The Austrian Trains are not Alright
OR — “I can definitively confirm, the Austrian trains do not run on time.”
Slovenia to Austria
If you are starting to sense a theme about our international hops, you are not wrong.
The train ride from Bled to Innsbruck was supposed to be a simple train ride, with one stop, with reserved seats on both trains. The layover was tight at 40 minutes, but we crossed our fingers, and when we got to the station were in the best of spirits
Goodbye Slovenia!
Half an hour in, though, the track was as empty as ever…
The train was only about 35 minutes late getting into Bled and we found our car easily. But when we got to our compartment, it turned out be full, with our seats taken by an elderly American couple with no reserved seats… and no clue. Moreover, there was no suitcase rack for our 50lb giant suitcase (we’ve got to get rid of this thing!). We dutifully helped the elderly couple with their bags, and were just about to get settled when our German speaking neighbors informed us not to bother. We would be switching trains shortly anyway. Huh? Why? Nobody knew… even them.
As predicted, the train stopped, disgorged its passengers and sped off, leaving a platform-full of people looking cluelessly about them. Not understanding the language, and nervous for our upcoming (planned) transfer, Masha flagged down a random train employee and asked what we should do next. He directed us to the ticket office where we rushed to get ahead of the rest of the train. “Whew!” we thought, patting ourselves on the back, when we got our brand new shiny tickets to newly reserved seats on the next train to a totally different (transfer) destination. We had seats and we had a plan! For the moment, the ride was ok… could be worse.
Aaaaand then it was. For when the replacement train came, an hour and a half later, and we boarded our assigned car - we discovered it to be a mobile sauna, with no windows and active heating instead of AC on a 85F sunny day. I was genuinely afraid the girls would faint if they stayed in the car.
Fortunately, we quickly discovered that it was only this one car thus afflicted, and the others still had a few available random seats. So, the girls went there, while I picked a seat next to the only open mini window to keep an eye on our copious luggage. The curtain channeled fresh air so I could breath.
In good news, we survived the ride. And when we got off the train, expecting to have missed yet another connection (which had been only 8 minutes short), we found out that our next train was also delayed by 40 minutes! Hurray, we made it after all!
Austria to Italy… five days later
Even with our experience five days before, we felt confident on our way to the train station in the morning. Yes, it’s cloudy and pouring rain…but we have a direct express train to Bologna, with our own compartment and no layovers to worry about. And as of the previous night, everything was still on schedule. This was gonna be the fun and easy train ride. Maybe we’ll even get some math lessons in.
But, turns out that not only do the trains not run on time, sometimes they aren’t even trains! Sometimes they magically transform into buses! Poof! Because out of the 10 trains leaving the Innsbruck station in that hour, ours happened to be switched to a bus to Bologna (apparently this particular train doesn’t run in the rain??!). “Oh, you paid for a comfortable 5-hour speed train ride? How about a 6-8 hour bus ride instead?” Said the clerk shrugging his shoulders. And, “Yes, of course, there will definitely be bathrooms on the bus.”
We frantically run in search of this bus (will there be enough buses for the entire train? We have zero faith in the Austrian transportation system at this point). Did I mention that it’s pouring rain outside right now? As we hobble up the two flights of stairs with our giant suitcases we see a bus getting ready to push off, so we dash for it, getting pretty much the last three seats on the bus. And no, there are no bathrooms. But surely they will stop on the way…
Turned out, the situation wasn’t quite so dire. Talking to our neighbors, we figured out that the bus was not in fact going all the way to Bologna, but only to a station about an hour away where we would board a train. Phew again! Of course (at this point), when we got to the station, with all our luggage we were the last to get off. Let’s find the cashier to see if we need new tickets or where the train is, we think. Oops, this station has no cashier, it’s all automated, and the display shows our train just left 😣😮.
But wait….there is more. Having caught a conductor on the platform (we are now wise to this method of figuring things out), who quickly made some calls on his cell, turned out the train standing at the platform was actually ours. It had not left after all. Who did he call? Why did he do it on a cell phone? Why wouldn’t he know where that train was going? Is this chaos just happening to us or is it the general state of the Austrian system?
We boarded the closest car of the train, and randomly snagged four seats with a table; pretty swanky we thought. And, it turned out, pretty darn lucky. Because we then watched with compassion (and some seriously selfish relief) as the family who sat next to us got kicked out of their comfy seats because they turned out to be reserved. The woman kicking them out pointed above their seats as she did it and said “See, your seats say reserved above them, and those (here she points to our table) don’t.” Little did we know to look up…
And so, finally - and hopefully for the last time - we got the Austrian train experience we were hoping for…including the views.
