Questions and answers

No, Sparschiene tickets cannot be exchanged.

Sparschiene tickets for day trains can be issued from all ÖBB stations to any destination in the countries where Sparschiene offers are available. As a rule, SparSchiene tickets are not offered for routes operated by private rail companies, with the exception of services to Switzerland, where transfer connections to a large number of private railways are available (e.g. Rhaetian Railway, Matterhorn-Gotthard Railway, Bernese Oberland Railways, etc.). Sparschiene tickets to Italy (excluding Brenner services) are only offered for direct connections without the option of changing trains.
Sparschiene tickets for night trains (NJ/EN) are only valid for the booked night train service.

Sparschiene tickets can be booked online with no restrictions in either direction for all night trains (NJ/EN) and for day trains to Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

Sparschiene tickets to Italy, Poland, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia and Hungary can be booked online for the most important cities along direct connections and collected from ticket machines. However, for technical reasons, return tickets from these countries can only be booked together with the outward journey. Online tickets to Hungary and the Czech Republic must be validated by the train attendant with a ticket punch. Passengers must request this from the Austrian train attendant on the outward journey. The ticket inspection receipt must be kept until the end of the return journey and presented if requested.

Sparschiene tickets are only valid on the trains selected at the time of booking on the chosen day of travel. It is not possible to pay extra to use other trains or travel on different days.

If the railway company is at fault, you can travel on a later train instead. If a third party is at fault or if the passenger is at fault, it is not possible to use trains other than those listed on the ticket.

A seat reservation is only included for night trains (NJ/EN). Otherwise, seat reservations are not included in the price, but are recommended when travelling on long-distance services.

Sparschiene tickets can be purchased for travel on all overnight trains (NJ/EN) and day trains to the following countries:

• Belgium
• Denmark
• Germany
• France
• Italy
• Croatia
• Luxembourg
• Netherlands
• Poland
• Romania
• Switzerland
• Serbia
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Czech Republic
• Hungary

Since many trains are operated by foreign railway companies, the advance booking period is unfortunately not standardised. Many day and night trains can be booked as far as 6 months in advance. Details can be found in the Sparschiene booking information section.

Sparschiene tickets are available for both 1st class and standard (2nd) class.

You can buy Sparschiene tickets...

• At any major railway station
• By calling the ÖBB Customer Service team on 05-1717 (payment by credit card only)
• Online - already possible for many SparSchiene destinations
• In any ÖBB travel agency
• At any travel agency that sells train tickets

Sparschiene tickets are only valid for a single journey. Another (Sparschiene) ticket must be booked for the return journey.

No, the ÖBB Vorteilscard does not give you a discount on Sparschiene tickets.

No, but up to 4 children under the age of 15 accompanied by an adult can travel free of charge when travelling on Sparschiene tickets.
On night trains (NJ/EN), this only applies to journeys in a seat car inside Austria. There is a discounted children’s ticket for couchettes, berths and international travel on NJ/EN.

Sparschiene tickets can be purchased up to 1 minute before the departure of your chosen train.

Yes, although Sparschiene tickets are available in several price categories for most destinations.

Sparschiene tickets cannot be cancelled or refunded.

Tickets cannot be exchanged or upgraded to other trains or days of travel.