Köln Central Train Station

I had a slow start today to get to my train ride to the city of Köln or Cologne. I didn’t manage to figure out how to use the automated ticket kiosk and had to rely on an actual person to give me the ticket. Fortunately, there is an actual ticket counter at the train station and I was able to get one. What’s more, I was told that the train is actually coming soon. I still took some time to figure out which train I should be taking since the ticket didn’t specify which one I should be taking. I think I was used to another system where it is specified on the ticket which train I would be taking.

Apparently, you just purchase the ticket and you will have to figure out how to get to your destination yourself. The train platform has a number of sources of information for trains but I still needed to get used to the German system. There is an electronic display but I didn’t understand how it works or even what to look out for. Not all trains would be terminating at Köln, in fact, it is highly unlikely that there would be one specific train that would terminate there. Most trains would probably have Köln as one of the stops but not the final destination. The destinations on the electronic displays are all unknown to me so I needed to understand the system fast.

There is a giant yellow sheet of paper at the train platform and a very helpful passenger patiently explained how to use this. This yellow sheet of paper shows all the train schedules at this stop, so you first look for the current time, or something close to it and see if any of the coming trains would have you destination listed. One thing to note is that this will work for major destinations like big cities but it will not list down every single stop of the trains. You just need to know the general direction you need to go to.

I eventually found a train which was on the way. I kept note of the train number and it does show up on the electronic display. In fact, it also shows that Köln is one of the major stops of the train. This helped me understand how to read the display. Although the train was a little late, I still managed to get on the train. Köln isn’t that far from here and I won’t really get much rest from just a short ride. On the other hand, I was just too excited to rest at the moment. I need to pay attention to the on board display because it also shows the next few stations. So much to learn here and I need to learn fast!

[xmlgm {http://www.worldwanderings.net/kml/KölnCentralTrainStation.kmz} zoom=19]