Welcome to today's thread - #CrossBorderRail South East Europe Day 28 29 Jun 2024 - Tirana - Shkodër – Podgorica, onto night train

Crossing these borders:
Tuzi 🇲🇪 - Vukpalaj-Bajze 🇦🇱
Bijelo Polje 🇲🇪 - Kumanica 🇷🇸

These borders on the borders map:
https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-all-the-borders_935041#9/42.7359/19.5502

Today's routes on the routes map:
https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-all-the-borders_935041#9/42.7359/19.5502

#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 this morning’s thread as I start the long trip home. With some investigation en route 🙂 https://peertube.netzbegruenung.de/w/ieWSGmewQqVfxdPV8p7Kai
#CrossBorderRail South East Europe 2024 - 6/29/2024, 5:37:41 AM

PeerTube

I’ve found it! The new Tiranë central station. This is so badly located it’s almost as if they took consultancy advice from SNCF.

Oh and it’s meant to open “in 2025”

#CrossBorderRail South East Europe 2024 Bus 18 of 20

09:00 Tirana - Shkodër 11:00
No idea

Distance: 92.7km
Average speed: 46km/h

Bus type: Oldish Neoplan coach, used to run in Hohenstein Germany
⛽️
🚲: ✅ (driver offered to take my bike before I folded it)
🦽: ⛔️
🛜: ⛔️
🍽️: ⛔️
🧳: 🙂 (large-ish hold)
🧽: 😐 (seats worn and knackered)

And I was laughing about Tony Blair street in Pejë

Imagine living on felony street! 🤯

Kamëz 🇦🇱

(I was too slow to photograph it, but the map tells the story)

And Hamburgers - remember those three section buses you used to have that clogged up your intersections?

They now ply the route Kamëz - Tiranë (they painted them white but the seats still say Hochbahn)

Shkodër is chaos. No bus station. Buses to different places just leave from different street corners. And as my bus from Tiranë was late time was tight. But with 2 mins to spare I’m on to the bus to Koplik, close to the border to Montenegro.

#CrossBorderRail South East Europe 2024 Bus 19 of 20

11:30 Shkodër - Kaplik 12:00
Velipoja

Distance: 20km
Average speed: 40km/h

Bus type: No idea what sort this even is!
⛽️
🚲: ⛔️ (hold too small)
🦽: ⛔️
🛜: ⛔️
🍽️: ⛔️
🧳: 🙂 (enough space for luggage)
🧽: ☹️ (falling apart and totally grimy inside)

Friendly driver though, has family living in München!

Got talking to a guy at Shkodër. “How many people live here?”
“150000. But twenty years ago it was 250000. There’s nothing to do here!”
He then proceeded into a rant about political corruption and Edi Rama and that Tiranë gets all the money… 🤔
#CrossBorderRail
@jon
I'm not surprised. He's probably right.