations in France than there are airports in the world,” said Roman Godzich, vice president of e-business for Rail Europe (www.raileurope.com), the largest North American distributor of European rail passes and tickets.

But the Internet has created a way to search for hard-to-find information such as train schedules -- allowing you to piece together bits of different train systems into a seamless itinerary. And, just as the Internet has done for other forms of travel, it has made it easier to find discounts that are tough to book or simply unavailable.

Nowadays, on the websites of many government-run railways, you can save as much as 70% off the walk-up cost of a train ticket if you book in advance online.

I recently reserved a trip on Deutsche Bahn, the German train service, on www.db.de to go from Hamburg to Barth, a small town on the Baltic Sea.

The site provides information in German and English, and I was easily able to navigate to the relevant schedules. I planned my entire trip on the site, including viewing train options from Frankfurt and Berlin before settling on Hamburg as my point of embarkation.

“The Deutsche Bahn website has the best train itinerary generator in all of Europe,” said Sascha Segan, co-author of “Frommer’s Europe by Rail.”

“If you need to find a train between any two points in Europe, they’ll be able to tell you what your train options are. But to purchase, you either have to go to a U.S.-based agent [such as RailEurope.com, Eurail.com or Railpass.com] or the individual country’s sales site.”

Using the Deutsche Bahn site for booking a ticket, however, takes some work; it’s not as simple as, say, booking a plane ticket online. By booking online, I paid about $50 (the prices on the site are in euros), 50% off the regular $100 price of the ticket -- though the savings came at a cost in flexibility.

“These heavily discounted tickets come with restrictions,” Segan said. “They are only for that train, are nonrefundable and nonexchangeable. You get what you pay for, just like flying in the U.S.”

Using the Deutsche Bahn website, I could print out my ticket. I was a bit confused, however, when I was asked for a credit card number for an “online ticket ID number.”

But I dutifully filled out my credit card information, only to be asked for it again when I made my purchase.

On the train, I gave the conductor the ticket I had printed on letter-sized paper on my home computer. (One thing gave me pause: The ticket said it should be printed on A4-sized paper, the standard in Europe, which is about 8.26-by-11.69 inches, but my 8 1/2 -by-11 printout worked just fine.)

I also gave her the credit card I had entered in the online ticket ID information box, and the conductor swiped it on a hand-held device that verified my reservation.

A reservation on European trains does not mean you definitely have a seat assignment.

Getting an assigned seat cost me about $1.75 each way -- a small sum to avoid jostling with passengers on a crowded train for a free seat.

Many travelers may not want to book a train ticket with a company in a foreign country. That’s where sites like RailEurope come in handy. Besides selling Eurail passes, the site recently upgraded its point-to-point reservations system. RailEurope also now includes many of the same discounts once available only from the official train sites. If you have a problem with your ticket you’ll have access to a U.S. phone number and English-speaking phone reps.

“A lot of our customers like dealing with someone in English,” said RailEurope’s Godzich. Still, it’s a good idea to shop around. Most countries’ websites are in English, said Segan, and there may be deals that aren’t available on the agency sites.

As for dealing with the locals when things go wrong, I like to think it’s all part of the adventure.

When I boarded the train back from Barth, the car I had been assigned was nowhere to be found. When I pointed this out to the conductor, he sent me to a virtually empty car -- in first class, with bigger seats and extra legroom. Not a bad outcome.

James Gilden writes the Daily Traveler blog at latimes.com/dailytraveler.