Trains abroad
A delayed train abroad is worth money in some countries and nothing at all in others. Pick where you were travelling and see what the rules there actually entitle you to — the percentage, the amount, and how long you have to claim it.
All EU member states plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, under Regulation (EU) 2021/782 (applies from 7 June 2023).
Measured on arrival at your final destination — a late departure that the train makes up on the way is not a delay for these purposes.
The bands here
Note the arrival delay
Compensation everywhere is measured on how late you reached your final destination, not on when the train left.
Identify the scheme
The country and operator decide whether you have a legal entitlement or only a goodwill request.
Work out the band
Enter the delay and the fare to see the percentage and the amount, and how close you were to the next band up.
Claim before the deadline
Three months in the EU, 30 days in Switzerland, usually 28 days in Britain. Miss it and a valid claim dies.
Keep the evidence
Booking reference, scheduled and actual times, and receipts for anything the delay cost you.
Indian Railways treats a delay as grounds for a refund through the TDR route — you file a claim, and the rules decide what comes back. Europe works on a different principle entirely: a delay creates an entitlement with a percentage attached, payable regardless of whether the railway was at fault, and the operator has a month to hand it over. The United States and Australia sit at the opposite end, with no statutory scheme at all, where the same delay produces a voucher if someone in customer relations decides it should.
That gap is the whole reason this tool exists. A 90-minute delay on a Paris–Milan train is a quarter of your fare back as of right. The same delay on a Chicago–Denver Amtrak is a conversation. Knowing which one you are having before you start writing changes what you ask for and how you ask for it.
Entitlements expire, and they expire faster than most travellers expect. Switzerland gives you 30 days from the journey. Most British operators want a Delay Repay claim inside 28. The EU is more generous at three months, but that still runs out well before the average person gets round to their holiday admin. If you are reading this on the train, the claim is worth starting before you get off it.
Where an operator offers both — Eurostar is the clearest case — the voucher is deliberately worth more than the cash. A three-hour delay pays 50% in money or 75% as a voucher. The voucher is only better if you will genuinely travel with that operator again inside a year; otherwise the smaller cash figure is the larger real amount. The calculator shows both so the comparison is explicit rather than buried in a claim form.
Two habits transfer badly. First, there is no equivalent of filing a TDR and waiting: in Europe you claim from the operator directly, usually through a web form, and a national enforcement body handles it if they refuse. Second, the delay that matters is arrival, not departure — a train that leaves 40 minutes late and arrives on time owes you nothing anywhere in this table. The TDR refund checker covers the Indian side of the same question.
Booking windows abroad range from 30 days to a full year, and the cheap fares go early. See when tickets open for the operator you need.
Under EU Regulation 2021/782 you are entitled to 25% of the price of the delayed journey if you arrive 60 to 119 minutes late, and 50% if you arrive 120 minutes or more late. The operator may refuse to pay amounts under €4, and it has one month from your claim to pay. Delay is measured on arrival at your final destination, not on departure.
Not when it is the railway’s own staff striking. The regulation lets an operator escape compensation for extreme weather, major natural disasters, public-health crises and the acts of third parties such as people on the line or cable theft — but a strike by its own employees is explicitly excluded, so those delays are still compensated. The operator has to prove the exemption applies; you do not have to disprove it.
They are the two British thresholds. Delay Repay 15 starts paying at 15 minutes (25% of the single fare), rising to 50% at 30 minutes, 100% of the single fare at 60 minutes and 100% of a return fare at 120 minutes. Delay Repay 30 uses the same ladder but pays nothing below 30 minutes. Most large operators have moved to the 15-minute version, so check yours before assuming a short delay is not claimable.
No. There is no federal law requiring an American railroad to compensate passengers for delays, and Amtrak publishes no percentage table. What you can rely on is a refund of the affected travel if Amtrak cancels or significantly delays your train — the usual fare restrictions are lifted during a disruption. Beyond that, a transportation eVoucher or Guest Rewards points is a goodwill decision made case by case by Customer Relations, and delays caused by freight-railroad congestion or weather are the least likely to be compensated.
There is no national scheme. Victoria is the exception: V/Line pays the value of a daily fare to pass holders delayed 60 minutes or more on a single journey, and both Metro Trains and V/Line compensate pass holders in months when published punctuality targets are missed. Elsewhere you are relying on the operator’s refund conditions plus the Australian Consumer Law, under which services must be supplied with due care and within a reasonable time.
It varies sharply, and the shortest windows catch people out. The EU regulation gives you three months from the incident. Eurostar also allows three months but asks you to wait 24 hours before claiming. Switzerland allows only 30 days. Most British operators require a Delay Repay claim within 28 days. In the United States and Australia there is no statutory window — but the sooner you contact the operator, the better the outcome tends to be.
The delayed leg. Both the EU regulation and Delay Repay work from the price of the journey that was actually delayed, so a return ticket is halved before the percentage is applied. The one documented exception is the British 120-minute band, which pays 100% of the full return fare rather than of the single leg.
Editorial Trust Panel
Author
Reviewed by
Last reviewed
31 July 2026
Content update
Auto-updated on Jun 28, 2026
Scope: Percentages, thresholds and deadlines are taken from Regulation (EU) 2021/782, the National Rail Conditions of Travel, and the published policies of Eurostar, SBB, Amtrak and the Victorian operators, checked in July 2026. Individual operators may pay more generously than the minimum, and national exemptions apply to some domestic services.