WHERE TO BUY TRAIN TICKETS

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There are a lot of websites where you can buy train tickets online, but the question of where exactly to book them remains open. The traveler can buy tickets directly from the carrier, but you should remember that the carrier's main job is transporting passengers, not developing comfortable e-commerce services. Sometimes the carriers cannot offer the most convenient payment methods or translate their websites into many languages. 

Ticket providers offer various payment methods, websites translated into multiple languages, and easy-to-use apps. The only problem is that they charge additional fees for their services. Those fees allow them to offer a wider range of tickets, convenient connections, the most popular payment methods, and live support that can contact the carrier and solve any problem the passenger might have. ​

​Let’s compare the most popular train ticket providers and a standard carrier.

COMPARISON	Omio	Rail Ninja	​​Trainline	National Carriers
Tickets	Trains, buses, planes	Trains, buses	Trains, planes, buses, ferries, cars and private transfer	​Trains
Deep depth of bookings	✘	✓	✘	✘
Payment options	Credit and debit cards, digital wallets, bank transfers	Credit and debit cards, ApplePay and GooglePay, digital wallets, bank transfers	Credit and debit cards, digital wallets, bank transfers	Bank transfers, bank cards
Client support	Email, help center	Live support, online chat, email, help center	Email, phone, help center	Phone
Geographic coverage​	Wide	Global	Wide	​​ Limited to one country
Human support	​✘	​✓	✘	​✘
Last minute bookings	​✘	✓	✓	✓
Book now, Pay later	​✘	​✓	✘	✘
Special features	Convenient mobile app	Booking in advance (no limits), live support	Allows to compare tickets to different transport types	Special offers
Our rating	3.5/5	4.3/5	4.1/5	2.5/5

Omio 4.1/5

Tickets:

Deep depth of bookings:

Payment options:

Client support:

Geographic coverage:

Human support:

Last minute bookings:

Book now, Pay later:

Special features:

Trains, buses, planes

✘

Credit and debit cards, digital wallets, bank transfers

Email, help center

Wide

✘

✘

✘

Convenient mobile app

​Rail ninja 4.63/5

Tickets:

Deep depth of bookings:

Payment options:

Client support:

Geographic coverage:

Human support:

Last minute bookings:

Book now, Pay later:

Special features:

Trains, buses

✓​

Credit and debit cards, ApplePay and GooglePay, digital wallets, bank transfers

Live support, online chat, email, help center

Global

✓​

✓​

✓​

Booking in advance (no limits), live support

​Trainline 3.2/5

Tickets:

Deep depth of bookings:

Payment options:

Client support:

Geographic coverage:

Human support:

Last minute bookings:

Book now, Pay later:

Special features:

Trains, planes, buses, ferries, cars and private transfers

✘ 

Credit and debit cards, digital wallets, bank transfers

Email, phone, help center

Wide

✘

✓​

✘

Allows to compare tickets to different transport types

National Carriers  3.27/5 

Tickets:

Deep depth of bookings:

Payment options:

Client support:

Geographic coverage:

Human support:

Last minute bookings:

Book now, Pay later:

Special features:

Trains

✘

Bank transfers, bank cards

Phone

Limited to one country

✘

✓​

✘

 Special offers

Of course, if you manage to buy train tickets directly from the carrier, it might be cheaper, but services offered by tickets’ providers are more convenient in most cases. 

WHY TO COMPARE

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Traveling by trains is gaining popularity, and experienced travelers prefer trains over planes and buses for short and medium-distance travel. Let’s have a closer look at the advantages and disadvantages that trains have. 

WHAT IS TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT

Travel time
Sure, at first, it seems like most modern trains cannot match the speed of airplanes. But let’s take a look at this very popular connection: Vienna - Prague, given that we live in hotels located in the central part of the city for both Vienna and Prague. 

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Transport	​Pure travel time	Time from the hotel to the station/from the station to the hotel	Required time for checks on the station	Total
Plane	55 minutes	​ 30 min/50 min	2,5 hours	​4 hours 45 minutes
Train	4 hours	​10 min/10 min	10 minutes	4 hours 30 minutes
Bus	4 hours 15 minutes	​10 min/10 min	10 minutes	4 hours 45 minutes

Plane

​Pure travel time:

Time from the hotel to the station/from the station to the hotel:

Required time for checks on the station:

Total:

55 minutes

30 min/50 min

2,5 hours

4 hours 45 minutes

Train

​Pure travel time:

Time from the hotel to the station/from the station to the hotel:

Required time for checks on the station:

Total:

4 hours

10 min/10 min

10 minutes

4 hours 30 minutes

bus

​Pure travel time:

Time from the hotel to the station/from the station to the hotel:

Required time for checks on the station:

Total:

4 hours 15 minutes

10 min/10 min

​10 minutes

4 hours 45 minutes

As we can see, travelling by plane for short distance trips takes up even more time, bearing in mind that in most cases the airports are located quite far from the city center, which means you need to come there in advance to pass the security checks.

Comfort
Despite the fact that every traveler has his own definition of comfort, let's agree that legroom and being able to walk during the trip are very important for most of us. Besides, psychologically, most travelers find that traveling by train feels safer than traveling by plane, and even statistics showing that airplanes are the safest mode of transportation cannot change this belief. Night trains allow travelers to sleep during the journey in very comfortable conditions that cannot be compared to standard seating in buses or planes.

Cost
In most cases, trains are cheaper than planes and more expensive than buses, and if you add the cost of traveling to the airport to the ticket price, trains and buses become unbeatable. For instance, the tickets for Vienna - Prague start from:
Plane - €160 (direct flight)
Train - €14,9
Bus - €17,9

Ecologically friendly 
​Railway transport is the most environmentally friendly way of transportation: trains cause less pollution and allow to transport more people at once than regular planes or buses.