Philipp BirkenCarfree summer vacation with extensive train travel using #InterRail starts! We are going to Scotland to hike the West Highland Way. Raincoat is packed!
Today:
Malmö-Copenhagen-Hamburg-Cologne
Tomorrow:
Cologne-Brussels-London-Glasgow
1/n
David Penfold 
First ride is an electric accordion bus. This is a standard one, but the town has even bought so called superbusses, which have two "accordions", not just one. This is part of an ongoing transformation of traffic: Electric busses, Bikes, less cars, more trees. I love it.
A week ago, the town has introduced a new line network. This is the first time we ride with the completely new line 9, which will take us to the central station.
2/n
Now on to the Öresundstrain, which will take us in 34 minutes to Copenhagen central station. These go every 15 minutes, making Malmö sort of a suburb of Copenhagen. They are not 100% reliable, unfortunately, so on such trips, we go early and then have breakfast in Copenhagen.
3/n
This train goes over the Öresund bridge, which just filled 25 years! It's a smashing success and has completely transformed the region, causing Scania to now be a part of the Greater Copenhagen Area.
The cars go on the top lane, whereas the train is on the lower lane. That means unfortunately that the view is not so great, but let's not complain.
After the bridge, the train goes into a tunnel starting on the artificial island Pepparholm, where we pass Copenhagen airport (and don't get out!).
Now on to breakfast at Copenhagen Central station!
4/n
On to the train from Copenhagen to Hamburg. This connects Scandinavia to the rest of Europe and it is run jointly by DB and DSB. It is also notoriously unreliable and it is rare that one arrives in Hamburg on time. Indeed, already wagon 8 is locked and travelers on that one are relegated to a replacement bus.
The 4.5 hours trip is slow. Also, the wagons being used are old and not very comfortable. Today, we have old german InterCity wagons, I guess from the 90s. Often, the wifi is turned off once on enters Germany.
But better times are ahead: Denmark is building a tunnel that will shorten the trip by two hours, a game changer for Scandinavia! The construction is currently on time, and due to finish 2029. So yay Denmark!
Both the german and the swedish government behave quite ignorant of this, and the followup construction in both countries is at best in a planning stage.
Nevertheless, good times ahead for train travel in northern Europe!
5/n
After lots of fields and meadows, there's a real highlight on the trip, namely the Rendsburg High Bridge over the Kiel canal, both built during imperial times more than a 100 years ago. The track follows a circular pattern with modest slope up and down.
6/n
We did arrive in Hamburg on time, yay!
Hamburg has a DB Lounge, which is nice since it's a crowded station. Access has become more restrictive, but after a short discussion, they accepted our 1st class Interrail tickets with a Bahn Bonus Silver card.
It's unfortunate that you can't buy a day pass for these using Bahn Bonus points anymore.
Anyhow, off on the last leg for today, 4 hours to Cologne in a nice quiet and comfortable ICE.
7/n
And we made it to Cologne with 5 minutes delay. All in all, a nice, stress-free trip with fully electric modes of transport.
I slept, read, ate, chatted, and read lots of interesting information about international rail from you fedihomeys. Love it.
8/n
Our next train to Brusseles is cancelled. At the travel center, a friendly DB guy tells us to talk to Eurostar personnel, which will be there waiting for their train on the platform in a while.
So now we have breakfast at our hotel around the corner. We'll see.
The plan was Cologne-Brussels-London-Glasgow.
9/n
On a Eurostar to Paris on our way to Bruxelles, just an hour later. This train requires a reservation, which we do not have. When the train arrived, a crowd surrounds the train chief, as we were instructed to do. He waves everybody with a Eurostar reservation for bruxelles-london on the train.
Now, we only have 20 minutes for that connection instead of 80, and they say they close the gate 30 minutes in advance. So we'll see.
But now off to Belgium!
10/n
And for the bridge people among us: The train station in Cologne is next to the cathedral and thus the Rhine. To enter, we had to cross the Hohenzollern bridge, which, as the name suggests, was built during imperial times.
This is so, because the cathedral is of course on the western side of the Rhine, the side of the roman empire, so to say. The eastern side was hostile territory. This led to the unorthodox situation that what is now Cologne was part of three different states during the middle ages. Bonus points if you know which ones.
11/n
Arrived in Bruxelles on time and they even kept the boarding (with airport like security that cost us a knife) for the eurostar to London open. This is actually because of delayed passengers from Amsterdam and we will start with 20 minutes delay. Good for us and as @fluffcthulhu would put it: We are now in the train that goes under the sea.
We will now drive to France, where we will enter the 50 km Channel Tunnel to Folkestone, UK. From there, on to St. Pancras Station in London. The whole trip should take 2 hours, but we will change the timezone, so we gain an hour.
12/n
We have #Interrail tickets, and therefore, the whole possibly missing a connection to a train by a different provider is not a ticket issue, which is great.
However, reservations are extra and also mandatory on eurostar trains.
For this one, it was a whooping 38 Euros. However, a lunch is included, which was quite a nice surprise.
13/n
Arrived with 25 min delay at beautiful st. Pancras station. Will we find a stuffed monk?
The train to Glasgow departs from Euston station, which we walk to in 10 minutes.
We've missed our connection, and the next train goes an hour later. Now we have to fix a new reservation.
14/n
So we now depart from Euston an hour later than originally planned and got new reservations free of charge.
Except that luck has really run out.
Due to a damage to the powerlines north of Preston, the train ends there, and the we should take local trains to Carlisle, then Glasgow, which would take 2:40h longer.
But our train here in Euston has a failure and after having boarded it, we now need to get off again, waiting for a replacement.
15/n
Anyhow, the answer to the Cologne question is:
Free City of Cologne
Archbishopric of Cologne (until it lost a war to the city, at least)
Duchy of Berg
16/n
We did get a new train rather quickly and departed with only 30 minutes delay. After a medical emergency on board and a longer stop with staff running around and inspecting the tracks from outside for obstacles, we arrive at lovely Preston station with 90 minutes delay.
Now off on the next local train to Carlisle.
Unfortunately, the power problems are north of Carlisle and due to a fallen tree somewhere, and we are told that there will be no trains into Scotland today, and no replacement buses.
17/n
This is the train that got us to Carlisle. Again, another operator, not Avanti west coast. The train waits 20 minutes at the platform until it finally starts, but then it is very smooth.
Indeed, there are no replacement buses to get us to Glasgow. But there are Taxis instead!
This is a bit of a bummer, honestly, since the carfree holiday is now officially over.
The thought of paying for a hotel out of our own pocket crosses my mind, but I discard it.
We will be almost five hours late on arrival.
On another note, I can recommend the first murderbot novella, I am intrigued what comes next.
18/n
Kalle Kniivilä@philippbirken All the Murderbot books are very good. The last one is a bit confusing, but there are reasons.
It does sound a little bit cumbersome to travel by rail from Sweden to Scotland, but hopefully you did eventually get there.
🤔
@kallekn yeah, we got there, no problem at the end.
It is cumbersome. Long distance travel without flying is bound to be, but the large number of connections adds difficulty in this case. Going to Italy is easier.
So then I'll check out the 2nd book!
Søren Have@philippbirken Also DSB will put the new Talgo carriages into service later this year, so the connection to Hamburg should hopefully become more reliable 🤞
https://www.dsb.dk/om-dsb/baredygtighed/strategiske-projekter/talgo/
@sorenhave Ah, nice, very much looking forward to that. It should also improve the sanitary situation...
Holger Seelefand@sorenhave @philippbirken will they also allow bicycles on board of the new carriages? The last time I had to take the flix bus to Hamburg 😩
@seelefand Unfortunately I don’t know, but yes they should.
Jens Christian Skov@sorenhave @seelefand @philippbirken
According to this press release (in Danish): https://www.dsb.dk/om-dsb/baredygtighed/strategiske-projekter/talgo/
There will be room for bicycles and even an option to charge your e-bike.
According to this press release (in Danish): https://www.dsb.dk/om-dsb/baredygtighed/strategiske-projekter/talgo/
There will be room for bicycles and even an option to charge your e-bike.
@jens @sorenhave @seelefand @philippbirken Charging big batteries like that on a train is not necessarily a good idea.
@kallekn Agree… So far I’m not aware of DSB having any rules about transporting e-bikes - at least not due to safety concerns with regards to the batteries.
Morten Grøftehauge@kallekn @jens @sorenhave @seelefand @philippbirken My main concern about adding solar when we renovate the roof is that it doesn't really make sense without batteries but what if a battery fire started.
Jesper Kamstrup Linnet@seelefand Yes, I believe that the flex areas will have room for bicycles (and prams etc.)
@jesper_linnet @sorenhave @philippbirken that is great news. It will simplify the logistics of future cycle trips to Danmark immensely.
Bruno Girin@philippbirken I took it once 18 years ago from Hamburg to Copenhagen. It was slow but roughly on time. From what you say, the service has got worse since then.
@brunogirin Well, they used to have trains that go on the ferry to Puttgarden, but the ferry was cancelled a few years back, in connection with the construction starting for the new tunnel. Additionally, the decent train sets were replaced by the current older ones.
Tor Lillqvist@brunogirin @philippbirken Nah, you can't draw that conclusion. There are more trains now. In June 2003, there were six direct trains København–Hamburg per day. This June there are eight. And unless I am mistaken there are clearly more seats in the current sets.
(But the IC3 DMUs were more comfortable at least in 1st class, sure.)
@philippbirken it is actually not that awfully slow, the average speed is a respectable 108 km/h for EC 392, for instance. But sure, that is much less than the SJ Snabbtåg between Stockholm and Malmö (around 130–140 km/h), not to mention actual high-speed trains on high-speed lines.
@tml I would argue that Copenhagen-Odense-Kolding is the most important train line in Denmark and that should be high-speed.
But the real slow part of the ride is Kolding-Padborg. Additionally, it's boring with only flat fields and meadows!
@philippbirken It is partially newly built semi-high-speed (200 km/h), the bit between Copenhagen and Ringsted that runs closer to the coast through Køge Nord and avoids Roskilde.
Also the new line between Nykøbing Falster and Rødby is 200 km/h, which is where trains through the Fehmarn tunnel will run. (According to openrailwaymap.org. )
Niels J@philippbirken
It's getting there. Here are the steps:
1) Build bridge. 30 years the trains were still carried by ferry across the Great Belt.
2) The new line Copenhagen-Ringsted is high speed, built for 250 km/h. But trains going faster than 200 need their approval renewed every year instead of every three, so they don't. And till the new rolling stock is approved, only DB trains go over 180.
@philippbirken
3) Electrify the whole stretch. That was stupidly postponed in the 90s. Happened sine 2015.
4) A new 250 km/h line is under construction Odense-Middelfart. I passed by on the motorway recently, they move lots of soil.
@philippbirken
5) Ringsted-Korsør can be cheaply upgraded to 200 km/h most of the way. The slowest sections can also get faster, but not 200. So high speed, barely.
6) The Great Belt tunnel can probably also do 200 with hardly any change. The bridge can't.
7) All of Denmark is replacing old analog mish mash signals with new EU standard. It's slow and expensive. Point 5 and 6 have not been decided, but look more likely to happen along with new signals, maybe 2028-9?
@tml
@philippbirken
So in five years most of it could be high speed. The rest is either in cities or on bridges, except for 40 km which is mostly 180 km/h, some 160 and 140, not much to gain.
A lot is happening on Danish railroads.
If anyone wants to check this out (or any other railroad worldwide) I recommend https://openrailwaymap.org
@tml
@philippbirken
And there is lots of interest from rail companies wanting to run from Stockholm/Oslo/Copenhagen to Hamburg, even before the Femern Belt Fixed Link opens. So better times ahead, probably.
@tml
And there is lots of interest from rail companies wanting to run from Stockholm/Oslo/Copenhagen to Hamburg, even before the Femern Belt Fixed Link opens. So better times ahead, probably.
@tml
Ruth Mottram@philippbirken you never know, other family members just arrived precisely on time in Hamburg on the same route... Sometimes DSB surprises us! God tur.
JWcph, Radicalized By Decency@philippbirken The Fehmarn tunnel project is completely bonkers 🤯 each tunnel segment is cast in one piece, over 200 meters long - they have to work 24-hour shifts or the concrete would set unevenly during casting, which would obviously be bad...
How the Fehmarnbelt Tunnel is being built
Graham Perrin
@philippbirken I have taken the direct train between København and Hamburg, in both directions, five times this year, and it has been roughly on time each time. At most maybe ten minutes delay, and some times arriving in Hamburg a few minutes earlier than scheduled.
But yes, the rolling stock is old and often broken. And there apparently are few if any spare carriages, all available ones that can be used are in use.
@philippbirken The different electrification in Denmark (25 kV 50 Hz) compared to Germany (15 kV 16.7 Hz) means that also the electricity provided from the locomotive to the carriages is different, so they can't just take any random old domestic (Denmark only or Germany only) carriages into use. And presumably there are many specific technical requirements because of the Great Belt tunnel.
@tml Is that why they can't use the short ICEs they were using when going on the ferry? These were neat!
@philippbirken Might well be. I think I never used those, for some reason (small kids, likely) I apparently didn't do much interrailing during the time they were in use.
@tml @philippbirken Is there a reason for not using 50 Hz? Seems odd.
@kallekn @philippbirken There were technical reasons back in the days. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15_kV_AC_railway_electrification
@tml @philippbirken "Norway also has two hydro-electric power plants dedicated for railway power with 16+2⁄3 hertz output"
Wow, had no idea. Seems somewhat irrational, but we do a lot of weird stuff for historical reasons.
Jonas Boström@kallekn It was very rational 100 years ago. Sweden first started electrifying with 15 Hz, but later increased the frequency a bit. @tml @philippbirken
@Jonas_Bostrom @tml @philippbirken I'm sure it was rational at the time. Most things are. But when the rest of the grid is 50 Hz it seems cumbersome. If only Sweden had not electrified the railways so early...
🤔
@kallekn It's not that cumbersome, and also has some advantages. Sure you can't just connect the railway to the grid with a transformer inbetween. But since you have to change frequency, it means the load is spread evenly among all three phases. @tml @philippbirken
@kallekn @Jonas_Bostrom @philippbirken It could be worse, you could have 1.5 kV DC. Or 600 V DC third rail;)
Aslak Raanes@kallekn @Jonas_Bostrom @tml @philippbirken In modern time frequency changers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_changer?wprov=sfti1# aren't mechanical which make things bit simpler.
If Denmark had started their electrification some years later, maybe when the Øresund bridge was planned, I would guessed that they would have used the same voltage and frequency as Germany, Sweden, Norway etc.
Many trains sets and locomotives can handle multiple voltages/frequencies but it add weight and complexity.
@kallekn @Jonas_Bostrom @tml @philippbirken It is simpler to just do a transformation to 25 kV and not to additional frequency changer, and that might be worth it if electrification is non-continuous as someone has suggested for partly electrifying the Nordland line.
On the other hand, higher voltage means longer security distance to the overhead line.
@philippbirken No, the small ICEs were diesel powered, so different voltage and frequency are not a problem for them. But they were not famous for their reliability and used a lot of fuel, and were also pretty short. @tml
@Jonas_Bostrom @philippbirken I thought Philipp meant that the ICE TDs might not have been approved for the Great Belt tunnel.
@Jonas_Bostrom @tml The german language wikipedia has a treasure trove of information about the ICE TDs and states that they used 2.2l per person per 100 km for Berlin-Copenhagen. So good riddance!
