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Jon Worth

17 Feb, 9 tweets, 4 min read

Earlier today I cast an eye over the communication of the "European Year of Rail"

It's *this year* folks, just in case you were not aware

There's a chirpy video (oddly with a load of Russian trains) and a nastily Photoshopped ICE on a dedicated website

europa.eu/year-of-rail/i…

@unsereOEBB

There's a hashtag too! #euyearofrail

@unsereOEBB even decorated a train with it - and @MartinSelmayr launched it

https://twitter.com/unsereOEBB/status/1359821114680225793

twitter.com/hashtag/EUYear…

But the amount of content on the hashtag is... well, it's pretty thin gruel. Mixed in with cheery infographics about why trains are good

twitter.com/hashtag/EUYear…

twitter.com/search?q=%23EU…

The Commissioner seems likewise non-plussed about it - she's barely mentioned it

twitter.com/search?q=%23EU…

@EuropeOnRail

I wondered what events there were... and found one about Germany. Errr, except it's not public europa.eu/year-of-rail/e…

It's run by @EuropeOnRail

And the actual launch of the #EUyearofrail is not until... the end of March. And details of that are scarce

europa.eu/year-of-rail/e…

https://twitter.com/EuroCelt/status/1362044729735716869

But they have put a banner on the Charlemagne Building in Brussels. So that's all right then! 🤷‍♂️

https://twitter.com/EuroCelt/status/1362044729735716869

Sure, trying to do this during a pandemic is not simple. Trying to run a "European Year of [whatever]" is not easy either. But this all looks very half hearted to me. And I am a rail nerd for goodness sake.

What hope this reaches anyone who isn't?

/ends

(Also - as I have been asked about it - there are at least 2 shots of VL10 locomotives in the film that are broad gauge en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VL10 and inc. one in the *current* Russian Railways RZD livery)

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Jon Worth

@jonworth

17 Feb

The most annoying thing about tweeting about 🚅?

Trainsplaining

It's not ill intentioned, but don't you think that if I am writing about night trains in Europe... I might have encountered ÖBB's NightJets already? 🤔

And yes, I don't work in the rail industry. There are loads of technical things I do not know, and cannot know, and I am super happy to learn those - and loads of nerds help me enormously with that - dozens of those people are on Twitter and they're ace

But as far as any lay person goes then I think I have a pretty good understanding of what is going on... much of it has been written up here as well:
jonworth.eu/category/trans…

Read 4 tweets

Jon Worth

@jonworth

15 Feb

@Koelschlenny

Is there a list of *all* the infra projects needed to make #Deutschlandtakt by 2030 a reality? I am struggling a bit... Do you know @Koelschlenny @elba013 @vorortanleiter @Schienenallianz @bladewing678 ?

There's a huge list here:
deutschlandtakt.de/news-und-downl…

But these are surely not all *necessary* (although they're all being planned)

This explains why new infra is needed, but doesn't say *what* exactly
allianz-pro-schiene.de/themen/infrast…

Bundesverkehrswegeplan 2030 has a load more projects, but again no clarity
bvwp-projekte.de/map_railroad_2…

Read 6 tweets

Jon Worth

@jonworth

15 Feb

As arguments about the interplay between the NI Protocol and TCA rumble on, it's time for a kind of typology of solutions

These are:
1️⃣ Turn-a-blind-eye
2️⃣ All-UK
3️⃣ Build-the-infrastructure

A quick 🧵

1️⃣ Turn-a-blind-eye

Example:
"Gove asks EU for extension of NI Protocol grace periods to 2023"
uk.news.yahoo.com/gove-asks-eu-e…

Basically everything agreed is too hard to do, grace periods to be extended long beyond April

Leads to legal uncertainty

Typical quote:
Michael Gove "It does not threaten the integrity of the EU single market to have bulbs ordered from a wholesaler in Scotland or England which will then be planted in a garden in Belfast or Ballymena."

Read 11 tweets

Jon Worth

@jonworth

12 Feb

https://twitter.com/sleeping_train/status/1359933250660089857

This tweet about night trains in 🇫🇷 gained quite some traction this morning

And sure, night trains are *good*

But we need to be a little more clear headed than that

A 🧵

https://twitter.com/sleeping_train/status/1359933250660089857

First of all, night trains only really make sense for routes that most people would not try to accomplish in the daytime by 🚅

Paris-Brive, Paris-Clermont F, Lyon-Toulouse are all under 5 hours by daytime train. These will not work as night train connections

Second, that you *could* theoretically run a train at night does not necessarily mean you should

Paris-Albi for example is 7 hours daytime train, because the infra is lousy. And you can drive it faster

Read 12 tweets

Jon Worth

@jonworth

11 Feb

First they came for the 🐟

And John Redwood said the 🇬🇧 fishing industry would adjust

Then they came for the 🐖 farmers and 🐷 exports

And they said don't worry, it's just teething problems

Next they came for the 🦪 exporters

And there the Minister wrote a letter saying 🇪🇺 was wrong, when his officials knew 🇪🇺 was right

Read 13 tweets

Jon Worth

@jonworth

8 Feb

@hanskundnani

I've been pointed towards this by @hanskundnani by @MaryFitzger - entitled "What does it mean to be “pro-European” today?" While there is something to it, I think it mixes up different terms, and hence it's not quite right... This 🧵 will explain

newstatesman.com/world/2021/02/…

1/13

I am also of course aware the title might not be Hans's choice...

The first issue is a basic one: to be a European, or to be a pro-European, are not - in my view - the same things

2/13

I will happily call myself a European, but not a pro-European (although plenty would describe *me* as the latter), because pro-European leads us to looking at the European Union in terms of more or less of it, rather than the individual policy outcomes it can produce

3/13

Read 13 tweets

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