Crowdfunding for my #CrossBorderRail 2023 the Germany borders project has now started
You can find out more about the project here 👇
https://crossborderrail.trainsforeurope.eu/2023-germany-project/
And the crowdfunding page is here 👇
https://www.betterplace.org/en/projects/120695-crossborderrail-2023-germany
But what am I trying to do with this project? Why do this in May 2023? What’s the purpose of this?
The 🧵 will explain!
This is where I am going
In 2022 I crossed every internal border of the EU you can cross by train (this map shows where I went), but notably I did not test every single cross border line.
So in 2023 I am filling in the gaps - going to the places I did NOT go in 2023.
Zoomable map from the 2022 project 👇
https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail_739022#6/50.336/12.465
Zoomable map for the 2023 route 👇
https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-de-2023_835860#7/51.202/9.320
This is the map from last year
The basic issue is this: when you cross a border by train in Europe, everything gets more complicated. Trains are less regular, timetables are not coordinated, tickets are harder to get.
If we are to boost rail’s market share then it needs to be as easy to take a train across a border as it is to take one within one country
I develop this more in the video summary of #CrossBorderRail 2022 👇
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_l6bnvI7zQ
Between 2nd and 15th May I am going to explore 30 current, past and future cross border lines
🚆 Aachen 🇩🇪 - Welkenraedt 🇧🇪
🚆 Cheb 🇨🇿 - Schirnding 🇦🇹
🚆 Furth im Wald 🇩🇪 - Domazlice 🇨🇿
🚆 Gouvy 🇧🇪 - Troisvierges 🇱🇺
🚆 Gronau 🇩🇪 - Enschede 🇳🇱
🚆 Lauterbourg 🇫🇷 - Berg (Pfalz) 🇩🇪
🚆 Saarbrücken 🇩🇪 - Sarreguemines 🇫🇷
🚆 Sebnitz 🇩🇪 - Dolní Poustevna 🇨🇿
🚆 Simbach (Inn) 🇩🇪 - Braunau am Inn 🇦🇹
🚆 Wasserbillig 🇱🇺 - Konz 🇩🇪
🚆 Wernstein 🇦🇹 - Passau 🇩🇪
📷 Rail border between Selb-Plößberg 🇩🇪 and Aš 🇨🇿, #CrossBorderRail 2022
But there is something else happening in May 2023…
Germany introduces the flat-rate #49EuroTicket, also known as the #Deutschlandticket
This will be a kind of test of Germany’s regional trains. Here are some I am going to encounter
📷 Day 0 - Bad Kleinen - Lübeck Hbf (DB Regio AG Nordost)
📷 Day 9 - Karlsruhe Hbf - Konstanz (DB Regio AG Baden-Württemberg)
📷 Day 10 - Plattling - Regensburg Hbf (agilis)
📷 Day 12 - Ebersbach - Zittau (trilex)
(My photos, from various previous trips)
What am I going to be doing and seeing this time?
ABANDONED LINES
For example on Day 3 between Coveorden 🇳🇱 and Neuenhaus 🇩🇪, and Day 6 between Winterswijk 🇳🇱 and Bocholt 🇩🇪
Would it make sense to re-activate any of these?
📷 Abandoned track between Nijmegen 🇳🇱 and Kleve 🇩🇪, from #CrossBorderRail 2022
POSITIVE SURPRISES
Once in a while a cross border service turns out better than you expected? Day 4 (RB64 Münster (Westf.) Hbf - Enschede) and Day 12 (U28 Bad Schandau - Rumburk) could be better than expected?
📷 U28 at Děčín 🇨🇿, from #CrossBorderRail 2022
BROKEN BRIDGES
The line between Groningen 🇳🇱 and Leer 🇩🇪 has been interrupted for almost a decade after a ship damaged the bridge over the Ems - I will visit that on Day 2
📷 The Kamp-Karnin rail bridge, part of the Dücherow 🇩🇪 - Świnoujście 🇵🇱, from #CrossBorderRail 2022
MISSING SERVICES
There is a line between Rumburk 🇨🇿 and Ebersbach 🇩🇪, but nothing runs on it. On Day 12 I will hop on my bike and investigate this one, and see if running services here would make sense.
📷 Rumburk 🇨🇿 station, pic taken from the drone during #CrossBorderRail 2022
Or “open window” in English. Some of the trains on branch lines still do not have air conditioning, so you can enjoy the fresh breeze coming in through the window. Joyous, if the weather is nice!
📷 Somewhere in northern Czechia 🇨🇿, during #CrossBorderRail 2022
EVENTS
I am organising as many events as I can en route. So far events are in planning in Kiel, Hamburg, Oldenburg, Münster (Westfalen), Aachen, Saarbrücken, Karlsruhe, Mühldorf, Nürnberg, Görlitz and Berlin
Use this form if you want to come to an event 👇
https://crossborderrail.trainsforeurope.eu/events/event-signup/
📷 Conclusions event at the end of #CrossBorderRail 2022 - at Stadler Pankow
NICE PLACES
Some of the places I stumbled across in 2022 were simply interesting and slightly melancholy places to be. There will no doubt be more of those in 2023!
📷 The line that is not in use between Breinig 🇩🇪 and Raeren 🇧🇪, from #CrossBorderRail 2022
POSTCARDS
I sent 2 postcards every day of the 2022 project - one to European Commissioner Valean, and one to one of my funders. I will be doing similar this time, only the political postcard will go to a different person each time.
If you’ve funded my project and would like a postcard, let me know here 👇
https://crossborderrail.trainsforeurope.eu/about/postcards/
📷 Postcards about to be sent from Warszawa 🇵🇱, from #CrossBorderRail 2022
ABSURD POLITICS
It was *the* picture from #CrossBorderRail 2022 - the bridge across the Neiße between Zgorzelec 🇵🇱 and Görlitz 🇩🇪. The countries agreed to electrify this line in 2003. Poland did its job - and electrified to the middle of the bridge (pictured), but Germany… well nothing has happened!
And that’s why #CrossBorderRail matters as a project - to highlight things like this!
/ends
@jon I was trying to find out how common/uncommon the 🇵🇱 DC system is, and, oh boy, it's a lovely mess. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transport_in_Europe#/media/File:Europe_rail_electrification_en.svg
On the other hand, supposedly new investments in Poland will be electrified as 25kV AC instead, for better compatibility. https://www-rynek--kolejowy-pl.translate.goog/mobile/polska-bedzie-miala-nowe-napiecie-sieci-trakcyjnej-25-kv-na-nowych-liniach-90835.html?_x_tr_sl=pl&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp
@skolima
With the advances in power electronics, it should be much easier to make such converters.
Solar cells produce DC so they are used there. And enormous amount of power are converted at both sides of the DC cables across the Baltic Sea.
@jon@now gruene.social
@jon TBF it's not "germany sucks at electrifying border connections" and more like "germany sucks at electrifying"
Like i.e. the Franken-Sachsen-Magistrale (Nürnberg-Dresden) that was planned to be done in the 90s
That was repeatedly extended and there were always some more millions needed to make that a usable connection and in the end it was just cancelled.
current status is afair "we're just not doing that anymore"
yay!
Passagiere der Luxemburger Nordstrecke müssen sich weiter in Geduld üben. Die Stabilisierungsarbeiten am Tunnel Schieburg dauern länger als geplant: Demnach kann die Deadline vom 17. April nicht eingehalten werden. Die Arbeiten sollen sich um mindestens sechs weitere Wochen verzögern, teilen die CFL auf ihrer Pressekonferenz am Donnerstagmittag mit. Auch die Arbeiten bei Bürden werden sich noch eine ganze Weile ziehen. Dort hatten sich vergangenes Wochenende Stücke einer Felswand gelöst und sind auf das Dach der Geröllschutzkammer gefallen, die Züge und Gleise vor ebensolchen Felsschlägen schützen soll. Die Stabilisierungsarbeiten bei Bürden sollen noch mindestens sieben Wochen (Stand 16. März) andauern. Demnach müssen Passagiere weiterhin auf den Busersatzdienst der CFL zurückgreifen. Fahrplandetails sind auf der CFL-Webseite und der mobilen App einsehbar. Über Letzte Artikel Raffael WilmesRaffael Wilmes wurde 1992 in Luxemburg geboren. Er hat in der Alpenstadt Innsbruck Geschichte mit dem Schwerpunkt Pazifikkrieg zur Zeit des Zweiten Weltkriegs studiert. Kurz vor seinem Studienabschluss verbrachte er ein Semester in Tokio und lernte dort eine ganz andere Lebensweise kennen. Seither hat er als Lehrkraft an der Privatschule Fieldgen unterrichtet und ein Volontariat im Diekircher Militärmuseum gemacht. 2021 schloss er sich dem Journalisten-Team des Tageblatt an. Letzte Artikel von Raffael Wilmes (Alle anzeigen) CFL: Zugverkehr... View Article
@klotiii Agh, damn. Was banking on that being repaired in time! And my timetable that day is already *really tight*
Let me see what I can re-plan!
@mrmarkporter It's mostly linked to the voltage change in Aachen (from 15kV ac to 3kV dc - sometimes that fails, and they stop the train there as a result).
The problem then is that the fleet of trains for BE and NL - ICE 406 series - is too small. So sending a few for full overhaul to fix these issues, short term, means reducing the service.
Change will come next year, all being well, with the 408 series approved for Belgium.
Jon Worth
Zugbindung
Jonathan Weber
Oskar im Keller
Leszek Ciesielski
Julian Andres Klode
Pieter Kuiper 🇸🇪
Cegorach
Tobias Becker
Peter_Panther
Martin Schröder 🇺🇳
Julia
Klotiii
Christian Burtchen
dl1eam
Mark Porter