Does anyone know about trains in Germany? (Stuttgart)

[BertieBotts]

I need to get from Stuttgart airport to Karlsruhe HBF at about 8pm on a Friday night (next Friday). My flight gets in at 19.55, I don't know how long to allow for getting back through security etc. (DP reckons about 10-15 minutes?) I won't have to wait for baggage as will be travelling with hand luggage only.

It looks like there is a tram(? bus?) stop in the airport itself, and I've found a site which has a journey planner for that, that should take about half an hour to get to the station. There are journeys at 20.08 and 20.18 which will arrive well before 9pm, but the next one isn't until 20.38 so would miss the 9pm train. If I miss the 9pm train the next one isn't until 10.

SO, should I just take the first tram/bus/whatever to the HBF and then buy a ticket while I'm there for the first train I can get, or should I book it in advance (ie now) - DP's work mates reckon I won't get a seat unless I book, but it's a bit of a pain for me to do so because I don't want to get them sent here in case they don't arrive in time, so I'd have to print them out which means borrowing a printer. Also, the website says this about the printable tickets:

^Please make sure that you have the identification document you stated
when buying the ticket (BahnCard, bahn.bonus card, credit card, EC card
or ID) with you on board the train ? even if the document has expired in
the meantime. Your ticket is only valid for you personally in combination
with your own identification document.^

I don't have a credit card, would it be safe to assume that ID = passport, as I'd obviously have that.

Lastly (and this is probably less important) When I go through to book tickets, it gives me a choice of train times, etc. The tickets are different prices ranging from ?17 to ?29. However, when I go onto the next stage I can choose for around ?3 extra a "flexible" ticket which allows me to take any train, any route between the two points specified. Why? This makes no sense!

bump :)

Anyone?

you have to pay a zuschlag (supplement) to use an ICE train, rather than a regional train.

when we got an overnight train to berlin we printed our ticket at home, and needed to produce the credit card (could have been a debit card possibly - do you have one of those?) that we had paid with when we showed the ticket to the guard.

my investigations reveal what you have stated - but all train options are for an intercity - did you get a price of 20.50? you are right about the s-bahn - this stands for stadt-schnell-bahn which is like an urban train - it runs on rails and has proper 'station' stops (it does in berlin anyway..., where they have trams also).

i would suggest, although i don't know, that you need to book a seat on an intercity train, so when you book the ticket (or buy it at the station) you will be allocated a seat then. it seems unlikely that the whole train would be sold out, but perhaps someone else could advise you on that.

just re-read what i've written, it's a bit jumbled, but perhaps you'll know what i mean. (i found the train information on bahn.de, i think there's an 'english' option somewhere on the homepage)

Hi janek

I don't have a credit card, I do have a debit card though. I suppose I could go through the options to see if it's listed.

If I can get a seat at the station when I buy the ticket then then that is good - I will probably just do that then. That price was around what I got, yes.

I don't know what you mean by saying I was right about the s-bahn because I don't know what the s-bahn is sorry. I was using bahn.de on the english translation option, although it's not a complete translation, it makes enough sense for me to piece together, it's just hard when you don't understand what the terms mean if that makes sense. Is ICE the same as inter-city? DP said that the ICE trains are really fast "bullet" trains, so I can see why they would cost more.

ah, i might be showing my ignorance now, i thought ice was the same as ic, but now i'm not sure! i believe it stands for 'inter-city-express' (good bit of german there!), so could well be same as intercity...

my debit card is a visa one, so i would be able to use it on the bahn.de website i would have thought. also, years ago they had an office in london - presumably you could also book through them if they still existed.

i was saying you were right about how to get to stuttgart hauptbahnhof - that my investigations revealed the same facts, then clarifying what an s bahn was (for all my life i thought it was the same as a strassenbahn (which is a tram) and couldn't work out the difference because they clearly had the same name. then dp asked wikipedia and the stadtschnellbahn was revealed and my knowledge was complete!)

surely though, it's not worth buying a ticket for a train you're not sure you're going to catch - your plane only has to be delayed by 10mins and you're already pushing it for the 9 o'clock train. or were you going to book on the 10 o'clock? but then it would be galling to be in the station and watch the 9 o'clock leave without you...

bahn.de london office and other representatives

two things:

1. i think ice is an intercity, because i had a look on google images and the pictures were the same for both searches (ice and intercity).

and

1. if you buy a ticket over the phone from one of the numbers on the above link, then they would (probably) send you the actual ticket, rather than an e-ticket, so you wouldn't need to prove what you'd bought it with iyswim.

I see! Thank you, that's very helpful :) Yes the point about flights possibly being delayed is what I thought too. I'll definitely buy one when I'm there.