Jon WorthJan 6, 2025

Ah

Dreilandentrein doesn't work well

SHOCK!

https://www.aachener-zeitung.de/lokales/region-aachen/aachen/dreilaenderzug-kommt-nicht-ins-rollen-re18-laesst-fahrgaeste-am-bahnsteig-stehen/30619188.html

(The whole development of this has been a saga, and is mostly the fault of the Belgians. Everyone was too busy crowing that it runs in three countries and couldn't fix the operational and ticketing dysfunction)

#CrossBorderRail

Dreiländerzug kommt nicht ins Rollen: RE18 lässt Fahrgäste am Bahnsteig stehen

Ausfallende Züge, schlechte Kommunikation: Der RE18 war als Leuchtturmprojekt für die Dreiländerregion gestartet, hat mittlerweile aber das Vertrauen der Pendler verspielt. Gibt es noch eine Zukunft für die Verbindung?

Aachener Zeitung
Show threadQuixoticgeek
@jon I've used it a couple of times for liege to Maastricht using an interrail pass. And I've used it to Aachen using an OV chipkaart. The ticketing on the Belgian end is a mess. They need to roll out some OV chipkaart posts on the Belgian side asap. Would solve a lot of the problems. Also every time I used it it was full. They could go to every half hour or even every 15 mins. The demand is there. But SNCB suck.
Jan 6, 2025 at 2:12pmWeb
Show threadJon WorthJan 6, 2025
@quixoticgeek And SNCB sort of wants this to fail as it's Arriva and they see this as the wedge for others to muscle in on their network. But Arriva's maintenance is also crap - that does not help.
Show threadQuixoticgeekJan 6, 2025
@jon i misread that as SNCF at first. The fact it made perfect sense for it to be SNCF says a lot about SNCB. Both need a giant kick up the arse and to start trying to run a proper train service. If SNCB really wanted to be useful they would add their own service on the same line using OV chip...
Show threadJon WorthJan 6, 2025
@quixoticgeek They’d blame the Belgian state for preventing them doing it. And the Belgian state would be too dysfunctional to fix it.