Exactly right. What I would do is to ask them to buy the train ticket in advance or to send the money to your account.
You have obviously wasted your time and money with these clowns!

That's not going to happen- the only way it could happen is if you have worked for them before and have built up some trust, and they really want you back; otherwise, we must all take out chances and initially pay for that ticket ourselves. If one wants to waste ones time to make some sort of point of principle, you can ask them to pay some money into your bank account...and for good measure tell them you expect a naked studentess to be lying on your bed with a bottle of baijiu on your bedside table for the moment you spill into your new flat with your clobber-hahaha. We can all dream.