Mastodawn

Jon Worth Jun 26, 2024

Welcome to today's thread - #CrossBorderRail South East Europe Day 25 26 Jun 2024 - Struga - Bitola - Skopje - Prishtinë

Crossing these borders:
Blace 🇲🇰 - Han i Elezit 🇽🇰 (again, by bus today)
Also part of Future Line - Lin 🇦🇱 - Radozhda 🇲🇰

These borders on the borders map:
https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-all-the-borders_935041#12/42.1297/21.3080

Today has been re-planned, so no route map available.

#CrossBorderRail All The Borders

All of Europe's rail borders - categorised by type, and whether I (Jon Worth) have been to the location. KEY Black - #000000: visited in 2022 during #CrossBorderRail Project Dark grey - #222222: visited in since the 2022 project Mid grey - #555555: tramways and narrow gauge lines, visited Light grey - #999999: not yet visited Very light grey - #BBBBBB: used for tramways and narrow gauge lines ICONS Track with cross - track is missing or out of use Train with cross, and track - track is useable but no passenger trains Train and track - passenger trains run Map developed as part of my #CrossBorderRail project http://crossborderrail.trainsforeurope.eu/

uMap

Here’s today’s intro video #CrossBorderRail https://peertube.netzbegruenung.de/w/tAaAnQ7g3doJ1xYug3gGc5

#CrossBorderRail South East Europe 2024 - 6/26/2024, 3:51:50 AM

PeerTube

Jon Worth Jun 26, 2024

The aliens have landed

(Not #CrossBorderRail but I had to drive near-ish to Krushevo anyway)

Jon Worth Jun 26, 2024

And yes the alien building is the Illinden Memorial at Kruševo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilinden_(memorial)?wprov=sfti1

The clear mountain air here is so nice in comparison to the sticky temperatures of the past few days

Ilinden (memorial) - Wikipedia

Jon Worth Jun 26, 2024

And my route this morning, before the brutalist alien diversion - Kicevo

The rail station and rail infrastructure are intact (no passenger trains for some years though) but other than the plinthed loco there’s no sign anywhere south of the narrow gauge line to Ohrid, dismantled in the 1960s

If Albania and N Macedonia want to build Lin - Kicevo it’s a long and new route partially through tough terrain…

Jon Worth Jun 26, 2024

Ah yay

Mail from Back on Track - the night train campaigners - pissed off I was mildly critical of ÖBB’s night train offer in Spiegel

I was active-ish in Back on Track until they became a bung night trains a public subsidy organisation. Now I’m out I’ll say what I like. We shouldn’t be varnishing the issues!

Jon Worth Jun 26, 2024

Hire car returned. Quick route around Bitola on the faithful Birdy and now back to the station for the train to Skopje…

Jon Worth Jun 26, 2024

#CrossBorderRail South East Europe 2024 Train 56 of 62
642
12:48 Bitola - Skopje 16:15
МЖ

Train type: CRRC Zhuzhou 711 DMU, 3 carriages
⛽️
🚲: ⛔️
🦽: ❓(theoretically step free, but big gap)
🛜: ⛔️
🍽️: ⛔️
🧳: 🙂
🧽: ☹️ (hasn’t been cleaned in ages, graffiti covers windows, toilet out of service)

Jon Worth Jun 26, 2024

642
12:48 Bitola - Skopje 16:15

33 stops
(Same as this yesterday’s train in reverse)
https://gruene.social/@jon/112675576715254849

Jon Worth Jun 26, 2024

Let’s go to Kosovo 🇽🇰

#CrossBorderRail South East Europe 2024 Bus 13 of 19

18:10 Skopje - Prishtinë 20:10
Albus Travel

Distance: 89.2km
Average speed: 45km/h

Bus type: Old Setra, good condition
⛽️
🚲: ❓(not officially but hold is v large)
🦽: ⛔️
🛜: ⛔️
🍽️: ⛔️
🧳: 🙂
🧽: 🙂

Jon Worth Jun 26, 2024

Meanwhile: no #CrossBorderRail night trains to Paris in late summer / early autumn https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/mensch-metropole/nachtzug-aerger-warum-der-nightjet-berlinparis-bald-monatelang-ausfaellt-li.2228955

Nachtzug-Ärger: Warum der Nightjet Berlin–Paris bald monatelang ausfällt

Die ÖBB ist genervt: Immer wieder stören kurzfristige Baustellen den Betrieb. Nun reagiert der Betreiber und stellt den Nachtzug erst mal ein – Pause bis Herbst.

Berliner Zeitung

Martin Schröder 🇺🇳Jun 26, 2024

@jon https://archive.is/I9nRF

Lenny Jun 26, 2024

@jon Well, look at it differently: That way the sleeper and couchette cars might actually be available for once on all the other routes #ÖBB operates and sold tickets for.

Perhaps some of the cars could even be maintained for once. More than one functional toilet and one or two less flat spots would be a nice service upgrade.

Niklas Jun 26, 2024

@jon Hopefully they will take this as a chance to stabilise other NJ lines during that period...

Jon Worth Jun 26, 2024

Agh.

Big bus. About 8 of us on board.

An American student (based on accent), female, early twenties, is sat across from me a few rows back.

A local dude (based on passport at the border), twenties, sits himself down next to the American student, uninvited, and proceeds to flirt strongly.

I’ve caught the American’s eye - to basically say “I see what he’s doing” and I have an ear on it.

Her body language isn’t too negative.

Jon Worth Jun 26, 2024

Ok. Bus arrives. American student departs so hastily the guy gets the message and doesn’t follow. Good. So that ended ok.

Jon Worth Jun 26, 2024

Pristina 🇽🇰

Near the bus station: a car dominated hell of malls, flyovers and petrol stations. On a bike. In a thunderstorm ⛈️ Not fun

But I’m safely at my hotel now

Jon Worth Jun 26, 2024

More pictures from Kruševo (Ilinden Memorial) taken this morning

Jon Worth Jun 26, 2024

Today’s summary video

https://peertube.netzbegruenung.de/w/kF2iEjj1ZJXZd6eaAc7k87

Lin 🇦🇱 - Radozhda 🇲🇰 - Kicevo is hopeless

Blace 🇲🇰 - Han i Elezit 🇽🇰 is a more fundamental upgrade than I expected but is proceeding

#CrossBorderRail South East Europe 2024 - 6/26/2024, 7:01:08 PM

PeerTube

Martha Jun 26, 2024

@jon
Whatever is/was this excrescence for?

Titia Schuurman Jun 26, 2024

@Island_Martha @jon I'm curious as well! I've seen pics of many gems of modernist architecture across the former East Bloc, but this construction is quite extraordinary.

Jon Worth Jun 26, 2024

@titia @Island_Martha it’s this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilinden_(memorial)?wprov=sfti1#

Ilinden (memorial) - Wikipedia

Titia Schuurman Jun 26, 2024

@Island_Martha @jon Well, here's what Wikipedia has on it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilinden_(memorial)
and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilinden%E2%80%93Preobrazhenie_Uprising
and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macedonian_Struggle

Learn something new every day.

Ilinden (memorial) - Wikipedia

Jon Worth Jun 26, 2024

@titia @Island_Martha there’s also this: spomenikdatabase.org Documents all these sorts of monuments in the former Yugoslavia. But many of the really epic ones are hard to get to.

Martha Jun 27, 2024

@titia @jon
Yes, we have a few Soviet monuments in Estonia but none come close to this for weirdness. On Saaremaa, the monument to the Night Battle of Tehumardi on 8 October 1944, is strangely moving

Titia Schuurman Jun 27, 2024

@Island_Martha @jon It is indeed. Thank you for the photos. I've never been to Saaremaa yet, even though it's not far from Helsinki.

Martha Jun 27, 2024

@titia
boats, busses, planes, no trains - will get you here. Tere tulemast!

Titia Schuurman Jun 27, 2024

@Island_Martha Aitäh! 😊

Martha Jun 26, 2024

@jon
That doesn't sound like a positive experience.

Jon Worth Jun 26, 2024

@Island_Martha I like Kosovo, and I’ve had fun here in the past, but it’s not a charming city.

Martha Jun 26, 2024

@jon I like lots of non-charming cities, like the Rotten Apple (NYC ) and I prefer gritty Warsaw (which reminds me of NYC) to Krakow.

Indra Kupferschmid 💙💛Jun 26, 2024

@jon But downtown, by foot, in okay weather it’s lovely! Hope you have some more time tomorrow. Library for more weird Soviet punk architecture

Jon Worth Jun 26, 2024

@kupfers depends how I do it tomorrow. Priority is a train to Peja but I have to route back through Pristina. I’ve been here before although always in foul weather. Maybe I ought to be more positive!

Martha Jun 26, 2024

@jon
Still another potential adventure.

@jon thank you for being aware and keeping an ear out 💜

Sarah Wilson has moved Jun 26, 2024

@jon Had a chance recently to do a short (and free) training by the Suzy Lamplugh Trust on how to do that sort of thing well ( https://www.suzylamplugh.org/anti-harassment-training ). I highly recommend it for all.

Anti Harassment training

L'Oreal Paris and Suzy Lamplugh Trust have partnered to deliver Stand Up Against Harassment training.

Suzy Lamplugh Trust

Jon Worth Jun 26, 2024

@ScottAS2 thank you! Will see if I can do it in a location I can get to!

Sarah Wilson has moved Jun 26, 2024

@jon It was all online when I did it. I’m not sure if they restrict the open sessions geographically; the one I did certainly had people from all over, but it was arranged by #Glasgow2024.

Jon Worth Jun 26, 2024

@ScottAS2 all right, online is fine 🙂 Will check once #CrossBorderRail is done!

Susa Jun 26, 2024

@jon
Thank you 🙂

guenther Jun 26, 2024

@jon Albus Dumbledore

David Jaša Jun 26, 2024

There's only one bitola in Bitola 😅

(bitola = track gauge in Portuguese)

Martha Jun 26, 2024

@jon
THis is one of the Chinese trains?

Jon Worth Jun 26, 2024

@Island_Martha Yep. Those were the only ones I saw running at all!

Martha Jun 26, 2024

@jon
Explains a lot. No wonder the train situation in Macedonia is so bad.

Tor Lillqvist Jun 26, 2024

@jon Zhuzhou, as in choo-choo? Brilliant name for a train.

Sebastian Wilken Jun 26, 2024

@jon Night train or Nightjet campaigners? Sometimes I'm not sure anymore.

Braid in trains

- solidarity with

@jon Your article was excellent and pointed to the right issues. Back on Track should shut up about their OeBB advocatism.

Martha Jun 26, 2024

@jon
We have a brutalist hotel, built for vacationing Russian army officers, near me, but that creature looks like the architect was on LSD.

That station building seems to be open. What is it being used for?

johan2023 Jun 26, 2024

@jon j'adore tes photos de gares abandonnées

Martha Jun 26, 2024

@jon
Mountains can be wonderful. They are my 2nd favourite geographical element - after sea shores.

Martha Jun 26, 2024

@jon
ARGHH!!! Aliens indeed!

acb Jun 26, 2024

@jon a communist-era spomenik, or some oligarch’s mansion?

Jon Worth Jun 26, 2024

@acb former. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilinden_(memorial)?wprov=sfti1

Ilinden (memorial) - Wikipedia

Bastian Greshake Tzovaras Jun 26, 2024

@jon It's probably the former life as a biologist talking, but this looks so much like a virus to me! :D