Austria to Germany - why passport checks?

[BethAnnBitt 2,906]

44 minutes ago, Dembo said:

I was in Konstanz about a month ago and took a walk to Switzerland really to see what was on the border. I thought there'd at least be a sign or a flag or something,

You see the sign on the shoreline between Kreuzlingen and Konstanz, and you see it at the Zoll crossing for cars from Kreuzlingen as well as the the Autobahn from 🇨🇭.  If you had PMed me I could have told you these things.  😉 

44 minutes ago, Dembo said:

but apart from a notice about customs there was nothing to mark the border and I only realised I was in Switzerland by a car park being full of CH registered cars.

I think you just didn’t quite know where to look for the sign.  It isn’t like a billboard.  😂

44 minutes ago, Dembo said:

I didn't have my passport with me so I probably committed a very minor crime.

They’ld forgive you, as long as it was clear that you weren’t up to no good.  😂  We locals, however, aren’t obliged to carry our passport with us within a wide radius of the border area.  🙏  I certainly hope you enjoyed your brief foray into criminal life.  

[HEM 11,070]

6 hours ago, yourkeau said:

Federal police of Germany can check any person or vehicle within 30 km from the border.

 

Within Germany the resident's card suffices for identification in all checks (so the Ausländeramt in Kreis Pinneberg told me).

[scook17 247]

As someone who used to travel to Austria on a regular basis, I can say now the checks have changed.

 

I sat once with  Chinese guy who was going to Munich to a conference. They asked him for his details and ignored me, sat opposite of him!

 

Practically they had a certain time, so it made sense to check those most likely to need checking. This in practical terms means checking anyone who appeared to be 'foreign'.

 

Subsequent this seems to have changed and everyone gets asked. So next time I should not wear a suit but lederhosen if I want to appear as a 'local' 😊

[kathdonn 387]

If you wear Lederhosen, you'd better speak Boarisch!

[kiplette 8,676]

Kid#4 just did a class trip to Vienna and his train was held up on the return trip into Germany by border police doing their thing and removing two middle eastern gentlemen from the train. 

[optimista 5,840]

Obvious, innit ? Clampdown on illegal immigration. They are checking them in swathes in French railway stations. Hordes of Afghans apparently. 

 

So Europe, or Schengen at least, is capable of coordinated action after all. 

[murphaph 9,652]

Passports were checked by Danish police at 2am last night on our night train to Stockholm. The Swedes didn't check anything even though they do checks at the Øresund road bridge. I was expecting them in Malmö to be honest.

[Dembo 496]

44 minutes ago, murphaph said:

Passports were checked by Danish police at 2am last night on our night train to Stockholm. The Swedes didn't check anything even though they do checks at the Øresund road bridge. I was expecting them in Malmö to be honest.

I bet everyone was happy about being woken up at 2am to show their documents.

[LukeSkywalker 7,604]

There is a train from Denmark to Sweden 👻?

[HH_Sailor 3,532]

5 hours ago, LukeSkywalker said:

There is a train from Denmark to Sweden 👻?

Yup

 

Goes across the 'Sound'

They couldn't decide whether to build a bridge or a tunnel ... so they built both.

An artificial island was built where the tunnel emerges, then rises onto the bridge.