There are two facilities:

• The FIP International Reduced Rate Card (FIP Card) for unlimited discounted leisure travel.
• FIP Coupons for a limited annual allocation of free leisure travel.

Your passport supports the use of FIP facilities. The name on your FIP facilities must match your passport name.

After 12 months’ service, TOC employees may apply to RSTL for FIP facilities. They are issued for the same class of travel as your Rail Staff Leisure Card.

A FIP Card is issued to the employee and each of their eligible family members. Please note:

• FIP cards are valid for 2 calendar years and renewed automatically.
• The FIP discount is usually a set reduction (usually 50%, sometimes 75%) on the full adult fare (even for children). However, on some international trains, the FIP fare is priced independently of the full public fare. These are referred to as Global Fares. Check the Travel Tips for Europe.

An employee can apply for FIP coupons when required. The following points relating to coupons should be noted:

• Separate coupons are issued for each railway or shipping company.
• You can apply for different carriers at different times of the year to cover separate holidays.
• Not all carriers offer free travel. Notably, Eurostar and Thalys.
• Some carriers only offer free travel to employees, not partners and dependant children.
• Coupons are valid for 3 months from the specified outward travel date. The coupons have 4 date boxes each of which is valid for 2 days’ of unlimited free travel. The 2 days comprise the date entered and the following day up to 23:59 hrs.
• The free travel only covers the cost of the fare. Mandatory reservation charges, supplement charges and port taxes must be paid. Sometimes inclusive public tickets may be cheaper.
• An allocation is per calendar year (normally 1 per carrier).
• If the journey is on a train which crosses an international border, you will need coupons for the main carrier in each country.

The Travel Tips for Europe contains a list of the carriers and shows the number of coupons per year that you can apply for.

To get from Britain to Europe, you can either purchase FIP discounted fares for travel on Eurostar, or you can obtain FIP coupons for travel on Stena Line services from Harwich to the Hook of Holland. Within Europe, the FIP facilities are valid on the major railway companies including SNCF in France, SNCB in Belgium, NS in Holland, DB in Germany, TrenItalia (FS) in Italy, RENFE in Spain, CP in Portugal, CD in the Czech Republic and many more.

FIP facilities are generally not valid:

• On franchised, open access and private operators
• On regional services and urban commuter routes subsidised by local authorities (even if provided by the national operator)
• In Sweden or Corsica
• On some services in Germany run by DB. A list is published on the RSTL website

On many high-speed and long-distance intercity routes, reservations must be made in advance. Our Travel Tips for Europe is a country by country guide to your FIP facilities.  It is advisable to check this before planning any travel.

Eurostar from London St Pancras offer FIP discounted fares only. FIP coupons are not valid on Eurostar.

The FIP SP (Swiss Private) group covers many narrow gauge and mountain railways in Switzerland including:

• Jungfrau Railways (discounted travel on some routes only)
• The Glacier Express (reservations mandatory)
• The Bernina Express (supplements payable)
• The Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn (Disentis/Mustér to Zermatt, and Andermatt to Göschenen. Discounted travel only Zermatt to Gornergrat).

For FIP coupons, apply to RSTL giving at least 3 weeks’ notice. Coupons are posted to your home address 2 weeks before your outward departure date.

For FIP tickets and reservations before you leave Britain, there are a small number of Travel Agents. With an FIP Card, you can make bookings, even if you will be using FIP Coupons and have not received them yet.

For Eurostar FIP tickets, you can also do this in person at St Pancras on presentation of your FIP card.

Otherwise, discounted tickets can be purchased at railway ticket offices at stations in Europe. Please note that in some countries such as Holland and Germany, not all station ticket offices are authorised to sell FIP discounted tickets. Please check the Travel Tips for Europe.

Key links on the following pages:

• Travel Tips for Europe 
• Application form for FIP Cards (xx09a), coupons for employee only (xx09b) and coupons for employee and all eligible family members (xx09c)
• FIP Fares on Eurostar
• Travel agents for FIP bookings

Czech Staff Travel Restrictions
Services in the Pilsen area which do not accept FIP Sperrliste CD Region Pilsen 2024-2025
Services in the South Moravian area which do not accept FIP Sperrliste CD JMK 2024-2025
ČD Commerical Services which require a supplement CD kommerzielle Zuge und ausgewahlte Linien 2024-2025
updated 11 November 2024

DB-AG Staff Travel Restrictions
DB-AG services barred to holders of FIP facilities is here: db-mobidig.deutschebahn.com/md-home/Navigation/Sperrliste

Booking DB services online

DB Fernverkehr AG has provided Rail Staff Travel with some information about their website which retails FIP discounted tickets. The website will let you buy FIP discounted tickets for journeys in Germany, and also for international journeys on DB services which originate or terminate in Germany.

This is the link to the website int.bahn.de/en/buchung/start?KL=2&ET=FIP_SONSTIGE

It is only necessary to specify the journey you wish to make to see the FIP discounted fares. You do not have to select a FIP Card in the “Passenger, bicycles, BahnCards” section on the main search page. FIP discounted fares will be shown once the train service has been selected.

Those travelling with FIP coupons can book seat reservations only using the “Book seat only” selector.

It is not possible for those holding 2nd class FIP facilities to purchase upgrades to travel in 1st class.

Barcode format tickets are delivered by e-mail. They can be printed off or presented on screen using a mobile device. An alternative for users who have created a registered account with DB is to receive tickets directly in the DB Navigator app.

The site is provided as a goodwill gesture by DB without any service level guarantees in relation to the availability of the site. Rail Staff Travel cannot answer any queries in relation to the site or deal with any enquiries in relation to tickets purchase through the site. Employees need to contact DB Fernverkehr AG directly with any booking, refund or ticket usage issues.

MÁV Parental Consent form
Required for all children under 10 years old who are travelling unaccompanied in Hungary on International Journeys. The form must be signed by at least one parent, and the parental signing witnessed and signed by an unrelated adult person.
updated 27 November 2020

Travel on Vy services in Norway
In addition to the information on travel in Norway published by us in the Travel Tips for Europe guide above, there is an Entur webpage which gives information on the use of FIP on services in Norway. personalbillett.entur.no/fip-travel-in-norway.
updated 19 March 2025

Travel on PKP services in Poland
In addition to the information on travel in Poland published by us in the Travel Tips for Europe guide above, there is a PKP document which explains the use of FIP on their services. www.intercity.pl/en/site/for-passengers/buy-a-ticket/where-to-buy-the-ticket/przejazdy-z-fip-en.html.
updated 10 July 2024

Map provided by SBB covering their services in Switzerland on which FIP facilities are valid
updated 4 June 2019