@jon@gruene.social
@jon@gruene.social avatar

jon

@jon@gruene.social

A mix of German politics, European politics and railways #CrossBorderRail. In English and German.

Eine Mischung aus deutscher Politik, europäischer Politik und Eisenbahnen. Auf englisch und auf deutsch.

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jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

It exists! European Sleeper inaugural departure. 3x a week, Berlin - Amsterdam - Brussels night train. It’s pretty retro, but it’s a heroic effort to even get this to run

Sleeping car
European Sleeper logo
A bogie. Built 1971. This train is old

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

I've been wondering what happens when Twitter provoking the EU on disinformation becomes so severe it becomes a reputational risk to the Commissioners still using it... here's how Twitter's pre-eminence in Brussels bubble EU communications will end

New blog post 👇
https://euroblog.jonworth.eu/how-twitters-role-as-pre-eminent-social-media-in-eu-politics-ends/

jon, (edited ) to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

OK, wenn etwas kompliziert ist... braucht es ein Diagramm!

Woher weisst man, wo das Deutschlandticket gültig ist?

Diese Links führen immer zu der aktuellsten Versionen.
Hochauflösendes PNG: https://jonworth.eu/deutschlandticket/Deutschlandticket-DE.png
PDF: https://jonworth.eu/deutschlandticket/Deutschlandticket-DE.pdf

Alle Dateien - auf deutsch und auf englisch:
https://jonworth.eu/deutschlandticket

Und wenn Sie einen Fehler entdecken, sagen Sie mir, und ich werde ihn in der nächsten Version korrigieren

(Diagramm ist jetzt Version 3.1.0 DE)

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

Do it, Musk

It’s going to be fun seeing MEPs and Commissioners trying to cope on some other platform 😜

https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-considering-taking-twitter-x-out-of-europe-dsa-2023-10?r=US&IR=T

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

“How green are Europe’s railways?”

It's obvious that if I take a trip by train, rather than by car or plane, it is the green choice.

But modal share for rail is marginal, and decisions made by politicians and the industry are preventing the step change we need - due to the climate crisis

New post 👇
https://jonworth.eu/how-green-are-europes-railways/

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

Mastodon: always an opportunity for people to lecture you when you’ve made a frivolous point that they took all too seriously

jon, to random German
@jon@gruene.social avatar

The German Grüne have a commitment in their European Parliament election programme to increase night trains Europe wide. But how could you do it?

The starting point: find a way to finance the acquisition of a large fleet of new night train carriages.

I explain why this is the starting point, and how to do it here 👇
https://jonworth.eu/if-you-wanted-a-massive-increase-in-night-train-routes-in-europe-how-could-you-do-it/

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

That booking rail tickets, Europe-wide, is a pain is well known

But how would you actually go about fixing the problem - both legally and technically?

I have had a go at sketching out the ways towards the solution, and the four building blocks of a solution

https://jonworth.eu/how-to-actually-build-europe-wide-multimodal-public-transport-booking-platforms/

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

I must admit I doubted I would ever see this happen, but credit to Chris and Elmer, founders of European Sleeper. The first night train Berlin - Brussels in over a decade has just departed from Gesundbrunnen.

European sleeper departs

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

OK, given I am outside the UK, don't play football and don't have kids, this one had passed me by until now

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/14/brexit-tackle-politics-children-football

A “Brexit means Brexit" tackle “is a tackle that doesn’t get the ball, only takes out the player”. Now you shouldn't ever do that in football, but it's just perfect 🙂

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

Seeing people I used to follow on Twitter bemoan that network's decline due to Musk... and then big up Meta's Threads as an alternative 🤦‍♂️

What is wrong with you?

Have you learned nothing?

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

Nürnberg

What they should do:
Build a tram

What they’ll likely plan to do:
Build a maglev

What they will actually do:
Nothing

Because they will conclude the maglev doesn't work, but in the meantime they will run out of budget, and not build the tram either

https://www.t-online.de/region/nuernberg/id_100353850/nuernberg-magnetschwebebahn-oder-tram-das-sagt-baureferent-ulrich.html

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

Right then, it's done 🥵

The longest and most complex blog post I have ever written

Everything about the future of long distance through the Channel Tunnel

  • Routes
  • Stations (and passport, luggage scan constraints)
  • Rolling stock
  • Operators

No single problem is insurmountable, but in combination I’m not hopeful for new or expanded services - from Eurostar or anyone else

https://jonworth.eu/the-future-of-long-distance-train-services-through-the-channel-tunnel/

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

The thing that nags at me with the endless “the state should run the railways!" or “we need more private firms in railways!” fight is the ideological nature of it.

Some state railways aren't very good
Some private railway firms are likewise terrible

And yes, the opposite is true as well - some state railways are excellent, and some private railways very good too

Sorry if the world doesn't fit your neat ideological frame

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

Germany is putting Schengen in question, and putting a barrier where there’s not been one for two decades.

Why?

Largely because Merz, Söder and the AfD would sooner patronise the Czechs for their own narrow and nasty political purposes more than anyone wants to fix police cooperation. And Faeser and Scholz follow along.

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

Until his death last week, I had no idea who was - and now my social media feeds are full of news about him and a car driver having killed him

Some thoughts about activism, and that we ought to look after our activists when they are alive 👇
https://jonworth.eu/please-look-after-your-activists-when-they-are-alive-the-natenom-case/

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

And there’s only one lesson the Swiss ought to give the Germans about rail: INVEST AS MUCH AS THE SWISS.

The Swiss invest - per inhabitant - about 4x as much per year in the rail network as Germany does. Once Germany does that, rail in Germany will improve.

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

SHOCK!

Ah no, not a shock

Niedersachsen - the German Land that pioneered hydrogen trains- has concluded that battery trains are a better bet on branch lines

And Baden-Württemberg has come to the same conclusion

https://www.heise.de/news/Warum-keine-zusaetzlichen-Wasserstoffzuege-fahren-9245554.html?wt_mc=sm.red.ho.mastodon.mastodon.md_beitraege.md_beitraege

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

This is not about "Technologieoffenheit”

We have a technology that works and we know works better than hydrogen because it is more efficient and is always going to be more efficient because the power source is outside the vehicle, saving weight

It is direct electrification of railway lines

So there is no sensible argument to run hydrogen trains under overhead wires. Not even at a border where voltage changes

Buy multi-system electric trains. That is ALL THERE IS. It isn't hard

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

In Paris there is a hydrogen powered car taxi company called

🥁

HYPE

That's so perfect

The name I mean. Hydrogen powered cars or taxis are of course stupid - use a battery instead

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

This thread 🤯

Using data to show how Austrian supermarkets trick consumers, and likely illegally collude between themselves

https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@badlogic/111071396799790275

jon, to random German
@jon@gruene.social avatar

Macron the liberal, eh?

This what Egypt or Turkey tries to do, not what a EU country should do

https://www.euractiv.com/section/digital/news/macron-mulls-social-media-shutdowns-to-contain-civil-disorder/

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

Damn hindsight is a fine thing…

My MacBook Pro 2017 has been running hot for a good year. Ah it's the hot summers, I thought. I'd cleaned the fan and vents when I replaced the battery last year

NO!

Well, not only that

The thermal paste had dried out completely

Now I have replaced that, the laptop is OK-ish once more

If you're still using a 2016-2019 MacBook Pro, and your computer is running hot - to the point of being unstable - then check this!

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

The central problem on a bunch of international routes is not the cost of tickets - the demand is there. Trains are full

The problem is an absence of capacity - both track, and a lack of trains. Explained here https://jonworth.eu/make-international-rail-cheaper-capacity-on-a-route-is-the-crucial-issue/

Generally if you make taking the train cheaper currently you will transport different passengers, rather than more passengers

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

FFS. Matthias Ecke MEP (SPD) beaten up while campaigning. The atmosphere in German politics is getting really ugly just now.

I’ve met Matthias - a calm person with a young family. This is really grim news.
https://mastodon.social/@Gleisplan/112382727964437276

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