All of the borders listed are places I have been, and are among my priority borders where problems need to be fixed. I cannot claim credit for having solved any of these, but I am quite sure me repeatedly talking about them – especially Turmantas! – has likely not been to the detriment of progress. These are in addition to the four success stories I have already documented here.
Strelná 🇨🇿 – Strelenka 🇸🇰
Long distance trains have long used this cross border line, but it was impossible for local people to cross by train here. Regional trains, Czech side, all ended at Strelná, and Slovak side everything ended at Strelenka. The trip time between the two is just 4 minutes. However from 15th December 2024 (timetable change) there will be 5 regional trains a day across the border here, albeit with a slightly peculiar timetable (as shown – click to enlarge). This is progress though!
Nova Gorica 🇸🇮 – Gorizia 🇮🇹
The twin towns Gorizia – Nova Gorica are European Capital of Culture 2025. The railway station at Nova Gorica has just been re-built with new platforms, and passenger trains are due to start running between Gorizia Centrale and Nova Gorica on 8 February 2025, the opening day of the Capital of Culture. Initially only 3 trains a day, but it is a start. The timetable is currently unknown. Background from Railcolor here.
Vilnius 🇱🇹 – Turmantas 🇱🇹 – Daugavpils 🇱🇻
Infrastructure is in place, but trains have not run from Turmantas (the last village in Lithuania) to Daugavpils (second city of Latvia) since 2020. But this week a test run was conducted between the two – with the prospect of trains running there again in spring 2025. This missing service is very easy to re-instate, so it is great to finally see it happening. The header pic of this article shows the train parked up in Turmantas. If all the Vilnius-Turmantas trains were extended to Daugavpils, that would mean 6 trains a day at this border.
Tallinn 🇪🇪 – Valga 🇪🇪 – Rīga 🇱🇻
This one is a bit of a saga – trains were meant to run from Tartu in Estonia to Rīga this year, while Tartu was European Capital of Culture. But a shortage of rolling stock in both Estonia and Latvia prevented this happening. But a solution is likely sometime in 2025. Either the current daily Vilnius – Rīga could be extended all the way to Estonia, or (Tallinn? -) Tartu – Rīga trains offered by Estonian operator Elron – rolling stock shortages are on the point of being alleviated in Estonia due to the delivery of new Škoda trains. Maybe by Summer 2025 we have a solution here.
And longer term…
Laarwald 🇩🇪 – Coevorden-Heege 🇳🇱
Works to repair the line here are to start in 2025, with opening in December 2026 I presume. Background is here. This one is one of the simplest cross border missing links to fix, so it is good to see things begin to move. The main thing that needs attention: the pictured bridge over the canal at the edge of Coevorden (click to enlarge).
And two that are more sketchy, but where there is progress of sorts…
Vilar Formoso 🇵🇹 – Fuentes de Oñoro 🇪🇸
Harder to say precisely what will happen here, but the final works to electrify the line between Fuentes de Oñoro and Salamanca are now starting, meaning electrification of the whole cross border route here will be done in 2025. However given this is Portugal and Spain I am not holding my breath that any passenger trains will run – given these two countries’ inability to run anything on existing electrified lines!
Dobova 🇸🇮 – Savski Marof 🇭🇷
The absurd situation with regional trains on this cross border main line between Ljubljana and Zagreb has been long known – where all the SŽ-PP regional trains run to Dobova, while the HŽPP ones start in Harmica, a few kilometres away on the other side of the border. But now there is news that the railway companies are at least talking about fixing the problem – and to run some HŽPP trains as far as Dobova (which would be the logical way to do it). There is no detail as to when the change would happen though, or how many trains there would be.
