Mastodawn

Here's today's #CrossBorderRail intro filmed earlier in Trieste
https://peertube.netzbegruenung.de/w/2qVxVCnCRqCciKnzfYPsDf

Today I am making the very well known cross-Europe trip - Trieste Centrale - Nuits-sous-Ravières

But because - of course! - nothing works with the timetables in France, I am going via Switzerland rather than direct from Italy to France

#CrossBorderRail live stream - 3/12/2026, 5:54:29 AM

PeerTube

This one should strike FYRA into you!

#CrossBorderRail 2026 Spring Tour Train 37 of 86
FR 9718
07:07 Trieste Centrale - Milano Centrale 11:15
Trenitalia

Train type: AnsaldoBreda ETR 700 EMU, 7 carriages
⚡️ (3kV dc, 25kV ac, 3kV dc)
🚲: ⛔️
🦽: ✅ (lift on platforms)
🛜: ✅ (but 😡 it needs a silly registration)
🍽️: ✅
🧳: 😐 (there's only one small rack for large bags, were it full it would struggle)️
🧽: 🙂
Interrail: 😐 (needs compulsory reservation, costs €13)

Jon Worth

FR 9718
07:07 Trieste Centrale - Milano Centrale 11:15

Distance: 401.9km
Average speed: 97km/h

10 stops:
Monfalcone
Trieste Airport
Portogruaro-Caorle
Venezia Mestre
Padova
Vicenza
Verona Porta Nuova
Desenzano del Garda-Sirmione
Brescia
Milano Centrale

This train, mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2026-spring-tour_1361108#9/45.615913/11.487165

#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

The ticket control here on this Frecciarossa is sensible, for a compulsory reservation train (OK, comp res is silly, but bear with me)

The train manager has the seat plan on their device, so they can see which seats are newly occupied at every station, and only goes to check those passengers' tickets

Why does SNCF not do that on TGVs?

Because it'd mean the train manager has to go along the train after every station and that's too much effort?

So how is the ex-FYRA ETR 700?

It's OK

The interior is rather bland, the colours resembling something from a doctor's surgery. There is noticeable noise from the motors, more than in some other EMUs. But the ride is smooth, the seats fine, the wifi works

Trenitalia promises new faster WiFi. And it’s indeed solid.

The downside?

Italian businessmen screaming “Pronto!” at their Teams calls

(There is a quiet zone somewhere I assume but I was allocated this)

ex-FYRA AnsaldoBreda ETR 700 on the Brescia - Milano high speed line at 250km/h is smooooooth

These trains might have had reliability issues, but someone designed some good suspension! Either that or the track is impeccable

#CrossBorderRail 2026 Spring Tour Train 38 of 87
RE 2363
11:25 Milano Centrale - Milano Lambrate 11:31
Trenord

Train type: Hitachi Rock EMU, 5 double deck carriages
⚡️ (3kV dc)
🚲: ✅ (inc e-bike charging)
🦽: ✅ (step free)
🛜: ❓ (trip too short, did not check)
🍽️: ⛔️
🧳: 😐 (odd design, vestibules large, luggage racks tiny)️
🧽: 😐 (graffiti on the windows)
Interrail: 🙂 (accepted)

Distance: 3.6km
Average speed: 36km/h

1 stop:
Milano Lambrate

This train, mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2026-spring-tour_1361108#16/45.484939/9.222083

Milano, briefly

Even time for a little refreshment at Lambrate

Hitachi Rock does have e-bike charging. That’s neat!

Last decent connection Zürich - Dijon today: 15:34 (and every Zürich - Paris TGV goes through Dijon)

80 minutes later I’ve still got a passable connection Zürich - Berlin! 🤯

Meanwhile I am approaching the IT-CH border at Como, and I am the only passenger in my whole carriage in EuroCity 30 (SNCF fans following are likely 🤯)

But that means when the customs pass, that they usually do here, they are going to check me

Question is how to play it

Switzerland is in Schengen, so there should be no border control

But Switzerland is NOT in the customs union, so customs controls ARE allowed

So they *ought* to check what I am carrying, not ask for ID first, because then that would be a border control dressed up as a customs control, that they'd NEVER DO 😅

#CrossBorderRail 2026 Spring Tour Train 39 of 87
EC 30
12:05 Milano Lambrate - Zürich HB 15:27
SBB, Trenitalia

Train type: Stadler Giruno EMU, 2x 11 short carriages
⚡️ (3kV dc, 15kV ac)
🚲: ✅
🦽: ✅ (step free at both 55cm and 76cm platforms)
🛜: ✅
🍽️: ✅
🧳: 🙂️
🧽: 🙂 (spotless)️
Interrail: 😐 (needs compulsory reservation, costs €13)

EC 30
12:05 Milano Lambrate - Zürich HB 15:27

Distance: 254.1km
Average speed: 75km/h

7 stops:
Como S. Giovanni
Chiasso
Lugano
Bellinzona
Arth-Goldau
Zug
Zürich HB

This train, mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2026-spring-tour_1361108#9/46.441652/8.884860

#CrossBorderRail 2026 Spring Tour

uMap

So the customs officials just walked through at Chiasso, and did not bother me. Schengen is working today 🙂 #CrossBorderRail

However there was some issue at Chiasso - we were held before the station, and departed 10 minutes late. I just got chatting to the train manager, and he even asked *me* what happened, because it was still the Italian crew where it happened. #CrossBorderRail

Also information provision on this line is ridiculous.

In Milano Lambrate, departing, I needed the Trenitalia app to check if the train was on time, but it could not tell me which order the train was running. The SBB app could tell me my carriage was at the front, but could not tell me if the train was on time!

The Campione d'Italia enclave bunker on the other side of the lake, approaching Lugano #CrossBorderRail

Taktfahrplan and 7 minute change from SBB Giruno to TGV Lyria - works perfectly

Three and a half hours, first class, Stadler Giruno, table of four to myself because the train was empty: the best journey in AGES

#CrossBorderRail 2026 Spring Tour Train 40 of 87
TGV 9226
15:34 Zürich HB - Dijon Ville 17:58
TGV Lyria

Train type: Alstom TGV Euroduplex, 8 short double deck carriages, 2 power cars
⚡️ (15kV ac, 25kV ac, 1.5kV dc)
🚲: ⛔️
🦽: ✅ (step free into lower deck, then lift down inside)
🛜: ✅ (and it works well so far)
🍽️: ✅
🧳: ☹️ (inadequate - awful design)
🧽: 🙂
Interrail: 😡 (needs compulsory reservation, costs €39 first class or €29 second - rip off)

Maarten Sneep Mar 12

@jon And it is Switzerland. Don't forget to look out of the window.

Sven A. Schmidt Mar 12

@jon I spy the Spanish layout of my old MacBook – still going strong, I take it? 💪

pseyfert Mar 12

@jon do you know why lambrate and not Centrale? (Coming from Genova / Venezia and skipping the pulling in and out of Centrale?)

@pseyfert Coming from Bologna and skipping the need to reverse in Centrale.

miniBill (Leonardo)Mar 12

@jon cross-border train information is Bad. ÖBB trains running in Italy are even worse, with the Trenitalia app just erroring out randomly

Lukas 🎢 🇩🇪Mar 12

@jon uhh that means your Giruno will go 230km/h instead of 200km/h in the Gotthard Basetunnel to reduce the delay! 😏🚅💨💨

@K1ngdaKa88 Hopefully! Because we just had an extra long stop in Lugano too. This is going to be tight in Zürich!

Cycling on Rails Mar 12

@jon To be honest I haven't seen border checks here since Covid. Too many people, in particular the regional cross-border trains are packed (usually cheaper than the EC, no seat reservations). At least some level of pragmatism prevails somewhere.

@cycling_on_rails I have been checked, right here. Last year sometime!

🔏 Matthias Wiesmann Mar 12

@jon we did Milano Zürich a few weeks ago, Olympic Games were still on. Family with two kids. Custom officers were utterly uninterested.

@jon About the half of the Zürich to Paris TGV call at Belfort-Montbéliard TGV instead of Dijon.

@wrzlbrnft Right, as does the last one of the day. Which *MAKES NO SENSE*, nor Besançon Franche Comté TGV where some also stop. Because you cannot connect to anywhere from either!

Pascal Mar 12

@jon @wrzlbrnft Wait there are direct TGVs from Zurich de Besançon Franche Comté?!?

(I agree, it makes no sense, but it would be very useful to me personally, and a big news that I somehow missed)

@pblilou Damn, maybe I was wrong, I thought I had seen one, but now cannot find it. But @wrzlbrnft will know!

@jon @pblilou There are…:

Pascal Mar 13

@wrzlbrnft @jon So strange, this is what the SBB app shows me… I’m confused

Wrzlbrnft Mar 13

@pblilou @jon Argh! I looked for Belfort-Montbéliard TGV, not for Besançon Franche-Comté… désolée 😰

@wrzlbrnft Although Belfort I suppose makes sense for the SBB trains to Meroux. But Besançon TGV rather than Dijon Ville, WHY?

@jon I suppose some "Trassenzwänge". You can't leave Basel earlier due to the Zürich to Basel Takt and you shouldn't enter the LGV Sud-Est after Montbard later due to conflicts with other TGV services. Although it's still SNCF, on most LGV there are at least some kinds of hourly repeating slots depending on origin or destination of a TGV service.

@wrzlbrnft Eh come on. LGV Rhin Rhone has very few trains. The problem here is attitude - SNCF cannot imagine anyone would want to do Zürich - Dijon, only Zürich - Paris and Dijon - Paris.

And connections? Onto TERs? WHY WOULD YOU EVER CONSIDER RUBBING SHOULDERS WITH POOR PEOPLE? DRIVE!

@jon SNCF should be glad having passengers from Basel to Dijon, making some extra profit instead of leaving the seat empty until Dijon.
LGV Rhin-Rhône isn't the problem at all, capacity on LGV Sud-Est it is.

@wrzlbrnft SNCF does not possibly have the idea in their heads anyone would want a decent Switzerland - Dijon service.

You are of course correct, but this does not fit the SNCF mentality.

@jon In the end it would make more sense running nonstop Lyria trains from Basel and Lausanne (maybe with stop in Frasne for Neuchâtel passengers) to Paris, earning even more profit by selling overpriced international tickets and run national services from Mulhouse via Dijon to Paris seperately.

Jubeldoktor Mar 12

@jon @wrzlbrnft I love this post!

Lucy Mar 12

@jon that’s so cool wtf

Lucy Mar 12

@jon meanwhile one german city after the next is banning just the transport of escooters out of irrational fear

caffetino Mar 12

@jon these are great trains!

@caffetino I disagree. The design - especially of the doors - is weird. And the ride bumpy. They do the job, but I’m not a fan.

caffetino Mar 12

@jon I think they are good workhorses. I always put the bumpiness partially down to the track. They are used all over Italy and seem quite modern and decent, to my untrained eye.

@caffetino No, they don't cope well with bumps I think. Other Italian designs, notably the loco hauled double deck stock, is a good bit smoother. And reliable workhorses, yes, but good trains - for the passenger - I am not sure. (Regional double deck EMUs from Stadler or Siemens are better, from Alstom worse)

Walter van Holst Mar 12

@jon They never were bad comfort-wise. Just horribly unreliable. Glad some operator can make them work.

samuele963 Mar 12

@whvholst @jon Yep. I've taken them quite often since they're common on routes to the northeast (Venice/Trieste/Udine), and while not amazing by any means they work well enough. The bar car is a bit disappointing though

Matthew Vernon Mar 12

@jon that's a lot of beige!

SaareMartha Mar 12

@demoographics @jon
Very Nordic hygge

Maartje Mar 12

@jon Euro… well to be correct Thalys has the same exact logic! Which is where we stole the idea from for the European Sleeper services where we also have a location driven ticket check tool