Jon WorthNew for this tour: I’ve found a new way of linking to active map layers. So maps for the day should be easier to read.
Here’s today’s intro video: https://peertube.netzbegruenung.de/w/mYHgR9gdBBcdpPaVHrqpJi
#CrossBorderRail live stream - 9/15/2025, 4:14:08 AM
#CrossBorderRail Conclusions Tour Train 1 of 74
TER 91371
06:39 Nuits-sous-Ravières - Montbard 06:48
SNCF for TER Mobigo
Train type: Bombardier AGC bi-mode MU, 2x 4 short carriages
⚡️ (1.5kV dc)
🚲: ✅
🦽: ✅ (step free if station allows, Nuits doesn’t, Montbard does)
🛜: ⛔️
🍽️: ⛔️
🧳: 🙂
🧽: 😐 (grimy roof inside, loo makes whole carriage stink. But it’s orderly)
🎫 Interrail: 🙂 (accepted)
TER 91371
06:39 Nuits-sous-Ravières - Montbard 06:48
Distance: 18.2km
Average speed: 121km/h
1 stops:
Montbard
This train, mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2025-conclusions-tour_1266988#13/47.6738/4.2743
#CrossBorderRail 2025 Conclusions Tour
The #CrossBorderRail 2025 conclusions tour - mainly to go to events, but adding a few new borders too. 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. All lines on the map are TRAINS, unless otherwise shown with icons along the lines - 🚲 for bike, 🚌 for bus, 🚗 for car, ⛴️ for ferry. Click each line to get basic information what it is.
App tip this morning
SNCF‘s main app - SNCF Connect - is generally terrible. Use @12train to book instead
And when travelling use Ma Gare SNCF - it gives useful information like where your carriage will stop before screens in French stations do
#CrossBorderRail Conclusions Tour Train 2 of 74
TGV 6760
07:05 Montbard - Paris Gare de Lyon 08:09
SNCF Voyageurs
Train type: Alstom TGV Duplex, 8 short double deck carriages
⚡️ (1.5kV dc, 25kV ac, 1.5kV dc)
🚲: ⛔️
🦽: ✅ (step free into lower level, lift down inside)
🛜: ✅ (and it's just about working)
🍽️: ✅
🧳: ☹️ (Duplex, so terrible. Thankfully it's mostly business travellers today)
🧽: 😐 (Rare for a TGV not cleaned properly inside)
🎫 Interrail: 😐 (needs compulsory reservation, costs €10 or €20)
TGV 6760
07:05 Montbard - Paris Gare de Lyon 08:09
Distance: 215.5km
Average speed: 202km/h
1 stops:
Paris Gare de Lyon
This train, mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2025-conclusions-tour_1266988#9/48.2351/3.3555
#CrossBorderRail 2025 Conclusions Tour
The #CrossBorderRail 2025 conclusions tour - mainly to go to events, but adding a few new borders too. 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. All lines on the map are TRAINS, unless otherwise shown with icons along the lines - 🚲 for bike, 🚌 for bus, 🚗 for car, ⛴️ for ferry. Click each line to get basic information what it is.
#CrossBorderRail Conclusions Tour 1 of 17
Paris Gare de Lyon - Brasserie à la place Saint-Georges
Distance: 6km
Est. duration: 0:30
This bike route, mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2025-conclusions-tour_1266988#14/48.8614/2.3562
Fixing the Birdy is never done 😀
Hit a bump crossing Paris and the front reflector breaks off
(There are other reflectors on the bike so I’m still road safe)
Back in the city. And it’s a breezy autumn day. Perfect light.
#CrossBorderRail Conclusions Tour 2 of 17
Brasserie à la place Saint-Georges - 23 Bvld Madeleine - Café les Deux Gares (Gare de l’est)
Distance: 2km
Est. duration: 0:45
This bike route, mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2025-conclusions-tour_1266988#16/48.8738/2.3417
SNCF: let’s speed you to Strasbourg in less than 2 hours
Also SNCF: let’s design platform barriers so badly it takes everyone ages to get onto the platform 👏
Oh and send a rubbish truck through!
#CrossBorderRail Conclusions Tour Train 3 of 74
TGV 9575
13:54 Paris Est - Stuttgart Hbf 17:04
SNCF Voyageurs, DB Fernverkehr
Train type: Alstom TGV Euroduplex, 8 short double deck carriages (8 more to Colmar)
⚡️ (25kV ac, 15kV ac)
🚲: ⛔️
🦽: ✅ (but platform 27 isn’t step free - I assume there’s a lift)
🛜: ⛔️ (doesn’t work)
🍽️: ⛔️ (bistro closed today)
🧳: ☹️ (Duplex. Awful. Thankfully it’s empty)
🧽: 🙂
🎫 Interrail: 😐 (needs compulsory reservation, costs €19)
TGV 9575
13:54 Paris Est - Stuttgart Hbf 17:04
Distance: 607.9km
Average speed: 192km/h
3 stops:
Strasbourg
Karlsruhe Hbf
Stuttgart Hbf
This train, mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2025-conclusions-tour_1266988#8/48.894/5.778
#CrossBorderRail 2025 Conclusions Tour
The #CrossBorderRail 2025 conclusions tour - mainly to go to events, but adding a few new borders too. 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. All lines on the map are TRAINS, unless otherwise shown with icons along the lines - 🚲 for bike, 🚌 for bus, 🚗 for car, ⛴️ for ferry. Click each line to get basic information what it is.
The passenger across the aisle from me here:
- travelling on Interrail (as per questions from the train manager)
- is charging their phone with a UK-EU plug adapter
- has a bottle of wine, a can of beer, and an electric toothbrush poking out of an opulent leather handbag
- has red nails so long typing is hard
- is at least 70 years old
Departing Strasbourg
I know a stop for illegal passport controls at Kehl is ahead
There's one obvious ethnic minority passenger in my carriage. The train is about 1/3 full. Let's see what happens...
Yeah. Who did they control?
The ethnic minority person.
Fuckers, really.
I approached the police and asked why they only control ethnic minorities.
“She was the only one not to show her passport without asking” he said.
It makes me so effing totally fucking furious.
Every single time.
Racism pure and simple.
And they hauled a black guy off and were going through his papers on the platform.
I could have been transporting *anything* and got through no problem.
These checks are
- racist
- arbitrary (as they check trains more than other modes at Kehl)
- costly (labour intensive)
- inefficient (why not check while a train is moving?)
- ineffective (the pedestrian bridge at Kehl isn’t checked)
- annoying (they delay everyone)
Could you imagine anything more abjectly shit?
And if any of my followers could tell me which of these stations would give me the best chance of passable food (and ideally a beer) near the station I’d be grateful!
Edit: Rail logic wins over food logic. I’ll go to Schwäbisch Hall Hessental. There’s a pizza place at the station. And I’ll have an hour there.
Delayed on the Murrbahn to Schwäbisch Hall - Hessental due to congestion caused by a stranded train
From next year they want to run ICEs through here
But making this double track throughout - despite it connecting Stuttgart and Nürmberg is considered uneconomic. 🤷♂️
Schwäbisch Hall-Hessental
Feels like the sort of place where a Peek+Cloppenburg shirt, with one too many buttons open, and a medallion, is the height of cool
And clearly that’s the message the ICE got
What the hell is a Stuttgart - München ICE 611 doing in Schwäbisch Hall - Hessental? 🤔
We have the train equivalent of gridlock here
The diverted ICE can’t move because the delayed regional train ahead of it is blocking it. Nothing can go the other way as it’s a congested single track line towards Backnang
Well done everyone! Party 🎉
Ah
We can’t run at full speed “wegen der schlechten Infrastruktur auf der wir fahren müssen“ (because the infra is bad)
Well it’s… honest at least!
Stuck in a very German infra dysfunction cycle here
My train - already an hour later than I should have departed - is late. Meaning I’ll be two hours late in Marktredwitz.
But the hotel doesn’t really do email to tell what to do about check in.
But I can’t get through to them because mobile signal is so bad in rural Bayern.
The worst thing about DB dysfunction on #CrossBorderRail: it means a whole load of re-mapping and changes to the spreadsheet...
So here we go
#CrossBorderRail Conclusions Tour Train 4 of 75
MEX 90 (17547)
17:55 Stuttgart Hbf - Schwäbisch Hall-Hessental 18:54
DB Regio AG Baden-Württemberg
Train type: Bombardier Talent EMU, 4 short carriages
⚡️ (15kV ac)
🚲: ✅
🦽: ✅ (step free if station allows)
🛜: ⛔️
🍽️: ⛔️
🧳: 🙂
🧽: 🙂
🎫 Interrail: 🙂 (accepted)
MEX 90 (17547)
17:55 Stuttgart Hbf - Schwäbisch Hall-Hessental 18:54
Distance: 73km
Average speed: 74km/h
9 stops:
Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt
Waiblingen
Winnenden
Backnang
Oppenweiler(Württ)
Sulzbach(Murr)
Murrhardt
Gaildorf West
Schwäbisch Hall-Hessental
This train, mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2025-conclusions-tour_1266988#10/48.9409/9.4745
#CrossBorderRail 2025 Conclusions Tour
The #CrossBorderRail 2025 conclusions tour - mainly to go to events, but adding a few new borders too. 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. All lines on the map are TRAINS, unless otherwise shown with icons along the lines - 🚲 for bike, 🚌 for bus, 🚗 for car, ⛴️ for ferry. Click each line to get basic information what it is.
#CrossBorderRail Conclusions Tour Train 5 of 75
RE 90
20:00 Schwäbisch Hall-Hessental - Nürnberg Hbf 21:45
Arverio Baden-Württemberg
Train type: Stadler EMU, 2x 3 short carriages
⚡️ (15kV ac)
🚲: ✅
🦽: ✅ (step free if station allows, but Schwäbisch Hall-Hessental isn't accessible at all)
🛜: ✅
🍽️: ⛔️
🧳: 🙂
🧽: ☹️ (total mess - grimy outside, dirty inside, broken loos, broken doors - dreadful)
🎫 Interrail: 🙂 (accepted)
(forgot to photograph it, hence stock pic)
RE 90
20:00 Schwäbisch Hall-Hessental - Nürnberg Hbf 21:45
Distance: 117.3km
Average speed: 67km/h
10 stops:
Eckartshausen-Ilshofen
Crailsheim
Schnelldorf
Dombühl
Leutershausen-Wiedersbach
Ansbach
Wicklesgreuth
Heilsbronn
Roßtal
Nürnberg Hbf
This train, mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2025-conclusions-tour_1266988#10/49.2759/10.4075
#CrossBorderRail 2025 Conclusions Tour
The #CrossBorderRail 2025 conclusions tour - mainly to go to events, but adding a few new borders too. 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. All lines on the map are TRAINS, unless otherwise shown with icons along the lines - 🚲 for bike, 🚌 for bus, 🚗 for car, ⛴️ for ferry. Click each line to get basic information what it is.
#CrossBorderRail Conclusions Tour Train 6 of 75
RE 31 (4897)
22:37 Nürnberg Hbf - Marktredwitz 23:58
DB Regio AG Bayern
Train type: Adtranz, Bombardier 612 tilting DMU, 2 carriages (6 carriages to other destinations)
⛽️
🚲: ✅
🦽: ✅ (needs lift on platform, high floor)
🛜: ✅
🍽️: ⛔️
🧳: 😐 (I've seen worse, but not great with big bags)
🧽: 🙂 (Very tidy)
🎫 Interrail: 🙂 (accepted)
RE 31 (4897)
22:37 Nürnberg Hbf - Marktredwitz 23:58
Distance: 124.1km
Average speed: 92km/h
7 stops:
Hersbruck(r Pegnitz)
Neuhaus(Pegnitz)
Pegnitz
Kirchenlaibach
Immenreuth
Neusorg
Marktredwitz
This train, mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2025-conclusions-tour_1266988#10/49.7218/11.5562
#CrossBorderRail 2025 Conclusions Tour
The #CrossBorderRail 2025 conclusions tour - mainly to go to events, but adding a few new borders too. 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. All lines on the map are TRAINS, unless otherwise shown with icons along the lines - 🚲 for bike, 🚌 for bus, 🚗 for car, ⛴️ for ferry. Click each line to get basic information what it is.
And here is today's #CrossBorderRail summary video
https://peertube.netzbegruenung.de/w/6R5a712cQ3E3Vyz823hAv6
Explaining today's annoyances with border controls and train dysfunctions!
#CrossBorderRail live stream - 9/15/2025, 8:32:59 PM
Moss (the τεχie) <(fsm)>{{@jon
I took that connection in the opposite direction a few weeks ago but got off at Crailsheim to get another train (RE80 iirc).
Note to fellow travelers: If you try to get a coffee refill into your thermos, brace yourself. The two Franconian counter ladies inside that tiny kiosk that is the station’s infrastructure are not at all enthusiastic about the idea of doing something different from how they did it all the time. Pouring coffee to go not first in paper cups: PHEW!!