Welcome to today's thread - 2025 #CrossBorderRail Finale Day 2 - 8 June - Ceský Tešín - Cieszyn - Čadca - Zwardoń - Skalité - Kraľovany - Trstená

Today's new borders:
Cieszyn 🇵🇱 - Ceský Tešín 🇨🇿
Zwardon 🇵🇱 - Skalité-Serafínov 🇸🇰
Mosty u Jablunkova zastávka 🇨🇿 - Svrcinovec zastávka 🇸🇰
🚋 Former Tramway Cieszyn 🇵🇱 - Ceský Tešín 🇨🇿

Borders map, inc. borders re-crossed:
https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-all-the-borders_935041#11/49.6492/18.7873

Today's trains on the routes map:
https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2025-finale_1163738#10/49.4281/19.1189

Ceský Tešín and Cieszyn, a town divided by the PL-CZ border, but there is a railway line. Today I aim to work out if there's potential to improve it. Then onwards to the borders north of Čadca (SK) - the best SK-PL border crossing, mostly because all the others are terrible! #CrossBorderRail

Here's today's #CrossBorderRail music track

Drinking Song
Adam Makowicz

The singer born in today's Czechia in Hnojník near Ceský Tešín, is Polish, lives in Canada - that's a good story!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vMdDkhydvI

Adam Makowicz - Drinking Song

YouTube

Here's today's #CrossBorderRail intro video, explaining the four borders I will examine today

https://peertube.netzbegruenung.de/w/vpRzdFeEEtKzCivQSQPEmd

#CrossBorderRail live stream - 6/8/2025, 6:00:51 AM

PeerTube

So that’s today’s first #CrossBorderRail border

Cieszyn 🇵🇱 - Ceský Tešín 🇨🇿

Police car was parked there, so couldn’t get nearer to photograph

Čadca station hall 😍 #CrossBorderRail

OK, all re-planned and re-timetabled. Time for some #CrossBorderRail assessments 🙂

#CrossBorderRail Finale Train 14 of 145
R 345
10:26 Ceský Tešín - Čadca 11:00
ČD, ZSSK

Train type: Škoda 362 locomotive, 4 carriages
⚡️ (3kV dc)
🚲: ✅
🦽: ✅ (ramp on board, not step free)
🛜: ✅
🍽️: ❓ (says there's a trolley, but I didn't see it)
🧳: 😐 (narrow and high steps, especially disembarking at Čadca)
🧽: 🙂

🎫 Interrail: 🙂 (accepted)

R 345
10:26 Ceský Tešín - Čadca 11:00

Distance: 39.4km
Average speed: 70km/h

3 stops:
Třinec centrum (Trzyniec centrum)
Návsí (Nawsie)
Čadca

This train, mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2025-finale_1163738#11/49.5945/18.7042

#CrossBorderRail 2025 Finale

The final big #CrossBorderRail tour - to the eastern borders of the EU, and missing intra-EU borders. In June-July 2025. Each day of the project is a Layer in the map - these should be displayed by default, or if not click the three layered diamonds icon "Open browser" to the left side of the map. The icons are all for borders, roughly coloured to differentiate the borders. A cross through a track means NO TRAINS CAN RUN. A cross through trains but not track means TRAINS CAN RUN BUT NO PASSENGER TRAINS. And TRAIN AND TRACK (no crosses) means there is a passenger service.

uMap

#CrossBorderRail Finale Train 15 of 145
Os 3916, changes to 4414
11:08 Čadca - Zwardoń 11:48
ZSSK

Train type: Škoda 660 EMU, 4 carriages
⚡️ (3kV dc)
🚲: ✅
🦽: ✅ (step free if station allows, otherwise ramp on board)
🛜: ✅
🍽️: ⛔
🧳: 🙂 (solid design, lots of different spaces for bags)️
🧽: 🙂

🎫 Interrail: 🙂 (accepted, although Interrail app says it isn't)

Os 3916, changes to 4414
11:08 Čadca - Zwardoń 11:48

Distance: 20.4km
Average speed: 31km/h

10 stops:
Svrčinovec
Čierne pri Čadci
Čierne pri Čadci z.
Čierne-Polesie
Skalité zast.
Skalité
Skalité p.Poľanou
Skalité-Kudlov
Skalité-Serafínov
Zwardon

This train, mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2025-finale_1163738#13/49.4785/18.8792

#CrossBorderRail 2025 Finale

The final big #CrossBorderRail tour - to the eastern borders of the EU, and missing intra-EU borders. In June-July 2025. Each day of the project is a Layer in the map - these should be displayed by default, or if not click the three layered diamonds icon "Open browser" to the left side of the map. The icons are all for borders, roughly coloured to differentiate the borders. A cross through a track means NO TRAINS CAN RUN. A cross through trains but not track means TRAINS CAN RUN BUT NO PASSENGER TRAINS. And TRAIN AND TRACK (no crosses) means there is a passenger service.

uMap

#CrossBorderRail Finale Train 16 of 145
Os 4417, changes to 3421
12:16 Zwardoń - Kraľovany 14:30
ZSSK

Train type: Škoda 660 EMU, 4 carriages
(literally the same unit as the previous train, so same rating)
⚡️ (3kV dc)
🚲: ✅
🦽: ✅ (step free if station allows, otherwise ramp on board)
🛜: ✅
🍽️: ⛔
🧳: 🙂 (solid design, lots of different spaces for bags)️
🧽: 🙂

🎫 Interrail: 🙂 (accepted, although Interrail app says it isn't)

Os 4417, changes to 3421
12:16 Zwardoń - Kraľovany 14:30

Distance: 89.6km
Average speed: 40km/h

29 stops:
Skalité-Serafínov
Skalité-Kudlov
Skalité p.Poľanou
Skalité
Skalité zast.
Čierne-Polesie
Čierne pri Čadci z.
Čierne pri Čadci
Čierne pri Čadci
Svrčinovec
Čadca
Čadca mesto
Oščadnica
Krásno n.Kysucou
Dunajov
Ochodnica
Kysucké Nové Mesto
Rudina
Brodno
Žilina
Varín
Nezbudská Lúčka-Strečno
Vrútky
Vrútky nákl.st.
Sučany
Turany
Krpeľany
Šútovo-Ratkovo
Kraľovany

Mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2025-finale_1163738#10/49.3073/18.9321

#CrossBorderRail 2025 Finale

The final big #CrossBorderRail tour - to the eastern borders of the EU, and missing intra-EU borders. In June-July 2025. Each day of the project is a Layer in the map - these should be displayed by default, or if not click the three layered diamonds icon "Open browser" to the left side of the map. The icons are all for borders, roughly coloured to differentiate the borders. A cross through a track means NO TRAINS CAN RUN. A cross through trains but not track means TRAINS CAN RUN BUT NO PASSENGER TRAINS. And TRAIN AND TRACK (no crosses) means there is a passenger service.

uMap

Re. the "Interrail is not valid but it is", a proper reply to @HaTetsu 's point

Strictly speaking as the train is KŚ (Koleje Śląskie) on the Polish side, Interrail is not valid between Skalité-Serafínov and Zwardon

But that is
1 km trip
2 mins timetabled
It's a ZSSK train
With a ZSSK train manager
Who has a ZSSK hand held scan device (that'll scan Interrail)

Chances you get a problem?

VERY VERY LOW!

https://signal.eu.org/osm/#locs=49.501510,18.964077;49.504255,18.977144

Railway Routing

So back to the borders...

🚋 Former Tramway Cieszyn 🇵🇱 - Ceský Tešín 🇨🇿

They are very proud there used to be a tram. There are signs of it everywhere, there's an old tram parked by the river, and they even used old train tracks for drainage. But there is no tram, and this is not coming back.

Mosty u Jablunkova zastávka 🇨🇿 - Svrcinovec zastávka 🇸🇰

This is the Ostrava - Žilina main line, also used for trains further into both Czechia and Slovakia. A fast R train every 2 hours, and various EC trains too. The only missing thing: extending the Ostrava S-Bahn service from Mosty u Jablunkova as far as Čadca - possible once current upgrade works done?

Zwardon 🇵🇱 - Skalité-Serafínov 🇸🇰

A charming line up to the border from Čadca, but damn it's slow. And on the cross border section I was the only passenger, perhaps in part because of a rail replacement bus north of Zwardon. Regional trains every 2 hours connect at the border - which is about as good as you're going to get.

And the plan now?

Get myself to Kraľovany as fast as I can, then I have to wait there 90 minutes, then head into the mountains to end today at Trstená

Today has been ☔️ ☔️ ☔️ - fingers crossed somewhere it'll stop 🙂

And given I examined 5 borders yesterday, and 4 today, and will go to Podczerwone 🇵🇱 - Suchá Hora 🇸🇰 tomorrow... and I was on 289 borders before... then means I am going to hit 3️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ on Wednesday

That's a lot of #CrossBorderRail 😀

And as Polish #beerontrains isn’t allowed on Polish trains (only beer bought in the dining car is allowed there) then a Polish beer on a Slovak train is ok? 😀 (I think this is allowed)
@jon Do Poles pronounce IPA as “eepa”, as Swedes do?
@acb @jon yes!