While the #CrossChannelRail project for March-April is my main short term task, I have also been wondering about “completing” the #CrossBorderRail project in 2025.

There are about 80 railway borders in Europe that I have not examined yet that are worth looking at, and the vast majority of them are on the EU’s eastern borders (Ukraine, Romania), and between EU countries in Central Europe (especially Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Romania). The vast majority of the missing borders in Western Europe are now dismantled lines that I might eventually visit, but do not justify a dedicated tour.

So I have plotted a route (full zoomable map here):

And as ever the full timetable is in the PLANNED spreadsheet on NextCloud here. The project would provisionally happen 9th June until 14th July. Some of the aspects of this plan are provisional for now, not least that the timetable for the Optima Express is unknown. But as ever getting a plan out in public is likely to help – people will email me with suggestions and ideas.

And above all: this is going to be an amazing tour. More than 100 trains and more than 10000km on the rails, 1000km by bike, and a journey to some very forgotten and obscure corners of Europe.

But for the moment: back to the Channel Tunnel plans 😀