I would like to take a cheap day trip to another country. The destination does not matter but the route must go through Antwerp’s south station. I need to hop off there for a visit before continuing on.
I recall an EU rule that if a train ticket crosses a national border, then passengers have an automatic right to get off the train at any stop along the way and hang out before continuing on the same route with another train.
Of course I can buy a ticket to Antwerp South and then buy a separate ticket elsewhere, like Rotterdam for example. But that costs more. In principle it should be possible to specify origin and a “via” waypoint, and not specify the ultimate destination. I want to be told what destinations naturally happen to traverse Antwerp South.
Are there any search tools that can handle this?
For Belgium you can jump off any destination and jump back on without cost as long as this train route is concidered logical. For instance you can’t take a 1hr detour to visit another station.
About the app… I have no clue. Google maps with public transport option on?
I’m confused by the relationship between your 1st and 2nd sentence. Your 1st sentence is about making a long stop and your 2nd is about taking an indirect route.
An SNCB worker told me the EU law which allows people to stop at a station along their route and take a break and return to the itinerary has been eliminated. So we no longer have that right under EU law but you seem to be saying Belgium gives passengers the right to stop when travelling within Belgium, correct?
About the app… I have no clue. Google maps with public transport option on?
I should clarify that I would never download an app from Google playstore or use Google Maps (or any google service). I was asking for tools (or “apps”) that can be run using a browser (most websites are actually javascript apps these days). And I would be open to f-droid apps or other free software.
Anyway, since the EU law was dropped my hunt for a resource that lets me pin a waypoint but not the destination is somewhat moot. Although perhaps still interesting in light of the Belgian law you mention.
I had an AI write an HTML page that retrieves and filters the info I needed. That worked for my use case.