[Toutouxc]

Sounds annoying, which country?

Where I live the national railway carrier lets you refund or exchange your tickets and seat reservations freely up until 15 minutes before the departure time, most ticket types are valid for a day (so you don’t have to buy one for a specific connection) and the prices are, I believe, more or less fixed. The delays are inevitable I guess in most larger networks.

I don’t take the train that often, but my experience is generally pretty good, especially as I’m starting to hate driving.