Thread by @politic_animal

Six months ago, I set out to find out how far I could get in 24 hours by bus from London #bus24. Today - the obvious sequel: #train24. What is the furthest point I can get from St Pancras in 24 hours? I think I know on paper, but there’s some tight connections ahead…

Same ground rules as before: I’m finding the furthest station, as the crow flies, you can get to in 24 hours not necessarily the longest journey. With rail timetables in post-Covid flux, the answer could be different next week. And yes, obviously Turtle is coming along #train24

My favourite St Pancras fact - that the distance between the pillars that hold the trains and platforms 50ft in the air is measured to accommodate barrels of beer from Burton-on-Trent, which used to be delivered here by special train twice daily for insatiable London. #train24

Two disappointments at security: firstly, having passport stamped for the first time for a journey to the EU. More importantly, that no-one wanted to see the French ‘on your honour’ Covid deceleration. I half expected a challenge to a duel in the name of La République. #train24

I’m v conscious that I’m basically messing about on Europe’s rail network while elsewhere on the continent millions are using it to flee and brave Ukranian rail workers are keeping their network running under fire. For every km I get, I’m donating 20p to @decappeal 🇺🇦 #train24

Up we go, out of the undercroft, for the first train of the morning off the island. We’ll start the clock when the doors close. #train24

Spot on time, almost to the second, @Eurostar 9004, the 07:01 to Paris Gare du Nord, is en route, so the clock starts at the planned time. More of this sort of punctuality, please. FYI - I’m not falling into the Phileas Fogg trap here. It’s a true 24hrs, regardless of time zone.

We’ve got over 200 miles, non-stop (hopefully!) to Paris. Even on the murkiest of March mornings, the crossing of the Medway viaduct is always an early treat… #train24

It’s nice of @Eurostar to have designed their newish trains with a special Turtle table so he can enjoy travelling at 186mph while keeping out of the way of breakfast. #train24

Into the Channel Tunnel. First teaser: if all goes to plan, this won’t actually be the longest tunnel on the journey.

Interesting Channel Tunnel fact for international followers:
Callingit ‘the Chunnel’ is punishable by summary execution in 🇬🇧 and 🇫🇷 jurisdictions. #train24

And bonjour to country number 2 🇫🇷. I have a near life-long obsession with the sheer variety and majesty of French pylon designs. This is a country that isn’t afraid to tell the world they are electrified. #train24

Accelerating through Lille Europe station. Lille is twinned with my birthplace of Leeds, but always felt like the less favoured sibling because Dortmund gave us a big statue of a fat man carrying a beer barrel to put in a square.

Past the Alps of Hénin-Beaumont, actually coal slag heaps. Depressed former mining town, Front National fiefdom, and home to a very large lineside IKEA. Will pitch a ‘France: Land of Contrasts’ piece for any periodical that wants it. #train24

Hmm, the connection-minded bit of me didn’t like the bit where we slowed down for a bit just then. I *think* it was just to let a TGV from Arras out in front of us, but let’s keep moving please. (Though these Siemens trains ride so harshly, some lower speed was nice!) #train24

Over the Oise. I’d complain about basically unpronounceable French river names, but #bus24 took me over the Erewash, so les anglais are not without sin here. #train24

Into the Paris suburbs, land of the double-deck RER train. Slightly late on the working timetable, but on time on the public one. Big Q: do I need to start walking up towards the front of this quarter-mile long train to exit swiftly? #train24

Aux urnes, citoyens! #train24

Paris Gare du Nord, France’s busiest station, with some lovely people from the Croix Rouge waiting to welcome refugees. Now a fast walk in the rain to the Gare d’Est. The Nord-Est pairing is Paris’ answer to Euston and St Pancras. #train24

Since I was last here, they’ve built a sort of cantilevered park out over the roof of the Gare de l’Est. Which is sort of nice, to admire the sea of station below you. #train24

Official caterer of #train24

At the Gare de l’Est with lots of time* to spare. Ah, the wonderful soundtrack of a French station - starlings chirping and the delightful/god-awful SNCF jingle.
*: this does not necessarily equate to ‘lots of time’ for normal people making a normal journey. #train24

I ❤️ the Gare de l’Est clocks. #train24

Wilkommen in der ICE nach Stuttgart Hbf. I have been assured, in three languages, that the equipage franco-allemand is here to cater for my every need. All very appropriate for a trip towards the capital of Europe (if you don’t count that town in Belgium). #train24

Train number two, and another to-the-second departure. Jointly-operated @DB_Bahn/@SNCFConnect ICE 9573 Paris Est-Stuttgart Hbf slips away from the city of light (distinctly unlight today). The next connection is the one I’m most worried about, so a good start… #train24

Like a German vegetarian, I fear the wurst. (Definitely not my joke.) Not in the new Germany! #train24

I’m firmly of the view that when Shakespeare wrote about ‘the vasty fields of France’ (Henry V, Act 1, Prologue), he’d just come back from a trip on the Ligne à Grande Vitesse Est européenne. The fields are very vasty out this way, and he’d have liked a trip to Nancy. #train24

The eastern high speed line out of Paris can probably claim to be Europe’s fastest railway, as the world train speed record was set along here in 2007 (575km/h). We’re going a bit more sedately through the Champagne region today. #train24

I like that there are tunnels built specifically on this high speed line to protect some of the Champagne vineyards. There’s probably some appellation rule that the grapes can only be vibrated by a French TGV and any disturbance by a German train turns it into sekt. #train24

Racing past Meuse TGV station. The French have a bizarre habit of building high-speed stations in middle of nowhere, naming them after an entire region. They rarely work. Colloquially they are called ‘gare des betteraves’, because they basically serve beetroot fields. #train24

It’s ok, it’s a disease that is catching. Britain went and built ‘East Midlands Parkway’ station, which has also turned into an inevitable disaster. #train24

The linguistic boundary comes very gently as you enter Alsace. The village of Haut Clocher is next door to the hamlet of Saint-Ulrichswald and the small town of Xouaxange. #train24

And there’s a much more Germanic air to the landscape after we’ve punched through the last set of hills before the Rhine valley. #train24

Strasbourg, bang on time. It was a tight connection, so this is exactly what I needed. Except of course the onward train is 10 minutes late. Could do with that not growing too much… #train24

So our next train arrives - we’re off the high speed for now, onto a regional service, albeit a souped-up one that takes the title TER200 - 200 being the maximum speed. As the carriages show, we’re still on a bilingual train, except it is now French and Alsatian. #train24

And because they are using recycled long-distance rolling stock, they have the most astonishingly comfortable, yet achingly retro train interiors. These ‘Corail’ coaches are a wonderful ride (no, I don’t know why they called them after coral, either). #train24

We’re off on train number three, with a 14 minute delay due to waiting for a delayed TGV to go in front. This isn’t really fatal, but I could do with @TERGrandEst 96277, the 12:52 Strasbourg-Basel not losing too much more time. #train24

Running between the Rhine and the castle-speckled wooded peaks of the Vosges (thanks to the person who pointed out I shouldn’t call them hills, what with some being higher than Ben Nevis). Very much in the borderlands, geographically, linguistically and culturally. #train24

Lovely looking vineyard villages nestling over in the foothills of the Vosges. Getting to the point where I could murder an Alsatian Gewürztraminer. But at least the train doesn’t seem to be losing any more time. #train24

Turtle agrees. Apart from the murdering bit. He doesn’t do that sort of felony, even to wine. #train24

You may have noticed we’ve done a bit of a dogleg, heading east across 🇫🇷 on a German train, then south towards 🇨🇭. This is because: a) LGV Est is nice and fast; and b) because the connection times between Eurostars and direct Paris- 🇨🇭 TGVs are too leisurely for us! #train24

Leaving St Louis. Which confusingly is a suburb of Basel (Switzerland), but in France. The Basel trams even cross the border to reach St Louis. #train24

My favourite thing about this approach to Basel by train is that it runs right through the middle of the zoo. There is a brief glimpse of a rhino here if you look closely. #train24

A 25 minute connection at Basel has become a 10 minute one, and the trains from France arrive at their own platforms than the Swiss ones - to allow customs checks in pre-Schengen days. Time to hustle… #train24

I love Basel’s station hall, with its big landscape paintings of the Alpine joys it is a gateway to. Not much time to pause and enjoy today though… #train24

Down to my waiting Intercity… #train24

Which has, oh joy of joys because we are now in Switzerland, land of the Proper Railway, a restaurant car. #train24

And we are off, as punctually as you would expect, on @RailService Intercity 575, the 14:33 Basel - Chur. #train24

Enjoying that in the restaurant car, the waiter is taking orders for *precisely* how long people want the bag in their peppermint tea. #train24

A few giant truffle ravioli to keep the wolf from the door as we glide through the Hauenstein base tunnel. Best not to ask the price, but very, very good. #train24

I am the only person in this restaurant car not drinking peppermint tea. Is there a 3pm peppermint tea rule in Switzerland that I don’t know about? #train24

Shouldn’t have doubted for a second that the Swiss can make a seven minute connection between long distance trains at their largest station work. #train24

Trains and trams 🚋! Be still my beating heart. #train24

Onwards, ever onwards! A quick trot around to platform 7 for the Milano express. These lovely new trains are called ‘Giruno’, which means ‘buzzard’ in Switzerland’s fourth language, Romansch. We are a remarkable 22 carriages long, though we will dump half at the border #train24

Another spot on time departure on train five, @RailService/@fsitaliane’s EuroCity 321, the 15:33 Zürich Hbf - Milano Centrale. #train24

Climbing out of Zürich above the Zürichsee. This is very much the poorer side of the lake. The ‘Golden Coast’ is on the other side. Everything is relative, people. #train24

It will never not amuse me that you can get a zug to Zug. Switzerland’s lowest tax canton. Again, everything is relative. #train24

Blossom beside lake number two: the Zugersee. #train24

Lake number three: the Lauerzersee #train24

A brief glimpse of lake four, the Vierwaldstättersee. It puzzles me that people choose to call it Lake Lucerne rather than that that tongue-twister (Lake of the Four Forest Cantons). Rütli meadow, where the Swiss Confederation was founded, is opposite. #train24

And into the Gotthard Base Tunnel. Over 6km longer than the Channel Tunnel and the longest railway tunnel in the world. It does cut off a very lovely historic mountain route, but on the plus side, means we can get much further on #train24 than in the pre-base tunnel days.

The tunnel takes us under the Polentagraben, the division between German and Italian speaking Switzerland (‘Polenta ditch’, see also Röstigraben for the other main linguistic divide). Time to demonstrate my continued cultural insensitivity with an afternoon cappuccino. #train24

Out of the tunnel into Ticino, where the hills are rockier, the villas pastel-ier, and the church towers more campanile-y. #train24

Bellinzona, Ticino’s cantonal capital, with lots of castles and campaniles. Last time we were here, there was inexplicably a Beatles festival. Some of the tribute bands on the big stage were indescribably bad.

In national stereotypes getting fulfilled latest, the Swiss people in front of me have spent the entire journey talking about how they are going to market watches in Milan. #train24

Passing lake number oh-god-I’ve-lost-count Lago Lugano. The town opposite is the bizarre little Italian enclave of Campione d’Italia, dominated by a building that was, until it went bust in 2018, Europe’s largest casino. Not sure what the enclave does economically now. #train24

Cypress trees! We must be in the south! (Even if the weather is getting worse.) #train24

Arriving into Chiasso, the last Swiss station, where the far end of the platform is literally in Italy. First bit of Covid bureaucracy of journey - a scan of the vaccination pass and an uninterested look at the passenger locator form (now used by just 3 EU countries). #train24

Some elderly German ladies going on a girl’s night out on Monza (yes, apparently) just got very excited when the Guardia di Finanza officer asked them if they had more than €10,000 in cash on them. #train24

One final distant view of a lake before dark as we cross into Italy: the southern tip of the huge Lago di Como. The Italians are clearly running a full customs and Covid border, but no-one has put time for it in the timetable. 20mins down. Could be tight at Milano. #train24

The nice train staff just came round and sanitised everyone’s hands with something that smells suspiciously like grappa. #train24

It does feel like our driver is trying to make up time as we beetle through industrial Lombardy. Two facts about Italian railways:
1) Mussolini didn’t make the trains run on time, he made his train run on time.
2) Italian railways are more punctual than you think. #train24

We did indeed make up a bit of time. Making our entrance into Milano Centrale past the incredible over-the-tracks signal boxes and into the vast train shed. #train24

To be clear, St Pancras is a great station. Grand Central is a great station. Milano Centrale is The Great Station. Of no clear architectural style, and politically dubious, but it is a temple to travel. #train24

After relatively slow wanderings since Strasbourg, we’re back on the real high speed now as we push further south - Trenitalia’s Frecciarossa 1000 (‘Red Arrow’ trains must be Europe’s most externally stylish and will whisk us a good distance at 300km/h. Hopefully. #train24

After that brief Milano sojourn we are back underway. @fsitaliane Frecciarossa 9663 - the 19:25 to Napoli Centrale is off, almost on time, passing a second hand high speed train that didn’t work in Dutch snow, and the private sector competitor on this axis. #train24

I have been given a dolce snack by the train crew, we’re racing across the darkening Po floodplain at 298km/h, and I’ve just learned from the scrolling news screen on board that ‘partygate’ is now a word in Italian. #train24

Leaving Bologna AV station, our only stop between Milano and Roma. We’ll now race under the Apennines - it’s 78km to Florence and 73km is in tunnel. This new line supersedes the previous new line, built in 1934 with a 18km tunnel, itself to replace the original line. #train24

The only really slow bit left between Milano and Roma is where the train crawls round the Firenze suburbs. I can’t claim we are experiencing all the Renaissance delights of the city, but we’ll soon be on the Direttissima, perhaps Europe’s first high-speed line, to Roma. #train24

This is the face of someone who has been on the iron road for 14 hours now and would really appreciate it if the chap with the espresso trolley could come round again soon. #train24

Slowly squealing into the third capital city of the journey, pretty much spot on time, as the automated Frecciarossa announcement proudly tells us. #train24

Rome: the Eternal City. I, however, have 20 minutes to admire the fabulous 1940s roof in the station hall (yes, ignore the politics of the architecture again…). #train24

Hopping on to the night train towards the island… #train24

And train number seven trundles out of Roma Termini pretty much spot on time - @fsitaliane InterCityNotte 1959 - the 23:00 sleeper conveying portions to Palermo and Siracusa. #train24

Home for a (short-ish) night. Turtle is ready for it. #train24

I do feel a night train should have a name. It’s part of the romance of it. Intercity Notte 1959 doesn’t cut it. So I’m christening this train ‘Etna’. Buona notte from the ‘Etna’. Signing off for a little bit… #train24

Buongiorno early risers, insomniacs and those in other time zones! Opening the blind in my sleeper to find us in Italy’s southern mainland province of Calabria, arriving in Lamezia Terme Centrale. An odd name for a station that is 11km from the centre of Lamezia Terme. #train24

I rather like this train - nicely refurbished sleepers, smooth riding, spotless (even the loos are gleaming this morning), friendly staff. Only critique - even a hard-mattress-liker like me finds Trenitalia’s mattresses a little unforgiving. #train24

Which is probably why I was woken by the very Mediterranean torrential rain and thunder storm while we were at Salerno at about 2am. #train24

Hadn’t expected much in the way of facilities on this train, so nice to be served a little breakfast in bed, including a very decent espresso, as we speed along the still-dark Tyrrhenian coastline. #train24

Curving round the toenail of Italy to face south, the lights of Messina in Sicilly come into view across its eponymous straits, as we pass the lighthouse at Pezzo. #train24

This is the point where I am going to disappoint a lot of people in my timeline. Despite appearances, I am not staying on the train to use Europe’s last train ferry, but getting off at the last mainland stop, Villa San Giovanni, to go further on this side of the straits. #train24

Put simply, when you are up against the clock, being shunted on and off a ferry and sailing slowly across the Straits of Messina is inefficient time use. My 24hrs would be more than up by the time we got to the other side… #train24

The Siracusa and Palermo coaches, my bed from last night and the crumbs from my breakfast apricot tart are shunted off towards the train ferry ‘Scilla’, bobbing in the warm Calabrian breeze just behind the platforms. #train24

23hrs and 50mins in and we’re off on train number eight, a short hop with the early morning commuters on Regionale 5429, down the coast to Reggio di Calabria. The nation that designed the Frecciarossa 1000 forgot about aesthetics with this train. #train24

Grey morning, grimy windows. And an awful lot of apartment buildings that have clearly been half-finished for a long time along this stretch of coastline. #train24

Approach Reggio di Calabria. Wikipedia tells me (and I’m sure this is disputable) that this is Europe’s hundredth largest built-up area by population, which must count for something. #train24

Quick change at Reggio di Calabria Centrale onto train number nine, Regionale 6530, the 07:18 to Catanzaro Lido. It has taken us this long to get a train with a diesel engine thrumming under the floors, rather than the silent speed of an electric. A ‘Swing’, apparently. #train24

Thanks to people who pointed out I meant 22hr50 here! Sleep deprived. #train24

Right beside the sea… #train24

Melito di Porto Salvo, most southerly town (and therefore station) in mainland Italy. But we can go a bit further from St Pancras still. We turn the corner here from the Tyrrhenian coast to the Ionian. #train24

Or at least we can get further if the late-running train coming the other way off the single line doesn’t take too much longer to arrive… #train24

Ok, here it is. Andiamo! #train24

*Countdown music intensifies* #train24

5 minutes to go. We’re doing 120km/h and I am grateful. #train24

C’mon c’mon. #train24

Did it! 6 minutes late, 45 seconds to spare. Bova Marina, in Calabria, 1964.6km from St Pancras, 23hrs,59min,15sec. I think that is the furthest you can make it. #train24

Turtle wanted to hang around to wave to the silly little Intercity to Taranto. I indulged him. #train24

It would be hard to find a more Italian scene than the forecourt of Bova Marina station. Fountain, tabacchi, pasticceria/bar, pink church with illuminated Madonna, some random old men hanging around chatting. I love it. Now - to the sea. #train24

Finding the route from the station to the sea takes a surprising amount of doing - the railway really cuts the town off from its beach, but the reward is that beautiful coloured water of the Ionian Sea. #train24

Thank you! And apologies for looking like someone who forgot to pack the dry shampoo for the sleeper. #train24

Being completely mad (had you spotted that yet?), I am now going to try to climb those blue steps up to the Madonna del Mare. #train24

Ok, so we’ve seen some impressive trains on this journey. But none of them come close to this train of caterpillars. #train24

Well it is lovely up here - I can understand why the caterpillars hang out here. And thanks for all the warnings not to touch them! #train24

Spot the train! That seems a good place to pause the thread as I head downhill for third breakfast and make my way over to Sicily for a few days. Will tweet that outwith this thread! Will no doubt come back to this thread with some of the logistics stuff ppl are asking. #train24

But before I pause, a big well done to @Lenny_du_Nord, who was one of the few and certainly the first to get my planned destination - while I was still in Kent! Have a virtual golden timetable…

Ok, people have been asking for a full list of the trains taken on the #train24 journey. I’ve pulled that together below - all the times are timetabled ones, not actual. Some of the trains ran slightly late (nothing more than 15 minutes), but all connections were made.

Lots of questions also about costs. I’ve itemised them below, but to note - this includes a 4-day Interail pass, so you get a further 2 days of travel in the month, anywhere in Europe, included in those cost. And you don’t have to go first class! #train24

One thing I will say: Interail is great, and its 50th birthday this year is worth celebrating. But I can’t in honesty recommend the mobile version. I’ve found it fatally buggy, often unable to load trips or produce the necessary QR codes. For now, get a paper version. #train24

Other #train24 stuff I’ve been asked:
A map - I will produce one, once I’m back with the facilities to do so.
Video - yes, it’s coming.
DEC donation - £0.20x1964km = £393, so I’ll call it £400. Thank you everyone who has donated themselves.
What’s next? Dunno, but it’ll be fun.

For people in the London area, I’ll be on the BBC1 regional news 6:30pm slot to talk about #train24

Ok, in the interests of fairness, I should say that an update for the Interail app appeared this morning, and having downloaded it, it *seems* to work exactly as it should. I may have had the misfortune to travel in the window between a botched update and it being fixed. #train24

Lovely write-up and video on #train24 from the nice people at Euronews. Let’s not mention that the picture they’ve chosen for the tweet suggests I got to Russia. Which would have been…interesting!

I strongly object to any form of gender stereotyping, so I’m certainly not complaining, but am intrigued as to how I ended up in the FeMail section of the Daily Mail… #train24 dailymail.co.uk/femail/article…

There's been quite a few media-org produced maps for #train24, but as people have been asking, here's a little map of my own. Red squares are where I changed train, green pins intermediate stops made by my trains. arcg.is/0LWjOH

In good news (for me anyway), I’ve done the timetable wrangling, and I don’t think the #train24 record is broken by the reintroduction of a v early morning Eurostar last week. You can get further south in 24hrs using it (to Giarre-Riposto in Sicily), but not further from London.

As with everything on this, it is entirely possible I’m wrong and there is a longer option. But the route to Giarre relies on even more heroic connections than #train24 and leaves you 17km closer to St Pancras than Bova Marina. So I think my little excursion stands for now…

New! #Train24 The Movie. Contains very mild peril.