Rail pass

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 ticket 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. Based 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.

Rail passes are issued according to different terms of use.

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 exists 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.

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 on 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 of the country (e.g. JR West Rail Pass, JR Kyushu Rail Pass, etc.).

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Wikipedia