(And in the coming few weeks as my next big #CrossBorderRail trip starts I’ll be highlighting a bunch of the ace railway people here on Mastodon - it’s a super and eccentric and nerdy community that I appreciate a lot)
Which harbour is already well connected to the railway system and which should get better rail services?
What trips across Europe would you do by "trainship", and what hurdles are preventing you doing that?
Karlovy Vary ist auch bei Regen ganz nett, aber der Bahnhof ist höher gelegen als die Innenstadt. Es gibt aber noch einen schicken "unteren" Bahnhof im Ostblock-Stil und just von dort fährt mein "RegioShark" nach Johanngeorgenstadt ab. 🇨🇿🇩🇪 #AllTheLinesSemmering#CrossBorderRail
23 pages of manure (literally, sometimes. I hate manure) that is the extreme-right Dutch Agreement can contain interesting stuff nevertheless. For #crossborderrail there's two sentences (both on page 9):
'In the border regions, good rail connections with the neighboring country are essential.'
´There will be a proposal for cross-border rail transport, including the connection of five train stations to international HSL lines (e.g. Hengelo, Venlo, Heerlen, Groningen and Zwolle).' (1/3).
The devil is in the details - which are of course still buried deep in said manure and may never surface. The first point does point towards some pressure (NSC probably) towards improving #crossborderrail in Twente and Brabant. More pressure for electrifying Enschede-Gronau (real problem in .de though)? Better connectivity in Groningen? Hammont-Weert finally? (2/3)..
I had planned to take the direct train Antwerp - Courtrai - Lille on Friday, but somehow the train Mouscron - Lille doesn't show up anymore in the Hafas planners (it does on oui.sncf!). Does anyone know if there are engineering works?
OK, so when I go to the SNCF Grandes Lignes ticket office shortly at Paris Nord and ask why I cannot buy a ticket to Berlin any more online, and can they help me, what are they going to tell me why it can't be done?
(Answer 4 is the correct answer - but will I get that? Answer 1 is what I received Monday in Strasbourg, Answer 2 is what I got in response to another ticketing data issue in Breil sur Roya last week)
I asked the employee why this info is not on the screens. “It’s always like that” she said. “Is this DB’s fault or Eurostar’s fault?” She shrugged. Whose fault is it I wonder? Did Eurostar not pay to have info displayed? Or it hasn’t got the data in the right format? Or DB is being deliberately difficult? #CrossBorderRail
While I am grateful that Cramer's work gave me the idea to do #CrossBorderRail, looking back at his choice of borders... damn, there are at least two dozen I have discovered that are more meaningful and more hopeful than these!
@jon I've had to cancel a trip to Germany because of scheduled maintenance (timetable was 2h worse on paper, probably even worse in practice), but that was also a #CrossBorderRail situation. DB Netz likes to schedule maintenance during peak intercity travel periods (holidays and summer).
Night time engineering works mean buses replace trains. But they can’t organise a bus the whole way - it’s a French bus to Kehl and a German bus for the rest
This #CrossBorderRail train is the incoming service that I’ll then take back to Germany
But is it a 🚆 or a 🚌?
Everything looks like a train in DB Navigator - live running, conveys bikes, has platform numbers. But then “Train replacement bus” is stated. I assume that’s an error?
Also I’m in Strasbourg tomorrow with an hour to kill because the #CrossBorderRail timetables are crap
I’m going to go to the SNCF ticket office and try to book a ticket to Berlin in June (knowing SNCF now can’t sell it) and see what the official reason they give me is
It seems to me two easy wins for #CrossBorderRail would be a secondary route at France/Spain border (and that's before the first is at capacity) and something robust for freight & high speed trains between Spain and Portugal.
I'm guessing at the official level no-one gives a crap tho...
Am I right @jon
Any chance for #ESC2025 to be in a city suitable for #CrossBorderRail, like Lugano or Basel? Imagine commuting from Milan or Strasbourg! (Not as easy as Copenhagen-Malmö but still.)
I suppose Zurich is most likely, but Lausanne and Bern recently invested in facilities for major events as well.
There is a train connection from Lisbon to Badajoz (border station in Spain) that arrives at 17:26. Guess when the train to Madrid leaves Badajoz? Four minutes earlier of course. Because reasons. Would be reasonable to expect state owned railway companies in neighbouring countries to coordinate their timetables, right? #CrossBorderRail#Renfe#CP
My trip Nuits-sous-Ravières to Berlin Südkreuz on Monday is all e-tickets except Strasbourg to Kehl, the #CrossBorderRail section. Just collected the paper ticket at Lyon while passing here.
And yeah, I have a ticket split in Kehl because that’s the only way to get the best price for this connection. Which is also totally logical. Not.