3

I am going to be in Gmunden today, and haven't really planned out where to stay the night. The current plan is to stay the night in Vöcklabruck, but it would be pleasant if I can head to Salzburg for the night.

But, ÖBB tickets Gmunden-Salzburg are 20 something euros! I saw on the old MAV timetable (not the new site) that there are Hungarian trains from Gmunden to Salzburg. How can I buy the tickets for these? Is it true that we can only buy MAV tickets to/from Hungary?

Improve this question
7
  • 1
    Oh, the link doesn't appear. The new website I'm talking about is jegy.mav.hu
    – AyamGorengPedes
    Jul 2, 2022 at 8:31
  • 2
    I am sorry but as a former Hungarian who still visits the thought of the Hungarian train company operating a train in Germany fills me with great amusement. Slang considers "MAV" to stand for "Megint állunk vazze" which roughly translates to "Damn, we stopped again"... it's not the most punctual of railways. Nor the most comfortable or clean, I need to add alas.
    – user4188
    Jul 2, 2022 at 15:32
  • 1
    As someone who studies in Hungary, the trains between cities are horrible (I had a 2 hour delay on my train to Miskolc, plus I have to stand at the end of the train where the stairs are. Their international service are nothing to be complained about tho, european standard, really.
    – AyamGorengPedes
    Jul 2, 2022 at 16:08
  • 1
    @chx You do know that neither Gmunden nor Salzburg are in Germany... :^)
    – JakeDot
    Jul 2, 2022 at 16:59
  • Austria, whatever. That's hardly the point.
    – user4188
    Jul 2, 2022 at 19:26

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
5

There are no Hungarian trains from Gmunden to Salzburg. All trains from Gmunden are operated by Austrian companies.

The old timetable is ELVIRA, correct? It shows the Austrian ÖBB REX trains as Sz trains. Example

ÖBB Scotty timetable MAV ELVIRA timetable

There are direct trains from Budapest Keleti to Salzburg and MAV would sell tickets for those. However, the terms of use for MAV Start Europa tickets contain the following condition:

Train boundary: to border-crossing trains*

Improve this answer
5
  • 2
    Just out of curiosity, what is the phrase "Train boundary: to border-crossing trains" supposed to mean in this context? Given that it is a direct quote of the english page of MAV I assume it is just an awkward translation of something that makes more sense in the original, but I can't even guess what it meant to convey.
    – PeterE
    Jul 2, 2022 at 18:15
  • 1
    @PeterE The Hungarian says "Vonathoz kötöttség: a határátlépő vonatokra". With a little help from a dictionary (I don't speak Hungarian) I think it's saying that for international trains you may be confined to the train (not free to disembark at stops) until you reach your destination. They translated the word that should have been "confinement" as "boundary".
    – hobbs
    Jul 2, 2022 at 20:00
  • @PeterE "Vonathoz kötöttség" could also mean a similar concept as the german Zugbindung: the ticket is not valid for any other trains, even if they serve the same route, just for that particular one (same train number, same time).
    – zovits
    Jul 3, 2022 at 8:28
  • 1
    Oh, I interpreted it as in Tickets sold are only valid for cross-border connections.
    – JakeDot
    Jul 4, 2022 at 15:32
  • I suspect "boundary" would be better translated as "limitation" or "restriction" as in a restriction of the validity of the ticket.
    – ajd
    Jul 5, 2022 at 8:44

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .