I’m at #Innotrans all day. I’ll sporadically post in this thread.

First impression: CRRC (Chinese manufacturer) has the main advert at Messe Süd

The industrial saboteurs are here #Innotrans
And here it is! The most stupid rail vehicle currently produced. A hydrogen tram 🤬 Hyundai-Rotem #Innotrans
The Talgo electric locomotive for DB - series 105 - is here. They didn’t already build 19 of these I hope? 🤔 #Innotrans
Končar has a battery electric multiple unit here. That seems to charge only from a cable, not from an overhead wire in a terminus #Innotrans
And if you’re going “what’s wrong with a hydrogen tram?” you’re going to be dealt with totally scornfully. Put up a wire. That’s it. #Innotrans
The new FART is here #Innotrans
As is a Stadler built new U-Bahn for Berlin - for the narrow profile lines. This is built super solidly, and is more roomy than existing designs. Impressive design. #Innotrans
There’s an Alstom Coradia Max EMU. Mix of single and double deck carriages. Inside it feels cramped - feels like they’re trying to cram in too many seats. #Innotrans
There’s always one more final speech from Gilkinet #Innotrans
Warning Oslo. We’re going to be remotely controlling a tram in Oslo from Berlin. Fingers crossed the internet connection is solid. 🙂 #Innotrans
For the record: the tram is in a depot 🙂 #Innotrans

Now talking Western Balkans at #Innotrans

The DG of Macedonian Railways is here 🤯

This is the Macedonian Railways depot in Skopje #Innotrans
This is the future Tirana central station. That’s not very central. And is meant to run in 2025. #Innotrans
If you’re a panellist at any event *don’t read your speech*. It’s a panel not a speech! #Innotrans
I assume they’re not going to allow questions here though… I have a few things to ask! 😂 #Innotrans
So this is the dude. Sinisa Ivanovski, DG of Macedonian Railways. I have questions… He’s the man presiding over phantom lines and phantom trains. #Innotrans
He’s being asked about ERTMS. He’s not got any trains to put modern signalling *in* 🤬 #Innotrans
This is Macedonia’s ETCS equipped line. No train has ever run on it since it was built in 2019. #Innotrans
This is just delusion. Macedonia has 7 operational trains, TOTAL, I was told in June. 3 multiple units, 4 freight locomotives. The problem is NOT operations first and foremost, but operations and maintenance. #Innotrans
I think I’m more depressed hearing these high level people from Balkan railways than I was when I was in the region in June on #CrossBorderRail #Innotrans
Albanian rail dude claims his new line is 80% complete. This is where the airport station is due to be. NO sign of building in June this year. He’s talking 💩 #Innotrans
It’s amazing this panel. It’s so off the scale delusional. I’ve heard some rubbish at panels over the years, but this is another level. #Innotrans
And I’m sorry Enno Wiebe from Unife has clearly never travelled by train in the Balkans. ETCS is *irrelevant* if you have no trains. #Innotrans

And there was an announcement of a single daily Paris - Berlin direct train from December. Nice but 🤷‍♂️

An hourly train Paris-Frankfurt would be more useful.

#Innotrans

And I’m done at #Innotrans for today. More tomorrow, and also from an event in the evening hosted by Trainline where I’m a speaker

I’m back at #Innotrans

And stumbles into the hall about cables

Innuendo, #Innotrans style
AI can work out if you get a Brezel #Innotrans
How many different silly GadgetBahn ideas does SNCF have? Here’s another one - at the CAF stand #Innotrans
Milwaukee tools. Bigger presence at #Innotrans than SNCF
Hitachi has some train with even more confusing windows than a Stadler RS1. @wrzlbrnft isn’t going to be a fan! #Innotrans
A Talgo DSB 1st class coach. Can seat 22 passengers. Weighs 17t, unladen. So this would have an axel load too high for a French high speed line (it’s not intended for France, but some Talgo trains are) #innotrans
Ile de France is here. On the Doppelmayr stand… #innotrans
Nevomo. More gadget bahns. No I didn’t stop. #innotrans
Softronic. Building trains in Craiova, Romania, based on a 1960s Swedish ASEA design. And now selling them… to Green Cargo in Sweden. 🙂 #innotrans
This was the #innotrans err… taxi queue
I took the S-Bahn and am from now on at a Trainline event about ticketing - but outside the main Messe #innotrans
Prof. Paolo Beria presenting research into competition in rail at Trainline event. It’s *very* big city bias so far. #innotrans
Ha. Paris-Bruxelles is the most suitable for competition according to Prof. Paolo Beria. That’s not wrong 😂 #innotrans
The model is full of holes however. There is no understanding of operational constraints here. #innotrans
Ok this is not bad (ignoring it’s not going to work in Switzerland) #innotrans
Now a panel of rail execs. There’s a Eurostar dude complaining DB never ran to London and that Eurostar wants to run more trains. Buy more trains then, damn it! Don’t whine. #innotrans
There’s plenty of capacity on Eurostar’s Paris-Brussels route as I explain here https://jonworth.eu/make-international-rail-cheaper-capacity-on-a-route-is-the-crucial-issue/ #innotrans
The dude from Italo says high speed international competition is impossible. Sure it is if you, Italo, buy trains designed only for Italy 🤷‍♂️ #innotrans
@jon 8 carriages an hour on an expensive piece of infrastructure like that sounds odd indeed
@jon if Eurostar carries out its threat (no more trains to/from the Netherlands in 2025 due to infrastructure issues), there will be additional rolling stock available for Paris-Brussels.

@jon so Eurostar are going to stop getting in the way and all the countries various certification bodies will work in harmony?

Although the worst thing about the Eurostar is the bit that no operator could really do anything about; I.e. the border checks and the ridiculous airport style screening.

@pcwizz Yeah. I’m not holding my breath either.

@jon

Option 7 in common across nearly all cases, along with 1.

A stark example of how profit-seeking is often healthy for the greater good only as a matter of chance.

Where adults need to be in the room (aka governance), editing options.

@jon that sounds like many events which exist to allow people to part with some of their hot air. Professional talkers never need be doers.
@jon and what of Scandinavia, or the entirety of Eastern Europe for that matter?
@jon their app saved me often in the past, when booking through SNCF was not possible due to a permanent error finalising the reservation
@jon no one eats its own dog food in this industry? We have public transportation in this town.

@yrrsinn These weird patterns are everywhere.

Just a year ago I visited a Dutch bicycle factory that didn't have bicycle parking. "Uhm, you CYCLED here? From a train station? Well, uhm, maybe park behind the building near the freight docks".

I've visited two coffee factories where all coffee machines were stocked by a competitor. :-)

The one that I genuinely didn't understand was the animal free "meat" factory with a cantina serving meat products daily. And no vegan options. #ffs

@jon

@Pepijn @yrrsinn @jon well that one is easy. Ppl buying meat free are not necessarily the same ones working to produce it. Though I would have assumed they at least have a vegetarian option.
@jon wtf is that?
@quixoticgeek a TELLI BEMU! (No I’ve no idea either)

@jon @quixoticgeek As it says on the label: «TELLi, une offre performante pur mettre le train au cœur des zones périubaines et rurales»

It's for driving trains dangerously close the the sea https://www.groupe-sncf.com/en/innovation/local-mobility/telli

The concept seems similar to Stadler #RSzero, a partly battery/electric train

@aslakr @jon @quixoticgeek Well the latest version of TELLI looks like a decent train for rural lines. The first version is completely a gadgetbahn with only a driver cab on the top and they were saying the sight of the driver will come from the cameras on the front !!
@aslakr @jon @quixoticgeek is that train not literally in the tidal zone? Is it amphibious?
@jon @quixoticgeek Well, at least the TELLi thingy seems to be basically a pretty light TER unit in the style of a A TER but in double traction rather than one of these cursed gadget rail systems ? Like, you know, using real tracks and real stations on real railway lines.
@lewd @quixoticgeek but it has single axels? Like a Pacer?
@jon @lewd @quixoticgeek maybe some S-tog (copenhagen) or Talgo inspiration?
Yet not sure what the gain would be compared to the RS Zero
@jon
Wot dat?
@Island_Martha some theoretical future train for branch lines. No idea.
@jon
A concept of a plan, then
@jon adding insult to injury
@antonia @jon 1984: the computers will take over and nuke everybody. 2024: the computers will take over and deny you a pretzel.
@jon I'm so happy for the innovation #AI brings! Could you imagine this bleak future where your mobility App is unable to recognize you had a Brezel?
@jon @jon Given that a Ditsch brezel currently costs € 1.20, a voucher that entitles you to 2 for 2 € has an equivalent cash value of 40 cents, which isn’t exactly generous for a delay of 28 minutes as per the example.
@robabram @jon
I guess that's the "AI"s job: Adjust the insult that's added to the injury slightly below the gullibility threshold of the traveller. What a time to be alive!
@jon You’re in politics and campaigning. You know how important connections are. 😂
@jon Thinking about it: Let’s rename ‘lobbyists’ into ‘connectors’ 🤭
@jon can you tell Trainline that pre-checking the booking.com search checkbox on their website is bloody annoying?
@grischard that’s a comparably minor quibble to be fair. There are much deeper issues!
@jon What time and where is that event?
Trainline symposium InnoTrans 2024

On the side of the InnoTrans rail fair, Trainline is hosting an event with the leading international stakeholders from the rail industry, politics and media to discuss how competition can benefit the sector.

Trainline