500 interrating tickets for trainees: How to travel through Europe for free!

500 interrating tickets for trainees: How to travel through Europe for free!

As part of a new initiative to promote travel within Europe, the NRW European Minister Nathanael Liminski launched the fourth round of the “AzuBigoeu” competition. Until June 1, 2025, trainees from North Rhine-Westphalia have the opportunity to take part in this exciting competition and to gain the chance of one of 500 interrating tickets. This ticket allocation is not only an incentive to learn more about Europe, but also a valuable offer to promote mobility among young people.

trainees between the ages of 18 and 27 who attend a professional (subject) school in North Rhine-Westphalia and have the nationality of an EU country. In order to get into the lottery pot for the Interrail Tickets, the participants have to answer an online quiz that contains questions about Europe. If you solve five questions correctly, you qualify for the competition for the coveted tickets that enable a trip across Europe. The winners have up to eleven months to start their trip.

Details for participation

The conditions of participation are clearly outlined: in addition to the restriction of age and attending school, EU citizenship is crucial. In order to record the trip documentary, the winners must publish at least three posts with pictures on social media under the hashtag #azuBigoeu. This action should not only hold on to the personal experience of the travelers, but also inspire others to actively promote traveling in Europe.

In the past three years, around 1,000 trainees from North Rhine -Westphalia have already participated in the program, which demonstrates success and interest in this initiative. With the Interrail Tickets, the winners from over 40,000 travel destinations in 33 countries can choose, which offers the participants an enormous variety of options. There are two ticket variants to choose from: The first allows for up to one month of travel with unlimited train travels to seven days, while the second option includes a journey of up to 15 days with daily unlimited train uses.

rail passenger traffic as a growth industry

Interest in travel by train is continuously increasing in Europe. According to Eurostat reached the EU in 2023 with 429 billion personal cilometers The highest level for years and recorded an increase of 11.2 % compared to the previous year. This development reflects the growing awareness of environmentally friendly means of transport and supports initiatives such as "AzuBigoeu" that encourage young people to use rail transport.

The number of travelers who made 2023 national trips by train rose to 8 billion, which corresponds to an increase of 67.9 % compared to the values ​​of 2020. Germany and France are leading with over 101 billion person kilometers each. These trends could further increase the importance of the competition and promote the mobility of young trainees in NRW.