Mastodawn

Jon Worth Jun 29, 2024

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

Jon Worth Jun 29, 2024

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

Jon Worth Jun 29, 2024

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”

Jon Worth Jun 29, 2024

#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)

Jon Worth Jun 29, 2024

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)

Jon Worth Jun 29, 2024

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)

Jon Worth Jun 29, 2024

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.

Jon Worth Jun 29, 2024

#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!

Jon Worth Jun 29, 2024

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 Worth Jun 29, 2024

Let’s do this! Last major bike stage of #CrossBorderRail

#CrossBorderRail South East Europe 2024 Bike 30 of 30
Kaplik - Podgorica

Distance: 38.6km
Est. duration: 3:00

This bike route, mapped on Komoot: https://www.komoot.com/tour/1383691090

#CrossBorderRail Kaplik - Podgorica | bike Tour | Komoot

Jon Worth planned an outdoor adventure with komoot! Distance: 40.8 km | Duration: 02:28 h

komoot

Jon Worth Jun 29, 2024

Podgorica

That was 🥵

Jon Worth Jun 29, 2024

I’ve once passed through Podgorica by car and assumed I’d missed the centre / the life

Now I’ve cycled all around it, and I’ve still found nothing

Is there a square with a load of cafes anywhere? If so where is it?

Jon Worth Jun 29, 2024

Ok, today’s #CrossBorderRail peculiarity

Tuzi 🇲🇪 - Vukpalaj-Bajze 🇦🇱

I started at Koplik, Albania side
https://maps.app.goo.gl/XujpwFKWCFXdp9zD8

This was the track. Nothing has run in ages

Bevor Sie zu Google Maps weitergehen

Then 14km north - here
https://maps.app.goo.gl/tjD5LHKj8kC2GkRGA

This is how it looked - still knackered but in use

Bevor Sie zu Google Maps weitergehen

Jon Worth Jun 29, 2024

The only thing in between in Bajzë https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bajz%C3%AB_railway_station?wprov=sfti1

So I presume some freight is shipped cross border and put on trucks there?

Bajzë railway station - Wikipedia

Jon Worth Jun 29, 2024

Montenegro side everything is orderly (tunnel built in 1984) and obviously in use

Jon Worth Jun 29, 2024

So…

I asked some members of the Green Party I know here in Montenegro to get me the tickets for the night train

Specific instructions:
Carriage 465 (the Tito carriage)
A compartment only for me, whatever it costs

Ah this stuff is fine to do a week ahead. They did. And then 1) I’m not in the Tito carriage, and 2) am sharing with 2 others, because they waited too long!

This was meant to be the only bit of luxury in this whole trip and it’s f***ed up. Annoying

Jon Worth Jun 29, 2024

(And yes, needless to say, there’s no way to book this online - you need someone local to do it for you)

Jon Worth Jun 29, 2024

New or old trains, train windows get broken

Kosovo (ex-DB) and Albania (ex-DR/DB), second hand - in those cases smashed panes are left in place

Romania (new, Siemens) and here too ŽPCG (new, CAF) it’s a problem too - hard to see in the pic, but poorly replaced with Perspex

When you buy trains *also buy spares*

Jon Worth Jun 29, 2024

WiFi too slow here at Podgorica. Nothing but text will upload. And there’ll be no WiFi on board.

Summaries, assessments etc will have to wait for tomorrow once I’m in Serbia!

Jon Worth Jun 29, 2024

Want to know the carriages in a train in this region? Vagonweb has you covered https://www.vagonweb.cz/razeni/vlak.php?zeme=SV&kategorie=&cislo=432&nazev=Lov%C4%87en&rok=2024

I’m on 462, an old French or Italian sleeping car

Jon Worth Jun 29, 2024

Timetables, ŽPCG style

There’s one line in the *entire country* that the Bar-Beograd train doesn’t serve. It’s Nikšić - Podgorica

Do they run a Nikšić-Podgorica to connect with Bar-Beograd

No of course they don’t 🤦‍♂️ From Nikšić it arrives in Podgorica half an hour after the Beograd train leaves

Jon Worth Jun 29, 2024

(And please don’t try trainsplaining me “oh but maybe they use the same route” (they don’t - apart from a few hundred metres entering Podgorica), “there’s not platform capacity” (there is - I’m at Podgorica right now), or “they use the same rolling stock” (they don’t) - this is incompetence plain and simple)

Jon Worth Jun 30, 2024

#CrossBorderRail South East Europe 2024 Train 60 of 64
432
20:45 Podgorica - Beograd Centar 06:19
ŽPCG

Train type: Electroputere 461 (Podgorica-Bijelo Polje), Končar, TŽV Janko Gredelj, Đuro Đaković, MIN Niš 441 locomotive (Bijelo Polje-Beograd), 4 sleeping cars, 4 couchettes, 3 seating cars, 1 dining car, 3 car transport waggons
⚡️
🚲: ✅ (attendant told me there was space)
🦽: ⛔️
🛜: ⛔️
🍽️: ✅
🧳: 😐 (narrow doors, high steps)
🧽: 🙂

Jon Worth Jun 30, 2024

432
20:45 Podgorica - Beograd Centar 06:19

Distance: 416.8km
Average speed: 44km/h

14 stops:
Kolašin
Mojkovac
Bijelo Polje
Prijepolje Teretna
Prijepolje
Priboj
Užice
Požega
Kosjeric
Valjevo
Lajkovac
Lazarevac
Rakovica
Beograd Centar

This train, mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-south-east-europe-v9-draft_1053482#8/43.625/19.879

(Running +130 at Valjevo)

#CrossBorderRail South East Europe v9 Draft

The routes for #CrossBorderRail South East Europe May-June 2024 - see http://crossborderrail.trainsforeurope.eu/ HOW TO USE THIS MAP Lines on the map show train, bus and bike routes - each plotted as accurately as possible. PURPLE and ORANGE lines are train routes. These alternate - one day purples, one day oranges. A different shade indicates a different train. GREEN lines are bus routes. GREY lines are bike routes - more details about these can be found on Komoot here: https://www.komoot.de/user/1897747552710 The full timetable for these routes is here: https://nextcloud.techpolitics.eu/index.php/s/ZjdP5YGH6ZS6ZHK Details of all of Europe's rail border crossings can be found in this map: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-all-the-borders_838780

uMap

Jon Worth Jun 30, 2024

Oh and there were 2 border controls in the night

So when Montenegro’s Minister of Transport said on 7 June that by 15 June joint controls would start at Bijelo Polje, he was talking 💩

Which of course he was…

Jon Worth Jun 30, 2024

Worst staff of the trip so far: Montenegro railways ŽPCG

Ticket office in Podgorica: was sooner playing a game on her phone than serving customers

Night train attendants: being arsey about my folding bike, not stopping others smoking and smoking themselves. On a very full night train…

Jon Worth Jun 30, 2024

Full train. Everyone with luggage. Narrow door. High steps.

What does ŽPCG’s night train attendant do instead of helping? Gossips…

Jon Worth Jun 30, 2024

Last bit of #fensterauf of the trip 😭

Jon Worth Jun 30, 2024

Belgrade Waterfront

My dic.. sorry, my tower is bigger than your tower

It’s so grim. The whole lot of it

Jon Worth Jun 30, 2024

#CrossBorderRail South East Europe 2024 Bus 20 of 20

11:30 Beograd Centar - Zagreb 17:00
Flixbus

Distance: 390.7km
Average speed: 71km/h

Bus type: Modern Setra
⛽️
🚲: ⛔️ (hold would be large enough, but staff are arsey about luggage quantity)
🦽: ⛔️
🛜: ⛔️
🍽️: ⛔️
🧳: 🙂 (hold is large)
🧽: 🙂

Jon Worth Jun 30, 2024

Also Belgrade Waterfront has about the most stupid bike racks I’ve ever seen (and it takes some doing)

They’re wide posts with 2 holes for locks

Holes are too high for a low bike

My lock won’t fit through the holes

Oh and they’re bolted to the ground… and look what’s happening there!

Jon Worth Jun 30, 2024

Spectacularly inefficient Croatian border control at Bajakovo

One bus in front of ours

They keep us waiting 40 minutes. Then they get us off… but then the booth is empty

A border guard is idly playing on her mobile

I’m not about to start campaigning about bus borders, but if you want people to take public transport you’ve got to do better than this!

Jon Worth Jun 30, 2024

I reckon with all that messing around at the border we’re c. 30 mins late

And I’ve got 2 hours 30 mins timetabled to change onto the night train in Zagreb

So it looks ok enough. I might get home tomorrow 🙂

Quixoticgeek Jun 30, 2024

@jon when I cycled through in 2019. I barely stopped. So they can do it...

Vlado Vince Jun 30, 2024

@jon they really do despise anyone taking transit. I never recall Slovenian control being so inefficient pre Schengen

Martin Seeger Jun 30, 2024

@jon My wife (worked 4 years in Croatia) asks: Was this during a soccer game? Don’t expect any service at those times 😀

BarryP Jun 30, 2024

@jon Fixing bolts should be SS, with sheer-off nuts*. Easy to obtain, impossible to unscrew.

* leaves a cone-shaped head, which is difficult to grip with a wrench

@jon why do planners hate Sheffield stands so much?

Jon Worth Jun 30, 2024

@chrisgerhard don’t look cool enough?

Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦Jun 30, 2024

@jon I am facing my palm.

Martha Jun 30, 2024

@rysiek @jon
That's the only reasonable response at this point, I think.

Riley S. Faelan Jun 30, 2024

@jon A cynic would suspect that the holes' diameter corresponds to a readily available common pipe-cutter's capacity.

Martha Jun 30, 2024

@jon
Knowing your interest in bike rack design, I took this photo of our new racks; have been looking for an appropriate time to post it

Jon Worth Jun 30, 2024

@Island_Martha hmm. Easy to install. But looks a bit narrow between each loop? I’ve seen worse though.

Will Jun 30, 2024

@jon as someone who has installed a lot of bike racks, a public service you can do with these is leverage them out of the ground and leave them on their side until the property manager figures out just to use U racks.

Martha Jun 30, 2024

@jon
Grim, disheartening and disgusting

Martha Jun 30, 2024

@jon
The behaviour patterns evolved under ruthless and greedy authoritarian dictatorships don't give way so easily with a name change. The same ethos and players continue in place, only now with the opening of borders this thoughtless competition is being seen by a wider audience.
BUt I agree, the size of his SUV is in inverse proportion to the size of his .... cucumber.

Nick Peers Jun 30, 2024

@jon Reminds me of New York in the early 1930s in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash. Up goes the Chrysler Building as NYC's largest landmark (demolishing a perfectly good luxury hotel of just 20 years standing) only to be eclipsed within a year by the Empire State Building. Both, of course, playthings of the super-rich.

Martha Jun 30, 2024

@nickpeers @jon
You left out the worst desecration of all; demolishing the wonderful old Penn Station for a non-descript pile of grey concrete and stone.

Nick Peers Jun 30, 2024

@Island_Martha @jon It seems we humans never learn, do we! They're trying to encase an old beloved London station within a new high-rise development over here in the UK - purely to make money of course...

https://londonist.com/london/transport/liverpool-street-station-development-plans

"Misconceived Development Threatens To Ruin Liverpool Street Station's Character"

Let's enhance, not degrade.

Londonist

BarryP Jun 30, 2024

@jon Near the old Belgrade station was/is the Hotel Mr. President. Every room had a painting of famous European Presidents.
Inexplicably, the “President” representing the UK, was not the Queen, but Margaret Thatcher.
Hopefully, not in the Honeymoon suite.

And it’s the only hotel we’ve ever stayed in, where someone has confirmed by walkie talkie, that none of the room’s contents have been pinched, when checking out.

Martha Jun 30, 2024

@jon
Welcome to life as was under Communism. Not an experience you'll need to repeat soon.

Martha Jun 30, 2024

@jon
Why are we not surprised.
Big transportation conference, lots of shiny-shoe people; of course he had to throw a story or 10. I'm sure he had no idea there was an audience member who would soon be checking the veracity of those stories.

RolfO Jun 30, 2024

@jon Enjoy the journey Jon. Also doing borders today: Copenhagen - Hamburg - Basel and 2 more CH trains.
Started out 7:00 with an aggressive train person telling me to buy a bike reservation for my "thing" in a TranzBag. What is the best comeback?
I tried to offer to make it smaller if space became a problem. Need a better comeback.

Jon Worth Jun 30, 2024

@rolfo Ignore them. Ask them for the article in the terms and conditions to justify their complaint. They never can and shut up

RolfO Jun 30, 2024

@jon Found this on the TranzBag website. Is that false marketing?

Jon Worth Jun 30, 2024

@rolfo that’s incorrect. At least in DE and FR it’s the size that matters.

RolfO Jun 30, 2024

@jon wow. Never had an issue in Germany with it.
In DK that would then be false marketing and you would have a very strong case against the company selling the bag :)
So you also have to buy a bike ticket + make a bike reservation for a pair of skis in DE?

Jon Worth Jun 30, 2024

@rolfo I think skis have a separate category. But it’s a minefield of complexity.

RolfO Jun 30, 2024

@jon Sounds like it is. This could/should be harmonized like on planes.
I have a bit of a problem with someone looking at a bag and saying: That is a bike. Or that is skis for that matter. No it is a bag with something in. And what that is exactly is none of your business unless it is dangerous or in some other way a problem for other travelers.

Jon Worth Jun 30, 2024

@rolfo Yep. Totally. And as I have a folding bike, covered, I know I comply. But still annoying rail staff sometimes kick up a stink.

RolfO Jun 30, 2024

@jon Another "fun" thing about this trip: I went to the central stations super friendly international ticket staff to get the reservation. They said bike in a bag was okay. But they had me buy 1st class (Interrail) as that was where the only not reserved seats were. And seat reservation is compulsory on this train. Now I am half way to Hamburg and there was PLENTY of empty seats. More than two carriages worth of empty seats. Plus all the folding seats that you cannot reserve.

Pepijn Jun 29, 2024

@jon heh 🙂

Maybe they do this on purpose to create organic social media chatter and thus promote the service? :-D

Jon Worth Jun 29, 2024

@Pepijn laughs darkly in Balkan.

Martha Jun 29, 2024

@jon
You want I should teach you to curse in Greek?

Vor-Ort-Anleiter 🇺🇦 📯Jun 29, 2024

@jon After re-opening the line to Nikšić there used to be a direct Beograd - Nikšić sleeping car, I took it in october 2012. It ceased to exist after some months, as far as I remember.

Jon Worth Jun 29, 2024

Ah that’s good ☺️

Water fountain to wash a bit on the platform at Podgorica

And yes I’ve got a funny suntan. That’s what happens when you’ve cycled a lot and worn shorts and closed shoes 99% of the time!

Martha Jun 29, 2024

@jon
Somehow prophetic ending to this train trawl through this complicated and damaged region.
Sorry you have to deal with this. Did you ever find an open cafe/bar?

Jon Worth Jun 29, 2024

@Island_Martha yes. Two. But both non descript!

Martha Jun 29, 2024

@jon
Null points Podgorica!

Tim Richards Jul 1, 2024

@jon I showed up at Bar by bus from Dubrovnik last year and hoped for a private compartment that night to Beograd, but nope - scored a couchette for €8 supplement on my Eurail pass. Only had to share it with two others though, so wasn't too bad. Wish it could be booked online!