Mastodawn

Jon Worth Jul 4

Welcome to today's thread - 2025 #CrossBorderRail Finale Day 18 - 4 July - Garmisch Partenkirchen - Pfronten-Steinach - Kempten(Allgäu) - Frankfurt(Main) - Brugge

Today's new borders:
Griesen 🇩🇪 - Ehrwald Zugspitzbahn 🇦🇹
Pfronten-Steinach 🇩🇪 - Vils in Tirol Stadt 🇦🇹
Future line - Ulrichsbrücke-Füssen 🇦🇹 - Füssen 🇩🇪

Borders map, inc. borders re-crossed:
https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-all-the-borders_935041#12/47.5026/10.7822

Today's trains on the routes map:
https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2025-finale_1163738#8/49.337/7.158

Jon Worth Jul 4

And it has all *already* gone wrong

+12 from Garmisch, and Pfronten Steinach to Kempten has a repair on the route, meaning it's a replacement bus

😡 😡 😡 😡

Jon Worth Jul 4

I think my best bet is to go to Pfronten, take the same train back to Vils, cycle to Füssen, and then take a train from there somehow towards Ulm...? 🤔

Jon Worth Jul 4

And I forgot to record an intro video, and it was raining in Garmisch

Today is not my day! 🤷‍♂️

Anyway here's today's #CrossBorderRail music track

Auf de Schwäbsche Eisebahne
Ulmer Lieder

Thanks @jim_easterbrook - it's a quite terrible song. But it's funny I suppose!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiawtR_Hsck

Auf de Schwäbsche Eisebahne - Ulmer Lieder #2

YouTube

Jon Worth Jul 4

Ultimately this whole timetable around here is simply too fragile

The train I am on - to Pfronten - departed +12 due to the delay to a previous journey. En route we have already delayed another train that had to wait for us

As we will be +10 in Pfronten, the train will then ALSO depart Pfronten late, so everything accumulates

Jon Worth Jul 4

A train

On the wrong line. But roughly the right direction 😀

Hell knows what the data is here. Or even where I’ll get off it!

Jon Worth Jul 4

So the solution - I think - is to stay on this BRB train to Augsburg, and board a ICE there

It's however impossible to get a seat on it, very high load DB warns me

But it ought to get me to Köln...

The advantage of Interrail + a bike + Germany not having compulsory reservation trains - I can re-plan all of this so easily

Jon Worth Jul 4

"Oh later on I could take a Eurostar to Brussels from Köln rather than a ICE!" I thought

Ah no

ICE "just get on!"
Eurostar "no pass holder seats available, full price - €99"

Jon Worth Jul 4

Also: thank goodness for reliable-ish digital systems

I know my Augsburg-Köln ICE is going to be packed to the rafters

So I will board the Frankfurt - Bruxelles ICE in Frankfurt instead of Köln as planned, so maximising the time I have a comfortable journey

There's simply no way in the pre-digital era I would have been able to do a re-planning this way - I'd have needed someone in a ticket office to assist me

Jon Worth Jul 4

Assessments! Well, before the next re-routing due to some DB dysfunction!

#CrossBorderRail Finale Train 74 of 160
RB 60 (5508) / S 7 (5508)
08:04 Garmisch Partenkirchen - Pfronten-Steinach 09:24
DB Regio AG Bayern

Train type: Bombardier Talent 2 EMU, 4 short carriages
⚡️ (15kV ac)
🚲: ✅
🦽: ✅ (step free if station allows, on board lift if not)
🛜: ⛔️
🍽️: ⛔️
🧳: 🙂️
🧽: 🙂️

🎫 Interrail: 🙂 (accepted)

Jon Worth Jul 4

RB 60 (5508) / S 7 (5508)
08:04 Garmisch Partenkirchen - Pfronten-Steinach 09:24

Distance: 60.9km
Average speed: 46km/h

16 stops:
Garmisch-Partenkirchen Hausberg
Untergrainau
Griesen(Oberbay)
Ehrwald Zugspitzbahn
Lermoos
Lähn
Bichlbach-Berwang
Bichlbach Almkopfbahn
Heiterwang-Plansee
Reutte in Tirol Schulzentrum
Reutte in Tirol
Pflach
Musau
Ulrichsbrücke-Füssen
Vils Stadt
Pfronten-Steinach

This train, mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2025-finale_1163738#11/47.4926/10.7766

#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

Jon Worth Jul 4

Then going back the wrong way, because Pfronten - Kempten was closed due to emergency engineering works...

#CrossBorderRail Finale Train 75 of 160
S 7
09:36 Pfronten-Steinach - Ulrichsbrücke-Füssen 09:47
DB Regio AG Bayern

Train type: Bombardier Talent 2 EMU, 4 short carriages
⚡️ (15kV ac)
🚲: ✅
🦽: ✅ (step free if station allows, on board lift if not)
🛜: ⛔️
🍽️: ⛔️
🧳: 🙂️
🧽: 🙂️
(same unit I just took!)

🎫 Interrail: 🙂 (accepted)

Jon Worth Jul 4

S 7
09:36 Pfronten-Steinach - Ulrichsbrücke-Füssen 09:47

Distance: 7.5km
Average speed: 41km/h

2 stops:
Vils Stadt
Ulrichsbrücke-Füssen

This train, mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2025-finale_1163738#12/47.6406/10.4461

#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

Jon Worth Jul 4

Then 🥁 an extra #CrossBorderRail line! 😀

OK, this one is a bit contentious, but there have long been ideas to build a line from Vils 🇦🇹 to Füssen 🇩🇪, so I cycled roughly along the route of where such a line would go

#CrossBorderRail Finale Bike 13 of 43
Ulrichsbrücke-Füssen - Füssen

Distance: 5.8km
Est. duration: 0:25

This bike route, mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2025-finale_1163738#14/47.5591/10.6751

Jon Worth Jul 4

#CrossBorderRail Finale Train 76 of 160
BRB RB77 (62745)
10:20 Füssen - Augsburg Hbf 12:13
Bayerische Regiobahn (Transdev)

Train type: Alstom Lint DMU, 2 short carriages
⛽️
🚲: ✅
🦽: ✅
🛜: ⛔️
🍽️: ⛔
🧳: 🙂 (this was OK, although some LINT DMUs are terrible - BRB made the right choices)️
🧽: 🙂

🎫 Interrail: 🙂 (accepted)

Jon Worth Jul 4

BRB RB77 (62745)
10:20 Füssen - Augsburg Hbf 12:13

Distance: 102.7km
Average speed: 55km/h

16 stops:
Weizern-Hopferau
Seeg
Lengenwang
Leuterschach
Marktoberdorf Schule
Marktoberdorf
Ebenhofen
Biessenhofen
Kaufbeuren
Buchloe
Schwabmünchen
Bobingen
Inningen
Augsburg Messe
Augsburg Morellstr.
Augsburg Hbf

This train, mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2025-finale_1163738#9/47.9696/10.7366

#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

Jon Worth Jul 4

#CrossBorderRail Finale Train 77 of 161
ICE 596
12:46 Augsburg Hbf - Mannheim Hbf 15:29
DB Fernverkehr AG

Train type: Siemens ICE4 long version, 12 or 13 carriages
⚡️ (15kV ac)
🚲: ✅
🦽: ✅ (lift on platform, backup lift on board)
🛜: ✅
🍽️: ✅
🧳: 🙂
🧽: 🙂️

🎫 Interrail: 🙂 (accepted)

ICE4, top score!

Oh and ÖBB: rather than the total mess of the Railjet 2, you could have had this! It's also Siemens, and it is much better.

Jon Worth Jul 4

ICE 596
12:46 Augsburg Hbf - Mannheim Hbf 15:29

Distance: 298.6km
Average speed: 110km/h

3 stops:
Ulm Hbf
Stuttgart Hbf
Mannheim Hbf

This train, mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2025-finale_1163738#8/49.226/9.665

#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

Jon Worth Jul 4

Problem though: we're +28 due to track works near Augsburg

And I have 19 mins for my change in Frankfurt... (don't blame me - this is already a re-routing because of the mess earlier!)

But I have found a way to sort of cut the corner - take another ICE from Mannheim to Frankfurt Flughafen, and get the Bruxelles ICE there, and if we do not accumulate even more delay that will work...

Jon Worth Jul 4

Rolling into Stuttgart

And remembering a good friend - Andreas Müllerleile - who is buried here after losing a battle against leukaemia a couple of years ago

For the EU folks among my followers: he was (@)kosmopolit on Twitter and had a blog by the same name

Jon Worth Jul 4

“This doesn’t look normal” I idly thought, looking out the window

Open OpenRailwayMap and we're doing some diversion north of Stuttgart and not using the high speed line

And this hasn’t been announced

FFS 😡

Jon Worth Jul 4

But now I am totally confused

That weird diversion before re-joining the high speed line at Vaihingen (Enz) seems to have added no time to the live prognosis? 🤔 Or is the live data wrong?

So was it planned in?

As it is... I am going to have 2 mins for a connection in Mannheim

🏃‍♂️ 🏃‍♂️ 🏃‍♂️

And then if that works, 6 mins to connect in Frankfurt Flughafen Fernbf.

🏃‍♂️

Schienensatzverkehr

@jon With about an hour of planned time between Stuttgart and Mannheim this looks like planned diversion to me. "Usually" it takes only about 30 minutes.