Trains in Europe..on time or not?

[JoAnn]

Knowing how late US trains can be... do trains in Europe stay on schedule? Are they MORE on schedule than ours, or, late a lot of the time. The reason I ask is because we are going to be taking a train from Vienna to Munich in July and we don't want to miss our plane! We know there is a direct train from Vienna to Munich that leaves Vienna at 11:45 p.m. and arrives in Munich about 6 a.m., then we have to take another train to the airport and that train takes about 45 minutes. Our plane leaves at 10 a.m. If need be we might be able to catch an earlier train out of Vienna. Any help here??? TIA.

[Icarus]

I took the Eurostar and it was definitely on time. But Europe is a big place, so we can't really make any assumptions based on the one train I took. I also took some London commuter trains, and they ran pretty much like trains in NY .. close to on time, sometimes a few to 10 minutes late.

I think the high-speed trains run pretty much on time unless there's an accident or some other non-predictable problem that could always happen.

I guess the other thing to do would be to travel earlier and stay overnight near the airport if you're really worried about it. That way you leave yourself open to other options in case there is a problem. That's what I would do, so I didn't have to worry about it. I hate having to worry about things outside my control when traveling, so I try to make sure I get to places earlier rather than cutting it close and leaving things to chance, like long security lines or long check-in lines or a bus or train running late that day.

Maybe one of our German or Austrian Tuggers will know if your trains generally run on time or not.

-David

[JoAnn]

Thanks David, I thought trains in Europe were usually on schedule, but our dilemma is that we get off a River boat after a 2 week cruise from Amsterdam 'around 6 p.m.' and wanted a direct train to Munich..which leaves at 11:45 p.m., but guess we'll have to take an earlier one and make a transfer or two. But I will check with our next door neighbor who is Austrian, to see what she suggests. Flights between Vienna and Munich run about $550 pp!! Train about $100 pp. Our DD used her FF miles to get our tickets for our trip, but the only way she could get us home was to get us a flight out of Munich.

[Icarus]

In that case, I would just take the 11:45 direct train and not worry about it that much. You should get there in time. I guess the local train you're talking about is the S1 from Munich HBF to the airport? Looks like that train runs every 20 minutes and takes 45 minutes. You'll be fine. Take the direct train.

Are you going to get a sleeping compartment on the night train? Looks like it's EN 268, whatever EN is. It originates in Budapest.

-David