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

#FENSTERAUF

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