Jon WorthFor the record: the tram is in a depot š #Innotrans
Now talking Western Balkans at #Innotrans
The DG of Macedonian Railways is here š¤Æ
This is the future Tirana central station. Thatās not very central. And is meant to run in 2025. #Innotrans
If youāre a panellist at any event *donāt read your speech*. Itās a panel not a speech! #Innotrans
I assume theyāre not going to allow questions here thoughā¦ I have a few things to ask! š #Innotrans
So this is the dude. Sinisa Ivanovski, DG of Macedonian Railways. I have questionsā¦ Heās the man presiding over phantom lines and phantom trains. #Innotrans
Heās being asked about ERTMS. Heās not got any trains to put modern signalling *in* š¤¬ #Innotrans
This is Macedoniaās 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 Iām 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. Heās talking š© #Innotrans
Itās amazing this panel. Itās so off the scale delusional. Iāve heard some rubbish at panels over the years, but this is another level. #Innotrans
Hereās my blog post about Macedoniaās phantom rail lines https://crossborderrail.trainsforeurope.eu/north-macedonias-phantom-rail-line-and-why-i-am-worried-theyre-repeating-the-error-at-the-other-end-of-the-country/ #Innotrans
And Iām 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 š¤·āāļø
An hourly train Paris-Frankfurt would be more useful.
And Iām done at #Innotrans for today. More tomorrow, and also from an event in the evening hosted by Trainline where Iām a speaker
How many different silly GadgetBahn ideas does SNCF have? Hereās another one - at the CAF stand #Innotrans
Hitachi has some train with even more confusing windows than a Stadler RS1. @wrzlbrnft isnāt 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 (itās not intended for France, but some Talgo trains are) #innotrans
Softronic. Building trains in Craiova, Romania, based on a 1960s Swedish ASEA design. And now selling themā¦ to Green Cargo in Sweden. š #innotrans
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. Itās *very* big city bias so far. #innotrans
Ha. Paris-Bruxelles is the most suitable for competition according to Prof. Paolo Beria. Thatās not wrong š #innotrans
The model is full of holes however. There is no understanding of operational constraints here. #innotrans
Ok this is not bad (ignoring itās not going to work in Switzerland) #innotrans
Now a panel of rail execs. Thereās a Eurostar dude complaining DB never ran to London and that Eurostar wants to run more trains. Buy more trains then, damn it! Donāt whine. #innotrans
Thereās plenty of capacity on Eurostarās 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 š¤·āāļø #innotrans
Martin Hoffmann@jon Nobody tell him that Trenitalia is actually doing it (or would, if the French could get the line open again).
@partim Right. The guy is just blagging here. Not impressive.
@jon If he had said: āIt doesnāt make sense for is to try in the current environment,ā I would even agree.
@partim heās too imprecise. I just have the impression he doesnāt want Italo to really go beyond Italy.
@jon Makes sense. Although Iām curious whether MSC has any ambitions longer term.