Mastodawn

https://peertube.netzbegruenung.de/w/s4nhMKPcGPULgLFXEZdFVC

Here’s today‘s #CrossBorderRail intro video, sorry for loud train noise behind!

#CrossBorderRail live stream - 3/4/2026, 7:21:56 AM

PeerTube

#CrossBorderRail 2026 Spring Tour Train 18 of 80
RE 4925
08:24 Almere Muziekwijk - Utrecht Centraal 09:05
NS

Train type: Bombardier SLT 2400 EMU, 2x 4 short carriages
⚡️ (1.5kV dc)
🚲: ✅
🦽: ✅ (step free)
🛜: ⛔️
🍽️: ⛔️
🧳: 😐 (not the best - poor racks, needs more space in vestibules)
🧽: 😐 (windows grimy)
Interrail: 🙂 (accepted)

RE 4925
08:24 Almere Muziekwijk - Utrecht Centraal 09:05

Distance: 42.4km
Average speed: 69km/h

6 stops:
Almere Poort
Naarden-Bussum
Hilversum
Hilversum Sportpark
Utrecht Overvecht
Utrecht Centraal

This train, mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2026-spring-tour_1361108#11/52.228827/5.129720

#CrossBorderRail 2026 Spring Tour

Tours in Spring 2026. 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

Why does NS not clean 🧼trains? #CrossBorderRail

Going to industry conferences is weird

My workshop about #CrossChannelRail is first, at 10:10

There aren’t many people in the hall yet. And do people who care about track fastenings care about this? We‘ll see 🤔

No live stream though sadly

Quick escape from RailTech and walk into Utrecht

Utrecht Centraal is both rather uncharming and amazing. The amazing passenger/rail/bike capacity here is impressive

Congestion Utrecht style

Imagine you’re going to Düsseldorf

Is it 1 train (NS info) or 3 (DB)?

#CrossBorderRail 2026 Spring Tour Train 22 of 83
IC 3075
20:54 Utrecht Centraal - Arnhem Centraal 21:29
NS

Train type: Talbot VIRM EMU, 4 double deck carriages
⚡️ (1.5kV dc)
🚲: ✅
🦽: ✅ (ramp on platform)
🛜: ✅
🍽️: ⛔️
🧳: 😐 (not the worst design, but still a mess with big bags)
🧽: ☹️ (covered in grime)
Interrail: 🙂 (accepted)

IC 3075
20:54 Utrecht Centraal - Arnhem Centraal 21:29

Distance: 56.7km
Average speed: 97km/h

3 stops:
Driebergen-Zeist
Ede-Wageningen
Arnhem Centraal

This train, mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2026-spring-tour_1361108#10/52.095961/5.431366

#CrossBorderRail 2026 Spring Tour

uMap

Jon Worth

#CrossBorderRail 2026 Spring Tour Train 23 of 83
RE19 (21235)
22:45 Arnhem Centraal - Emmerich 23:05
VIAS Rail GmbH

Train type: Stadler EMU, 6 short carriages
⚡️ (1.5kV dc, 25kV ac, 15kV ac)
🚲: ✅
🦽: ✅ (step free)
🛜: ⛔️ (installed but broken)
🍽️: ⛔️
🧳: 🙂
🧽: 🙂
Interrail: 🙂 (accepted)

RE19 (21235)
22:45 Arnhem Centraal - Emmerich 23:05

Distance: 30.9km
Average speed: 93km/h

3 stops:
Zevenaar
Emmerich-Elten
Emmerich

This train, mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2026-spring-tour_1361108#12/51.910073/6.077843

#CrossBorderRail 2026 Spring Tour

uMap

I’m not at my destination yet but there’s a summary video about what went wrong https://peertube.netzbegruenung.de/w/49J9XQjvGYZvKsGYX7jWXQ

#CrossBorderRail live stream - 3/4/2026, 9:43:17 PM

PeerTube

🎉 🎉 🎉

It’s so damned late that the Bundespolizei has gone home. So #schengen works!

🎉 🎉 🎉

#CrossBorderRail 2026 Spring Tour Train 24 of 83
RE19 (20043)
23:08 Emmerich - Duisburg Hbf 00:15
VIAS Rail GmbH

Train type: Stadler EMU, 6 short carriages
⚡️ (15kV ac)
🚲: ✅
🦽: ✅ (step free)
🛜: ✅
🍽️: ⛔️
🧳: 🙂️
🧽: 😐 (end of the day, quite a lot of rubbish inside)
Interrail: 🙂 (accepted)

RE19 (20043)
23:08 Emmerich - Duisburg Hbf 00:15

Distance: 68.2km
Average speed: 61km/h

13 stops:
Praest
Millingen(b Rees)
Empel-Rees
Haldern(Rheinl)
Mehrhoog
Wesel Feldmark
Wesel
Voerde(Niederrhein)
Dinslaken
Oberhausen-Holten
Oberhausen-Sterkrade
Oberhausen Hbf
Duisburg Hbf

This train, mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2026-spring-tour_1361108#11/51.632411/6.555390

#CrossBorderRail 2026 Spring Tour

uMap

Ah, problems ahead #CrossBorderRail

What do I do?

Change in Nürnberg, get the diverted ICE via Ingolstadt and Passau instead?

Stay on, assuming they will add a Betriebshalt in Ingolstadt, and still get the ICE to Wien there?

Stay on to München and hope it all works? 🤔

Est delay: 1 hour in München. 💥go my #CrossBorderRail connections.

Let’s re-plan this then…

A landslide and a medical emergency is making pretty much everything in Nürnberg a mess today. #CrossBorderRail

“may” not be possible 🤪

That’s optimistic dear ÖBB!

☀️ & 2x 🐹 in Nürnberg

Only issue: I’d not intended to be in Nürnberg

No I’d not expected to be here either

AAAGGGHHAGAGGAHAGAGAGAHAHAGAGAGHAHAG

Bayern ***"*!**!*!*"!"

Depart Plattling

4 guys, plain clothes, stand by the door

That'll be police I thought

They come through the train

The control first a guy with his neck covered in tattoos (there are no ethnic minority passengers in view)

And then they control ME

(Translated here into English, but discussion was in German)

First, to make it clear, these were Polizei Bayern, NOT Bundespolizei

Police, showing his ID: "Gruß Gott!" (Bavarian hello, means Greet God! - always makes this atheist annoyed). "Identity check!"

Me: "Could I ask, why are you controlling?"

P: "This is a train to Austria!"

M: "Yes, we are LEAVING Germany!"

P: "Yes, but it is still a border!"

M: "But sorry, I am leaving. Why are you checking?"

P: "But we are checking for illegal migration! As the Bavarian police law allows us!"

M: "So is this a border control then?"

P, stumbles a bit, realises what I am trying: "It is, errr, an identity control"

M: "OK, that was the right answer." and I hand him my ID.

His colleague: "We are allowed to control"

M: "Yes, I know, and this is not your fault - this is decided by Berlin and to some extent München, it's not your decision."

P colleague: "But why is this a problem?"

M: "Look, I work on railway policy, and my background is in EU politics, and I see this over and over. In the EU I find this annoying."

P: "But the controls are only temporary, so they are legally compliant"

M: "Yes, temporary for six months, renewed every six months. How many times do we have to renew before they are permanent?"

He realised he was not going to win this, and it was all impeccably civil.

P: "But why are these controls actually limiting your freedom of movement?"

M: "Well, to give you your due you are doing this in a moving train. That is not the case at every German border!"

P looks confused.

M: "At Kehl for example, they stop and delay every train for 15 minutes - that is a limit on freedom of movement."

P nodded.

Anyway, it makes me hopping mad this sort of thing is happening. WHY THE HELL DO WE NEED 4 DUDES GOING THROUGH ICE TRAINS DOING THIS? 🤬

But at least they knew the law, and were friendly and polite, and I wished them a nice day.

Reminded by @Sobex of a #Schengen argument I had with the Budespolizei in Puttgarden

I wrote a blog post about it here:
https://jonworth.eu/non-schengen-compliant-border-control-at-puttgarden-21st-january-2013-1244/

And that was 2013! 😳

I have been arguing with border guards for more than 13 years. FFS

Non-Schengen compliant border control at Puttgarden, 21st January 2013, 1244

Today I'm at least as angry at myself as a blogger (who was not adequately prepared) as I am about yet another breach of EU law and Schengen. My ICE train had just left the ferry, heading into Germany at Puttgarden at 1244, and was stationary at the station when

Jon Worth

And the one that started this whole #Schengen arguing with police on trains thing was in 2012, in St Jean de Maurienne https://jonworth.eu/non-schengen-compliant-border-control-between-st-jean-de-maurienne-and-modane-9th-october-2012-1240/

And there are quite a few blog posts! https://jonworth.eu/tag/schengen/

Non-Schengen compliant border control between St Jean de Maurienne and Modane, 9th October 2012, 1240

Four French police boarded the front carriage of the 0749 Paris Gare de Lyon – Milano Garibaldi TGV at St Jean de Maurienne on 9th October. The train was running with a delay of around 55 minutes, hence departing from St Jean at around 1230. At 1240 the four police entered

Jon Worth

Norra kommissionen Mar 5

@jon So still they didn't answer why they check on a OUTBOUND train?

@nordkommission No. Because they can, was all I got.

Argie Mar 5

@jon Now this is a case where I get even more confused which "ICE" is meant this time ...

Fab Ataqe Mar 5

@jon I wonder if they too regret wasting time on this when they could be policing somewhere else.
Bundespolizei could spend more time in the whole railway system, Landespolizei could do more in their Land, wherever it is needed.
The officers you met seem to be keen on actually doing a control on an outgoing train. Or maybe they're bored on their way back from the last inbound control (as you said, at least they're doing it in a moving train)

Enola Knezevic Mar 5

@fataqe @jon Is German police actually doing anything useful, or is it only applying pain grips on climate and anti-genocide protesters, shooting deaf-mute children, and ignoring murders of women and non-Germans? #RhetoricalQuestion

Union Whore Mar 5

@jon Tbh I hate them even more when they are polite.

@unionwhore I am not sure. I would prefer they don't lie to me (as Bundespolizei have) or swear at me (as French police have), and those behaviours then make me angry!

Enola Knezevic Mar 5

@jon They are just following orders 😬

Chip Butty Mar 5

@jon the police are allowed to check id on a whim? What if you don't have an id card?

@otfrom Then it's "Identität nachweisen können" - and that can mean they could accompany you to your home.

Adam Mar 5

@jon At the entry near Aachen they don't (in my experience) generally control trains but do control road traffic. I hear that if there's too much of a traffic jam caused by that, bus drivers just take a detour around the controls, to save time.

The only Belgian border unimpeded in both directions is the one with Luxembourg. 😢

@pseudomonas Yes, at the DE-NL border too. It annoyed some people in villages when suddenly there were Flixbuses on local roads!

Adam Mar 5

@jon And if even a huge operator like Flixbus can do it, then anyone in a car with an undocumented passenger can *certainly* do it.

The BE/NL and BE/FR borders I've never seen any controls; I suspect the powers in place so that they can be used ad-hoc based on intelligence, or something. Or maybe it's just because those borders I always cross by train.

Sven A. Schmidt Mar 5

@jon Love that you keep raising this and hope that bit by bit you change minds and have this bubble up. It’s ridiculous this is happening.

Benedikt Neuzweig Mar 5

@jon The Landespolizei is overstepping their duties. They have no business on trains and train stations. That's Bundespolizei mandate.

In Hamburg, the Landespolizei was only allowed to work in the main station after months of negotiations. And the main station is basically a walkway between one part of the city to the other.

Maybe call the Bundespolizei and ask them about it.

~n Mar 5

@jon Is it time for this timeless classic again?

Fab Ataqe Mar 5

@nblr @jon brilliant!

210561 ✨ [Q]Mar 5

@jon For a minute I thought you ended up at Neustadt (Weinstr). There's too many Neustädte...

Maartje Mar 5

@q @jon and they all look the same….

Rémi Cardona Mar 5

@maartje @q @jon Villeneuve/châteauneuf/castelnau in 🇫🇷 🙃

Funny how it's basically the same elsewhere in 🇪🇺

@q As someone born in Newport*, too many people with no imagination naming towns is most definitely a problem!

* - question is which one? 🤔

210561 ✨ [Q]Mar 5

@jon new rule: only the most recent Neustadt gets to be called Neustadt, the rest are Altneustadt, Altaltneustadt, ...

Moof! 🔜 #JetLagTheGame NL Mar 5

@q @jon I will admit that Wiener Neustadt confused the hell out of me when I first encountered it.

Hugo Mills Mar 5

@jon @q A friend once sent me a postcard while on holiday in the USA. Six months later, it arrived in the UK, with postmarks from four Readings in the USA, and two in Canada.

Jos Dingjan Mar 5

@darkling @jon @q Turns out Reading is hard.

Hugo Mills Mar 5

@happydisciple @jon @q Depends on which bits of it you visit after dark.

Torsten Mar 5

At least if it takes forever you can spend some time in the museum.

Johannes Mar 5

@jon One great thing about being stranded in Nuremberg is that the city centre is just a stone's throw from the station.

@jom Not today, I am now re-routing - all being well! 🙂

But it reminds me - it was a long time ago I was last properly in Nürnberg. Hopefully I will make a proper stop sometime soon-ish!

Dr. Sobek Mar 5

@jon Who knew the Austrian were competing for the "Understatement of the Century" prize ?

Ulrike Franke Mar 5

@jon
You may also travel back in time upon arrival. Who knows 🤪

Inga stands with 🇺🇦 🇵🇸Mar 5

@rikefranke @jon or RJX 65 might be heavily delayed too

@IngaLovinde @rikefranke as 1) it starts there, and 2) it’s a Railjet, I doubt it 🙂

But if it’s +10 in Wien and I’m on time I can get it there. Hopeful…

Inga stands with 🇺🇦 🇵🇸Mar 5

@jon @rikefranke but in order to depart Munchen, Railjet has first to arrive to Munchen! And if schengen violating cops take their time in Freilassing, it can easily arrive so late that it won't be able to depart until after your ICE arrives! 🙃

Tachibana Kanade Mar 5

@jon You never know, RJX65 might suddenly end up +50 for unknown reasons! (Happened last time I changed at Munich)

Suzanne ‘bionic’ Veerman Mar 5

@jon You seem to be quite the magnet for railway accidents the last couple of days 🤔

@smveerman I'd *really like* a calm trip, damn it. I will manage somehow today, but my nerves and reserves of energy are running low!

Bela 🐑Mar 5

@jon
Deturnement via Augsburg