Today’s live text updates
Ah
A former #CrossBorderRail line I wasn't aware of
Simple to get to, this one! 😀
https://openrailwaymap.org/?style=standard&lat=47.89262191928852&lon=25.265121459960938&zoom=15
My teaching colleague at College of Europe needed a bike to get around Bruges during the course I teach with her this month
We were given a bike abandoned by someone, and I fixed it up this morning
This Magneet Super Class - made in Holland. The design! 😍And it works!
Ah
Dreilandentrein doesn't work well
SHOCK!
(The whole development of this has been a saga, and is mostly the fault of the Belgians. Everyone was too busy crowing that it runs in three countries and couldn't fix the operational and ticketing dysfunction)
In my future life when I am rich* the first thing I will do is buy myself continuous Interrail pass lasting the whole year 🙂
* - not happening
Agh 😡
@samuele963 sent me the timetables for the inaugural Gorizia 🇮🇹 - Nova Gorica 🇸🇮 trains on 8 Feb
There's no sensible way to get there other than with Interrail, and that's €212 for a 4 day pass (and I need to add reservation fees, and accommodation)
And while I welcome this new #CrossBorderRail service, I can't justify that much for the launch of a train that's going to be 2x a day
Is this enough? No. You still have to change twice, and there’s one connection a day
How will it be to do it? Vilnius-Rīga: comfortable. Rīga-Valga: a step back to the 1980s. Valga-Tallinn: modern but basic
Is it significant? Yes. Because this was basically impossible before, now it works
Happy Baltic 🇱🇹 🇱🇻 🇪🇪 rail timetable coordination day 🎉
From today onwards you can *finally* go from Vilnius via Rīga and Valga to Tallinn in a day (the reverse also works)
Getting stuck in Valga is no more
One of my #CrossBorderRail campaign priorities is fixed! 💪
And yes, there are gaps! 🙂
Northern Poland (I've never been to Gdansk)
Southern Italy (I have never been to Sicily)
Eastern and Northern Spain
Most of Scotland
Central and North West France
And how I map all my rail work is explained here: https://crossborderrail.trainsforeurope.eu/mapping-my-crossborderrail-projects/
Right
For now it's done 🙂
Every train line I have ever travelled (or I can remember I have travelled!)
https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/every-train-line-i-have-travelled_1102206#5/50.022/10.042
Europe is very well covered, the rest of the world rather less!
Today I made a start on something I have been meaning to do for a while: map every train line I have ever taken
I have a lot of routes from #CrossBorderRail, but plenty I then need to add (especially UK routes)
But for my own purposes it's useful - it helps me identify the major gaps!
Here's central Europe - largely done already
Friend of mine who lives in London wants to come and visit in Nuits-sous-Ravières. Family - 2 adults, 2 kids
Because Eurostar is too expensive they're wondering about ferry + train...
It's just taken me about 20 minutes to work out the cheapest Calais Ville - Paris Nord, metro across Paris, and Paris Bercy - Nuits sous Ravières - €284 I *think*
And this requires buying both a TER Hauts de France reduction card (€30, gives 50% off) and a TER BFC card (€20, gives 30% off)
But damn it's a mess
In The Guardian yesterday María Ramírez wrote "I love to travel Europe by train. But here’s what a joined-up 21st-century network needs"
I don't disagree, but HOW to make these changes happen is hard
So I've developed a few of them in a blog post response https://jonworth.eu/heres-what-a-joined-up-21st-century-train-network-needs-trying-to-give-some-answers/
What!? 🤯
That T&E rail study from a few weeks back… was actually wrong according to their own weird criteria?
SBB 🇨🇭 actually should rank 11th, not 2nd
Via @niklas_net & @markusr
🤔 Isn't transporting people what passenger trains are for?
😳 But more passengers means more 🚆🚅, more 👨🦱👩, more 🛠️, and not necessarily more 💶
🇪🇺 In 2025 the Commission will propose a Regulation on rail ticketing 🎫 - but why do rail firms not really want it?
Explained 👇
https://jonworth.eu/more-passengers-are-a-problem-for-the-railways/
TWO WEEKS. Two effing weeks. That's all it took for the hydrogen trains to not work as planned in Brandenburg
ROFL 🤣
Brandenburg hydrogen trains already going to shit
https://berlin.social/@opnv_bot/113725558556982816
So - SNCF being SNCF - they have two different long distance reduction cards
Carte Avantage is for leisure trips, so saves on weekends *or* if you spend a weekend away - €49 a year (and I have this card)
Carte Liberte is supposedly for business people and gives you reductions on everything - but it's €349 a year (I don't have this one)
But in January I have two work trips - to Bruges - with weekends in the trips - so I save 30% on these journeys
Makes little sense, but I benefit *this time*
This - found via @bitboxer - is a really neat idea. Using delay data to forecast if you're going to get your connection on German railways https://bahnvorhersage.de/
It uses historical delay data to work this out
It feels very provisional for now, but the idea is excellent
Text updates are auto-generated from Mastodon – follow me on Mastodon @jon@gruene.social
Some updates will also be occasionally be posted on Bluesky – follow me @jonworth.eu
Today’s introduction and summary videos
All the #CrossBorderRail daily videos are on my Peertube channel
Today’s photos
Today’s background
A day of transition from north east Europe to central Europe! The daily InterCity train to Warszawa arrives too late to connect with the night train from there to Budapest, so it’s instead a coach for the cross border section, and then after a few hours in Warszawa onto the night train across 4 countries to Budapest.
Borders examined on this day:
Zebrzydowice 🇵🇱 – Bohumín 🇨🇿
Distance covered:
1407.9km
Transport modes:
🚆 1
🚌 1
Today’s route
The full zoomable and scrollable map, including today’s route, is on uMap here.
