Rail rarely offers a direct service between two arbitrary terminals, so the useful answer
is usually "via". We search direct corridors first, then one-change itineraries — with the
interchange day and the frequency bottleneck counted in.
Pick an origin and destination. We search direct services first, then one-change itineraries — which is how most rail corridors actually connect.
What the planner does and does not do
Searches at most two legs. Deeper itineraries exist in reality but stop being
commercially sensible without a forwarder pricing the whole move, and an unbounded
search would offer routings nobody would sell you.
Adds one day of terminal handling per interchange. Without it a two-leg itinerary looks
unrealistically competitive against a direct service.
Caps frequency at the least frequent leg. A daily first leg feeding a twice-weekly
second leg is a twice-weekly itinerary, however the legs look individually.
Only offers terminals the corridor graph can route from — a station with no services
would be a guaranteed dead end, so it is not in the dropdown.
Does not check capacity, wagon availability or whether the operator will accept your
commodity. Those need a real quote.