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Comment by germanier | Hacker News Reader

> If the train number begins with RE or RB, you’re good

A few days ago Deutsche Bahn has started to label some trains with an RE number (e.g. running Norddeich-Bremen or Stuttgart-Singen) with "9-Euro-ticket not valid".

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[citation needed]... I'm not putting it above DB to do that, but that really sounds like more trouble than it's worth: endless hassle with passengers who think that the ticket is valid in all regional trains (which has been repeated endlessly in the media for the last month, and also on the page we are commenting on), need to adapt the route planner to exclude these trains (an option "only regional trains" is already available) etc. etc.

Just search for any Norddeich-Bremen connection in the affected three months on the DB route planner with "only local transport" ticked and you will see the label on every second train. Well, after clicking "Show more information" and carefully reading the grey on white text.

Edit: I tried in English and the warning didn't show up... Hopefully this link works as an example: https://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/traininfo.exe/en/45678/209...

Ok, that's apparently a special case, that's an Intercity train (as can be seen from the "Operator: DB Fernverkehr AG" on the page above) that can usually also be used with regional tickets, but DB apparently decided that doesn't apply to the 9 € ticket. The trains are painted in DB's "long distance" livery, but I'm not sure how many passengers would interpret that as a clue that the 9 € ticket may not be valid...

Paywalled article in German: https://www.nwzonline.de/plus-wirtschaft/9-euro-ticket-gilt-...

This is actually a pretty common model nowadays, as it saves the commissioning authorities quite some money compared to running actual local trains. See https://www.bahn.de/service/individuelle-reise/bahn_und_fahr... for an overview.

People are used to use a regional ticket with those trains, and they show an "RE" number. This will likely lead to loads of discussions on the train if they will follow through with that.

It seems that both IC train number and RE line number appear for these kinds of trains, so for savvy passengers it is possible to recognise such connections. Allowing local travel in selected IC trains is pretty interesting, though.

There are Norddeich-Bremen connections with a remark that the 9-Euro-Ticket is not valid but these connections include a section/leg with an Intercity train (IC). The ticket is not valid for Intercity trains in general.

There are other connections between these two places without having to go on an Intercity and these do not show the message.

These trains do have an RE number though, they show up when searching "local trains only" on the route planner (in that case the IC number will even only be visible after expanding details), and all other regional train tickets are accepted on those trains. This will confuse lots of people.

That seems to defeat the point. Any idea why they’d do that?

These are all[0] long-distance trains that due to an agreement with the local transit commissioning authority accept regional train tickets and therefore got assigned an RE train number (some even added some stops due to such an agreement).

[0]: I know of one exception, though it looks like an honest mistake.

The RE from Stuttgart to Singen (I used to ride that train regularly and did so recently again) has been co-labeled "IC" for some time now, even though the rolling stock is distinctly RE.

It has been confusing even before the 9 Euro ticket.

> even though the rolling stock is distinctly RE

It is painted in white and the floor is carpeted, making it a IC train.

Oh, maybe it was broken and I got a substitute when I took it a few months ago. Thanks, that's new to me!

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