User:Salt Yeung/sandbox

'Rail pass is a pass that covers the cost of train travel in certain designated area within a certain period of time. It is contrasted to point-to-point tickets that it allows the holder unlimited travel within the pre-designated area and period while point-to-point ticket only permits the holder to travel from a point to another once. It is different from season ticket in the sense that while both of them grant unlimited travels to the holder, season tickets normally target commuting travellers, whereas rail passes usually target tourists. Basing on this difference, terms of use are thus normally set differently.

The first rail pass was issued as the Eurail pass in March 1959. Owing to its success, lots of other passes have been issued by various railway companies all around the world since then.

Type of rail pass
Rail passes are issued according to different terms of use.

Continuous pass and Flexipass
There are two ways counting the valid period of a rail pass. A continuous pass counts the days or months continuously. For example, a 15-day pass is valid for 15 continuous calendar days starting from the day of validation and a one-month pass is valid for a calendar month (so if it is used in February, it is valid only for 28/29 days, contrasted to the 30-day valid period when using a 30-day pass).

As continuous pass might not be useful to all travellers, as lots of them do not travel everyday, there exist also the flexipass, which allows the holder to only pay for the days they travel. For instance, when a traveller buy a 10-day-in-one-month flexipass, the pass is valid for one month, and he can pick whichever 10 days within the valid period to travel with the pass. This gives extra flexibility to the holders. Usually the holder would need to fill in the date he travels on the pass before boarding on the train.

Area
Some countries offer a country pass to travellers such that they could take most of the trains in the country (e.g. BritRail Pass, Japan Rail Pass, Indrail Pass, Korea Rail Pass, etc). But some countries offer cross-countries rail pass such that pass holders can travel with trains within the designated countries, even crossing the border (e.g. Eurail pass and Interrail). Some countries offer passes which are valid only within certain areas within the entire country (e.g. JR West Rail Pass, JR Kyushu Rail Pass , etc).

Sometimes, if the trains pass through areas where the pass is not valid, travellers would need to pay for that section of the route. For example, if one gets a pass that is valid in Spain and Italy, and would like to take trains from Spain to Italy passing through France, he may need to pay for the French section.

Concession and group pass
Some countries offer concession pass to youth (e.g. age below 26) or elderly. And some other offer group passes, allowing two or more person to travel together with a lower price (though some may require that all named person must be travelling together).

Concession pass might get more restrictions. For example, one can travel on the Tze-Chiang Limited Express, the fastest train operated by the Taiwan Railways Administration, with the normal TR Pass but not with the Youth TR Pass.

Class
Some passes allow the traveller to travel with both first and second class. But some passes are restricted to travel in the second-class. But some might be offered the option to travel in the first-class with supplement.

Type of trains
There could be limitation on the types of trains that one can ride with the rail pass. For example, high-speed trains are excluded in some countries (e.g. TR Pass), and in some other, one can travel on them by paying supplement (e.g. France RailPass).

Holders of Japan Rail Pass can ride on shinkansen, the high-speed railway in Japan, yet they are barred from Nozomi and Mizuho, the fastest trains on shinkansen.

Couchette
In some countries, rail pass holders can travel on couchette compartment freely, while some may need to pay some extra fee or totally restricted from taking couchette trains.

Seat reservation
Some pass allow the holders to make seat reservation on trains freely, while some require the holders to pay a supplement.

Bonus
As tourists are the typical target group of rail passes, there may be bonus discount in certain sight-seeing spots by showing a rail pass within valid period. In order to enjoy the discount, some flexipasses require the holder to spend a travel day (fill in that date on the pass) while some does not.

Some of the passes also cover the cost of travelling by certain buses, ferries or cable cars.

Difference with season ticket
Rail pass is different to season ticket, since the former is normally targeting tourists while the latter targets usually commuting travellers. Owing to this difference, the terms of use and purchase is thus set accordingly.

One of the most obvious difference is that a lot of rail passes cannot be bought within the area of use and cannot be used by the local citizen, in order to ensure that they are bought by tourists. Another important difference lies at the length of validity. While it is difficult to find rail pass valid for more than 3 months, it is very common to find season ticket valid for a whole year.

Designing for commuting purpose, some season tickets are valid for only one route, while rail pass is usually valid for an entire area.

Rail passes
There are lots of rail passes offered by different countries, including:


 * Eurail pass and Interrail (Europe)
 * Japan rail pass (Japan)
 * BritRail Pass (Britain)
 * Indrail Pass (India)
 * Korea Rail Pass (South Korea)
 * TR Pass (Taiwan)