Share this page!

Jon Worth Profile picture
Twitter logo
12 Jul, 7 tweets, 3 min read
For some time I have been annoyed there is no discernible strategy for 🇪🇺-wide cross border rail
jonworth.eu/long-distance-…

I am not sure I have all the answers yet... but I think I am starting to get there

Short 🧵
First, an idea I first floated on my blog - that the EU ought to procure a pool of night trains - I have now developed into the @TrainsForEurope campaign

Original blog post from September 2020 👇
jonworth.eu/how-could-the-…
Second, timetable and ticketing data remains a mess (and the Rail Passenger Rights Regulation has not improved matters)

How do you solve this one? With some better open data standards

Blog post from November 2019 👇
jonworth.eu/how-a-little-o…
Third, how do you organise the timetables for all of this? Think of a "Europatakt" - based on the clock-face timetables in Switzerland and Austria, and Germany (forthcoming)

Blog post from February 2021 👇
jonworth.eu/europatakt-a-v…
Fourth, how do you deal with the rolling stock shortage? At the very least the EU should place a blanket ban on scrapping trains

Blog post from April 2021 👇
jonworth.eu/the-eu-should-…
Fifth, we all need to have a better overview of what is happening at which border, and why - so an annual cross border rail index could help with that

Blog post from today 👇
jonworth.eu/an-annual-cros…
If the #EUyearofrail is to mean anything, and the #ConnectingEurope express to be anything more than a publicity stunt, these are the things that need addressing in passenger rail at the very least

How about it, @Transport_EU?

/ends

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Jon Worth

Jon Worth Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @jonworth

Jon Worth Profile picture
13 Jul
There are many things I don’t understand about railways in France

One is how they name their stations

Some examples in the 🧵
Chambéry station - an important regional junction - is called

Chambéry-Challes-les-Eaux

Because there’s a bit of town (NOT the bit where the station is!) called that. 🤷‍♂️ ImageImage
Aix-les-Bains

Station is called Aix-les-Bains-le-Revard because of course you need to add the name of the hills next to town to your station name 🤷‍♂️ ImageImage
Read 7 tweets
Jon Worth Profile picture
12 Jul
When something goes wrong with cross-border rail in Europe - like Thello cancelling the Paris-Venezia night trains - there are howls of anguish, but little systematic action

Here I propose a way forward: an annual EU cross border rail index 👇
jonworth.eu/an-annual-cros…
This is part motivated by the excellent work done by @EuCyclistsFed with their bikes on trains report - we now know much better what does and doesn't work!

We need to do the same for cross border rail!
So rather than @BackOnTrackEU bemoaning Thello's demise, and @seatsixtyone trying to explain to his readers how to cross the FR-IT border with a much reduced service, an annual index would give a systematic insight into what's getting better and worse
Read 5 tweets
Jon Worth Profile picture
12 Jul
Right, it's taken a while longer to finish than I'd hoped, but my report about what's happening to the railways in Serbia 🇷🇸 is done 👇
jonworth.eu/how-to-repair-…

#BerlinBeogradBerlin

Summary in the 🧵
First, the eyewitness experience

The Subotica - Novi Sad train is probably the worst train I have ever taken, as the infrastructure is so bad. Closing the line to upgrade here makes sense... ImageImageImageImage
Second, Serbia's rail upgrade plans

Whether all of these plans will happen, and on time, is the big question, but the plans themselves make a lot of sense - there is a solid logic here ImageImage
Read 7 tweets
Jon Worth Profile picture
9 Jul
So the Thello night train Paris-Venice is no more

@BackOnTrackEU are rightly bemoaning its demise

But what *COULD* be done to solve this problem? And indeed many problems like this with absent night train services?

A 🧵
Paris-Milan-Venice (recently abandoned by Thello) and Paris-Rome (previously abandoned by Thello) are similar to Paris-Madrid and Paris-Barcelona (abandoned years ago by SNCF-Renfe)
In all cases the state owned rail firms (SNCF, Renfe, Trenitalia) would prefer to run high speed daytime trains, than slower, less profitable night trains

But that means rail's overall market share suffers, as rail firms focus on profitability of international routes instead
Read 9 tweets
Jon Worth Profile picture
7 Jul
Also you'd *think* the Labour Party would be all over the truck driver shortage issue...

@JimfromOldham is Shadow Transport Minister
HGVs?
Trucks?
Read 9 tweets
Jon Worth Profile picture
7 Jul
Based on the @EuCyclistsFed discussion on bikes on trains...

If I were to make a Berlin-Hamburg combined 🚲🚅 day trip, what would be the best bet?

I *think* it'd be:
Own 🚲 from home to Berlin Hbf
🚅 Berlin Hbf - Hamburg Hbf
Hire 🚲 to my destination in Hamburg

But... a 🧵
My first problem is in Berlin

Cycle parking at Berlin Hbf is lousy, and at Berlin Südkreuz (nearest long distance station to my home) it's only fractionally better - would I leave my decent bike there?

At my local S-Bahn station (Hermannstrasse) - forget it
I could instead use a hire bike to get to Berlin Hbf, but that's a bit strange...

Or I could theoretically take my own bike to Hamburg on the train... but that's not simple, as not all the trains on that route convey bikes
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @jonworth has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @jonworth!

Read all threads by @jonworth

:(