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.

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.

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.

Coming out of the tunnel and definitely being in Ticino is … a bit emotional to be honest.

These new copper trains* are nice. But doing this run in a first class EW II with its lounge chairs as the first carriage behind an Re 4/4 II and a driver who feels offended by running a couple minutes late is where it’s at.

* Officially they are called Traverso, in case you want to look them up.

In Bellinzona, there’s a connection to a Eurocity directly to Venice.

Ha!

Instead, I am changing in Giubiasco to this TILO train because, to do this properly, I also have to go over Monte Ceneri which got its own, lesser known base tunnel.

This detour over Monte Ceneri is worth doing. As the train climbs up to the pass, you have great views over the wide Ticino valley all the way to Locarno and Lago Maggiore.

Martin Hoffmann

The jingle of Swiss railway is a simple tritone. But: it is different for each of the three main languages (SBB doesn’t operate where Rumantsch is spoken). The abbreviation for each language is taken as notes, with E flat standing in for S because its German name is Es which is also how you pronounce the letter s.

So, the tritone is E♭ B B for German SBB, C F F for French CFF, and F F E♭for Italian FFS.

There is a version replacing the last note with its cord, which is used for announcing major stops.

In my day,* if you wanted to go to Milano and avoid the Cisalpino (what is now again the Eurocity) with its extortionist prices and risk of being “completto,” you had to walk through customs in Chiasso to get to a rake of cramped piano ribassato carriages pulled by a Caimano, stopping at a million places all starting with a C and getting later and later in the process.

Now there is this shiny new Flirt running as an hourly regional express from Locarno via Lugano, Como, and Monza to Milan.

Some things are getting better.

* „Opa erzählt vom Krieg.“

The train is still jingling F-F-Es in Italy. Shouldn’t it be either F-Es or F-F-Es-Es?

Oh drat, I forgot about these things (repressed is probably the better term). I’m not going to do this for two hours straight. Most of my ideas for branch line adventures have fallen apart due to bus substitution, so my current plan is very silly. First, I endure this thing for half an hour to Treviglio.

In Treviglio I am turning right with the help of the big sister of the ICNG. I wanted to try one again, anyway, because I thought its suspension is better. And I want to see indeed it is. It feels softer and the rattling is less pronounced. Or maybe I am just biased?

We really are in the flat bits of Italy now.

At Casalbuttano we are waiting for an oncoming train. Weirdly, we are scheduled a stop from 13:55 to 13:56 and them from 13:59 to 14:00. Single track only on either side.

Not sure how this is supposed to work?

I am changing trains in Olmeneta, to go back north to Brescia (told you this is silly). There’s nothing here, just a forgotten railway station baking in the July sun.

The trains are timetabled so that I could have changed in Cremona in stop further down the line and an actual town. But where’s the fun in that?

“Traffic is still severely slowed at the Naples hub due to technical checks following a seismic event.” Okay?

Back on the main line in Brescia. Minor problem: this train is a single Rock and packed to the gills. Now it would be handy if people actually respected first class.

Five minute transfer in Verona, so I decided to head towards the doors early. and triggered everyone else getting up.

The capotreno announced the platform for the train to Venice in both Italian and English. That can’t be good.

Did you know that Italian high speed lines apparently are just motorways with tracks put on top?

Vicenza doesn’t have east platforms like many Italian stations, it has garden platforms instead.

https://map.railwayhistory.org/#overview@9/45.649/11.9062

This epsiode of Using Branch Lines to Avoid Busy Main Line Trains (I am now in an empty Pop instead of a very busy Rock) is brought to you by the Railway History Map, your indispensable guide when planning a trip the roundabout way (and being disappointed by bus replacement).

Castelfranco Veneto.

About as Italian junction station as it gets.

Are we nearly there yet?

First impression: Away from the main thoroughfare, Venice is still fine.

Buongiorno!

The hotel I booked doesn’t do their own breakfast but give you a voucher for a bar around the corner. Which is a great solution – you get proper coffee rather than something from a machine.

This is going to be a very church-heavy day.

Rule number one: put away the phone with its map apps and try to get wherever you want to go without a map. Yes, you will get lost. No, that is the point.

But first: A man on a horse.

webhat Jul 19

@partim getting lost is the best part of visiting a new city

Phil Dennis-Jordan Jul 19

@partim On our visit to Florence some years ago, I could only barely suppress my giggles when, on entering an exhibition of religious art attached to a church or monastery, I overheard an American tourist walking up to the first exhibit, a triptych, announcing, “This is the same shit they had in the other place.”

@pmdj Ah, a true connoisseur.

Tor Lillqvist Jul 18

@partim Good for you if you can move around between the places you visit without using the major routes full of people.

I realised in May that even if the first impression of Venice might be that it is a dense irregular maze of narrow passages, when you actually need to move longer distances, there are a few major paths that you won’t be able to avoid. The bridges over Canal Grande being the most obvious, of course, and the paths radiating out from those.

@tml A lot of people (and news articles) bemoan that Venice is now unbearably crowded. My first impression – which admittedly is from the evening – is that it isn’t worse than fifteen years ago.

It’s super busy for sure, but as long as I can find a quiet corner for a breather, I’m fine.

Delain K Jul 18

@partim omg I miss Venice so much. Now that I've moved, I can't visit it as much as I would

@delain I haven’t been in ages. My last attempt was in February 2020. I had a room booked and everything, but then decided on the day that it was too risky.

@partim 🤩

@partim you have bettet weather and light than we did in April

@partim Enjoy!

@partim where are you headed?

@delain Castelfranco and then straight down to Venice.

Delain K Jul 18

@partim Unusual choice, I would stay on the busy Rock just because I'm lazy😆

@delain Luckily, most people do ;)

Jelle Jul 18

@partim hmmmn this is interesting. In a weird hypothetical would this be possible for existing highways? (Outside of routing/cornering issues). No clue myself and probably a dumb question but still #curious

@jelle I have no idea how similar the foundations really are. I imagine the asphalt layer is mostly for water management.

stefan Jul 18

@partim @jelle I wanted to ask, isn't that counterproductive for water management?

@stefan @jelle I think you don’t want water to get into the foundations. I believe in Germany they use some sort of plastic sheeting instead.

But admittedly, I know nothing about any of this other than things I once read and mostly forgot.

miniBill (Leonardo)Jul 18

@partim I mean, the frequency of trains from Verona to Venezia is "yes", so you're going to be fiiiine

@miniBill Sorta. I want to take it only to Vicenza and then go via Castelfranco. That only works with the short connection.

Gianlu ⁂ 🇮🇹 🇪🇺Jul 18

@partim
This one
https://terremoti.ingv.it/en/event/43451602

Patrick Dersjant RCX Jul 18

@partim M4.0 Earthquake earlier this morning.

Garrett Speed Jul 18

@partim I felt the seismic event this morning in Pozzuoli, I had just boarded the Pop to Napoli Centrale, felt the train shake a bit and thought nothing of it. Turned out to be a magnitude 4 earthquake, which is just enough where they have to carry out technical inspections of the lines.

@gspeed0689 I remember waking up in Tokyo because the furniture was making strange noises.

Nobody seemed to care, so I went back to sleep.

Suzanne ‘bionic’ Veerman Jul 18

@partim the platform edge of track 3 is so low it looks like it is about to disappear in the stones of the railway embankment...

@smveerman Must be some weird effect of photo’s angle. It is exactly as high as the other two. It is actually one of the two used platforms.

Rens Jul 18

@partim I noticed this as well last year. My hypothesis: a train running less than 5 minutes later than scheduled is not delayed (like the German definition). If one train is delayed (i.e. 5 minutes), the other train would also get delayed if the timetable is a perfect fit. Now, if one train is delayed the other one will still be on time (they might meet at a different station, depending on which train has delay).

@RensBloom Except, on the train up to Brescia the same schedule exists. The oncoming train had three minutes delay and we ended up with four minutes – nine minutes departure delay that became four minutes on artival at the next stop. So this is build in somehow.

Ondřej Caletka Jul 18

@partim how's seat-window alignment in this one?

@Oskar456 As you would expect. This particular unit has first class behind one cab, though, which is perfectly aligned.

@partim I kiiiind of was going to suggest Treviglio instead of Bergamo via Monza, but yeah…

@stucchimax I wanted to go to Cremona from Treviglio, then over to Mantova and up to Verona. But there are busses between Piadena and Mantova, so now I’m just going up to Brecia again.

Maartje Jul 18

@partim shouldn’t it be T - R - E -N - O - R - D 😅

Oliver Blanthorn Jul 18

@partim while it is much better i get a bit frustrated that the flirt is always absolutely rammed while the EC is pretty empty

can't they just add a few more units to the flirt :(

@bovine3dom They are running two at least, not that that’s enough.

@partim That’s what we tend to do now to go Zurich->Milan (actually to the place I grew up in) and return. Get to Lugano and then change on the TILO to Centrale, stopping in Monza to then get on a local train on the line to either Bergamo or Lecco. Price is much lower, and then you avoid taking the EC all the way to Centrale to return north…

@stucchimax I was looking into going to Bergamo from Monza but there seems to be bustitution between Ponte San Pietro and Bergamo.

Senid Jul 18

@partim I love this idea

Emil mit Fahrauftrag und Maske :3 Jul 18

@senid @partim the three jingles ("sound logos") one at a time:

Anna Jul 18

@partim this is the best thing I have learned this decade and possibly longer, during which I took many Swiss trains. Thank you!

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.

Coming out of the tunnel and definitely being in Ticino is … a bit emotional to be honest.

* Officially they are called Traverso, in case you want to look them up.

In Bellinzona, there’s a connection to a Eurocity directly to Venice.

Ha!

Instead, I am changing in Giubiasco to this TILO train because, to do this properly, I also have to go over Monte Ceneri which got its own, lesser known base tunnel.

This detour over Monte Ceneri is worth doing. As the train climbs up to the pass, you have great views over the wide Ticino valley all the way to Locarno and Lago Maggiore.

So, the tritone is E♭ B B for German SBB, C F F for French CFF, and F F E♭for Italian FFS.

There is a version replacing the last note with its cord, which is used for announcing major stops.

Now there is this shiny new Flirt running as an hourly regional express from Locarno via Lugano, Como, and Monza to Milan.

Some things are getting better.

* „Opa erzählt vom Krieg.“

The train is still jingling F-F-Es in Italy. Shouldn’t it be either F-Es or F-F-Es-Es?

@partim I kiiiind of was going to suggest Treviglio instead of Bergamo via Monza, but yeah…

Maartje Jul 18

@partim shouldn’t it be T - R - E -N - O - R - D 😅

Oliver Blanthorn Jul 18

@partim while it is much better i get a bit frustrated that the flirt is always absolutely rammed while the EC is pretty empty

can't they just add a few more units to the flirt :(

@bovine3dom They are running two at least, not that that’s enough.

@stucchimax I was looking into going to Bergamo from Monza but there seems to be bustitution between Ponte San Pietro and Bergamo.

Senid Jul 18

@partim I love this idea

Emil mit Fahrauftrag und Maske :3 Jul 18

@senid @partim the three jingles ("sound logos") one at a time:

Anna Jul 18

@partim this is the best thing I have learned this decade and possibly longer, during which I took many Swiss trains. Thank you!

nerdinand Jul 18

@partim I actually at some point figured this out on my own. One of the proudest moments of my life!

@nerdinand Musical education can come in handy every now and then ;)

nerdinand Jul 18

@partim Very very occasionally :-P

Poul-Henning Kamp Jul 18

@partim

In Denmark the jingle is D-Es-B - matching the "Danske StatsBaner"