Mastodawn

Self OH: “I think I’ll go straight to Italy. Trains are more reliable there.”

The person in the row before me is studying an Interrail paper map.

Welcome to the family, mate!

Arriva is doing shenanigans. First train is for Kerkrade, second for Aachen which just arrived. There aren’t any signals in between and the platform displays can’t deal with it either.

But hey: the train to Aachen is indeed going.

Welcome to Germany: The train from Aachen to Köln is kaputt and cancelled. There’s another one half an hour later, but this route is quite busy on a good day.

Luckily I noticed it early enough and could switch to the train to Düsseldorf in Herzogenrath. So I’ll be back on the Venlo route once we arrive at Mönchengladbach.

Of course the man in a suit with the big tablet in front of him started an angry zoom call the just won’t end.

Buy that effing company already. It’s just money.

Martin Hoffmann

Decision time for the next leg to Frankfurt Airport. I need the 12:27 ICE from there. However, the 12:21 also goes there but will be a lot less busy. In theory that should be fine. It doesn’t do the dip into Köln Hbf so should be quicker. However, because of issues on the high speed line, it has three extra stops where, if things go wrong, it could be overtaken.

I think I’ll risk it anyways. Should be more pleasant. And if I loose another hour, so be it.

Right. Not sure how “every single seat reserved” qualifies as “low demand” but let’s try the other one, then.

That’s better. Got an unreserved proper window seat. Backwards for now, but we will turn around in Köln, so that’s on purpose.

I’m not keen on four hours “nonstop” to Basel, but one has to suffer for one’s … art?

Köln Hbf (the station chapel is sort of visible in the background). Let’s hope we get out of here without issue.

Woah! Into Köln Hbf without any stop, turned around, departed on time, and got out without any stop.

That never happens!

We just passed the earlier ICE at Limburg Süd. Even more luck. What is going on?

Made good time to Mannheim but then had to wait for the cross-platform exchange with the train from Berlin which was behind us. And then they let it go first! Which I suppose makes sense given that it goes straight at full speed to Stuttgart while we have to turn off the high speed line to get to Karlsruhe.

But still.

Boo!

ICE trunk line Frankfurt – Basel. Admittedly, they are working on it.

You don’t pay attention for one second and Freiburg is painted with ETCS stop markers.

Are they doing both ETCS and LZB here? Surely not?

Basel SBB one minute early. Yeah, I don’t know what’s going on either.

I hope those guys are just out and about to enjoy the sun.

Be ironic if SBB now fell apart completely.

Good to know that the quiet area is a joke in Switzerland as well.

Is the IC21 supposed to go via Küssnacht? The app says via Rotsee which makes me think it should go via Rotkreuz?

I see my connecting train is on time.

Reached my destination for today. I show you why in a minute, but first I have to check into the hotel, the receptionist wants to go home.

Lake Lucerne. Over there, I think on the meadow low on the second mountain on the left, this whole Switzerland thing started.

I’ve passed through Brunnen by train hundreds of times and it always looked rather inviting in its little nook of the lake. Finally, I’m stopping.

I saved this one for the trip. And yes, the bookmark is a Stena cabin key. Seems apt.

I might have had a stange too many, but I am very happy with my choice. What a lovely little town Brunnen is.

Also, I think this is Rigi up there.

Let’s quietly ignore the “The Future of Blockchain” people who are, of course, German, are staying at the fancy hotel and have luxury cars with their company name stencilled onto them parked outside.

Turns out fake money can’t buy you taste either.

ifrauding Jul 17

@partim
Maybe leave a hand written note "I right click saved your nft on my pc"?

Jeroen

Jul 17

@partim The _what_ of blockhain!? And also kind of ironic that Germans are discussing that in Switzerland.

At checkout, the lady asked if I am continuing to Italy on foot. we agreed that I really should but that the train is also nice.

Off to the bahnhof!

Decided to take the time and travel the scenic route across San Gottardo. It is one of the great mountain railways of this world and taking the base tunnel feels heretic.

Obligatory picture of the church of Wassen.

Suzanne ‘bionic’ Veerman Jul 18

@partim The E1 North Cape to Sicily long distance hiking trail passes through Brunnen, so you can do that the next time 🤭

Oliver Blanthorn Jul 17

@partim rigi is quite pleasant in the daytime if you have time for a detour on the way back

@bovine3dom I somehow never managed to go up there when I lived here and sadly that isn’t going to change just yet.

Even adding Rigibahn to the GA area didn’t help …

joopgij Jul 17

@partim and quite affordable hotel prices, for Swiss standards.

@joopgij Indeed. I first considered Lucerne which … is quite different in this regard.

Apicultor 🐝Jul 17

@partim Dual signalling is common for years as the fleet is upgraded to ETCS, then the national signalling system gets decommissioned.

Or am I missing something?

@apicultor I hadn’t heard of someone making both LZB and ETCS work with the same signal box. Sounds … tricky.

Apicultor 🐝Jul 18

@partim At least onboard it's easy; the new stuff is ETCS and also supports one (or more!) add-ons for national signaling systems.

Michael Ummels (Trassenfinder)Jul 22

@partim @apicultor Yes, it is being equipped with PZB, LZB and ETCS. We'll see whether it will work.

@partim Hooray. I only wish 597 now gets a bit more delayed 😇

@m4lvin They both now have the same estimated arrival in Mannheim. No idea which one is first.

@partim Is https://travic.app/?z=11&x=948016.8&y=6387063.9&l=osm_standard&ol= something useful/truthful? It shows 597 a little bit ahead 🥹

TRAVIC - Transit Visualization Client

This tracker provides movement visualization of transit data published by transit agencies and operators from all over the world. The movements are mostly based on static schedule data. Wherever real-time data is available it is also included in the visualization

@m4lvin Those positions are only guesses. Prognosis is us arriving :33 and them :34.

@m4lvin Here we go. Bonne continuation !

@partim Thanks! Gute Weiterreise gleichfalls :-)

@partim made it 🎉

@m4lvin What? Why are you first? Boo!

@m4lvin Looks like we are first and are also supposed to leave first. Should leave you enough time …

@partim You're also just five minutes behind the 627 you skipped...

@patrick Not for long, I think. We’ve arrived at the broken bit and already had an emergency stop.

@patrick Looks like we are about five minutes behind now. Let’s see if we get to overtake it in Limburg Süd.

@partim Nope. Travic shows it halfway towards Flugh already.

@patrick We just passed it.

@partim Travic-data sucks 🤣

@patrick I don’t think they have GPS data and just extrapolate. Wrongly, in this case – bahn.expert showed no actual departure yet but had an estimated departure of 13:38 which Travic probably used?

@partim It says it takes the GTFS-feed, which in case of DB probably isn't realtime (though they say it is.

@patrick It might be, but in those feeds they don’t distinguish between estimated real time data and actual real time data. DB Navigator doesn’t either – which is why bahn.expert is so important.

@partim Expert shows the 107 arriving 14:04 at Fernbf; the 627 (which you just passed) 14:00. Curious.

@patrick I think these are still the original guesses they added last night. I think we will be there before two.

@partim Aren't these live estimates? I just saw the 627 change from 1400 to 1401.

@patrick This is DB IT – who knows what input had priority when.

But also: 13:58 – ha!

Matt[ingham]

Jul 17

@partim Have you actually ended up in a parallel universe ?!

@Kilometer780 I am awaiting the inevitable consequences of such luck.

Paul Barnfather Jul 17

@partim Quick, buy a lottery ticket! Today is your lucky day!!

@partim fyi, the #ICE107 to Basel right now has plenty free seats in carriage 1.

@m4lvin Wrong end ;)

But it’s similar here.