Mastodawn

To Maastricht to give a speech at the university, and taking the dreaded Drielandentrein across the border – a nice idea, but an unreliable service. And the day ends in Bruxelles where I then have 2 days of political meetings. #CrossBorderRail

#CrossBorderRail Conclusions Tour Train 34 of 74
ICE 1052
07:06 Berlin Hbf - Aachen Hbf 13:11
DB Fernverkehr

Train type: Siemens ICE 4, 7 carriages (short version)
⚡️ (15kV ac)
🚲: ✅
🦽: ✅ (lift on platform, backup lift on board)
🛜: ✅
🍽️: ✅ (somehow the coffee machine was fixed after Hannover!)
🧳: 🙂
🧽: 🙂

🎫 Interrail: 🙂 (accepted)

(now gets a top score, as the coffee machine got fixed!)

ICE 1052
07:06 Berlin Hbf - Aachen Hbf 13:11

Distance: 624.1km
Average speed: 103km/h

10 stops:
Berlin-Spandau
Hannover Hbf
Herford
Bielefeld Hbf
Hamm(Westf)Hbf
Wuppertal Hbf
Solingen Hbf
Köln Hbf
Düren
Aachen Hbf

This train, mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2025-conclusions-tour_1266988#8/52.022/9.838

#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.

uMap

Autumn sun on the wind turbines of Brandenburg #CrossBorderRail

Meanwhile some good potential #CrossBorderRail news from Portugal: Linha da Beira is open again, allowing better connections to Spain at Vilar Formoso. The question though is what / when will there be cross border border passenger traffic? https://www.lok-report.de/news/europa/item/61772-portugal-die-linha-da-beira-wird-vollstaendig-modernisiert-und-mit-neuen-strategischen-verbindungen-wiedereroeffnet.html

LOK Report - Portugal: Die Linha da Beira wird vollständig modernisiert und mit neuen strategischen Verbindungen wiedereröffnet

Mit dem 28. September wurde der Zugverkehr auf der gesamten Strecke der Linha da Beira wieder aufgenommen, mit der Wiedereröffnung des Abschnitts zwischen Pampilhosa und Vilar Formoso. Diese Investition entlang einer 190 Kilometer langen Eisenbahnstrecke garantiert schnellere, sicherere und komforta...

And I am preparing my slides for a #CrossBorderRail at DG REGIO of the European Commission on Wednesday

"Can you cover the Balkans too?" they asked me

Sure

So in goes Bitola 🇲🇰 - Florina 🇬🇷 where the EU financed the renovation of the line, but no trains ran

(I am going to make myself popular!)

Pics from there: https://flickr.com/photos/jonworth-eu/albums/72177720319718501/with/53942117283

#CrossBorderRail South East Europe Day 24 25 Jun 2024 - Skopje - Bitola - Bilisht - Struga

Uploaded from Mac "Pictures/Flickr - Railways/Projects/2024 South East Europe Project/#CrossBorderRail South East Europe Day 24 25 Jun 2024 - Skopje - Bitola - Bilisht - Struga" on JW MacBook Pro 2017

Flickr

Meanwhile ÖBB has confirmed the Paris-Wien/Berlin night trains are no more. "Die ÖBB bedauern, dass nach dem Rückzug der französischen Partner, die beiden Nachtzugverbindungen ab 14. Dezember 2025 nicht mehr angeboten werden können." https://presse-oebb.at/news-oebb-bedauern-die-einstellung-der-nightjet-verbindungen-wien-paris-und-berlin-paris?id=223578&menueid=27022&l=deutsch #CrossBorderRail

My analysis, in English: https://jonworth.eu/sncfs-half-hearted-effort-to-support-international-night-trains-in-danger-of-hitting-the-buffers/

ÖBB bedauern die Einstellung der Nightjet Verbindungen Wien - ÖBB

NJ Wien – Paris nur noch bis Mitte Dezember NJ Wien – Brüssel wird weiter angeboten ÖBB bleiben größter Anbieter von Nachtzügen in Europa

Newsroom der ÖBB

And that leaves France with ZERO international night trains. None. Aucun.

👏 Well done SNCF and the French Government

🤨

And here follows a quick list of how France is buggering up #CrossBorderRail (these are just the ones that spring to mind)

1️⃣ Is cancelling Paris-Wien/Berlin night trains from December, leaving France without any international night trains

2️⃣ SNCF is the main barrier to fixing regional cross border traffic at the France-Germany border

3️⃣ 16 months ago SNCF stopped selling tickets to most international destinations on SNCF Connect and at ticket offices, and still hasn't resumed

4️⃣ SNCF removed French signalling systems from 6 TGV Duplex, leaving them with just 6 TGVs for France-Spain operation, meaning they can run max 3 trains a day on this route

5️⃣ Despite the French town Breil s/ Roya having 1 line to France and 2 lines to Italy, and all lines being operated with PSO contracts, SNCF cannot sell tickets from France to Italy there

6️⃣ As majority owner of Eurostar, SNCF has been the main driver of the sky high prices, low offer model for all Eurostar routes (inc. ex-Thalys routes)

7️⃣ France remains the only predominantly standard gauge European country where the Siemens Vectron locomotive is still not approved to run, thereby limiting operation of both international night trains and freight

8️⃣ Is about the hardest country to use Interrail, and SNCF has now suspended selling Interrail reservations at its ticket machines

9️⃣ Is threatening the closure of lines FR-CH, and breaks of service there, despite Switzerland having financed infra investments French side of the border

And remember the rules of SNCF!

1) We don't want to run any train that goes less than 300km/h

2) We *REALLY* don't want anyone else to run them either

(Meanwhile I am on a ICE Berlin-Aachen, and beyond Köln it is quite empty. Just the sort of train SNCF would not run, but DB does - because *for those of us on it* it is really useful!)

German railways: right in theory, can be poor in practice

French railways: wrong in theory, can be OK in practice (if you can get where you want to go on a TGV)