Jon Worth Profile picture
Dec 18, 2021 15 tweets 9 min read Read on X
So this afternoon I wondered... what happened to those "Missing Links" in the European rail network Micheal Cramer used to write about when he was a MEP?

Cramer's 2015 map as a PDF is here 👇
michael-cramer.eu/fileadmin/docu…

And there's a 2018 update here 👇
michael-cramer.eu/fileadmin/docu… Image
In this thread I'll steadily examine each of the 15 borders in turn... and over the next few days! 🙂
First up it's border 1

Mõisakü 🇪🇪 - Ipiki 🇱🇻

This is what Cramer says ImageImage
But on Open Railway Map there is nothing anywhere near!

Same on Latvian Railways site, and on the Estonian side you can just get as far as Pärnu

Any ideas here @briedisunrepshe @moritzkraehe?

How far do operable freight lines go here? ImageImage
Honestly strikes me that this one is useless. Even getting a cross border service running on the main line via Valga would be progress just now!
Border 2

Givet 🇫🇷 - Dinant 🇧🇪

This is what Cramer says - inc. an update in 2018, saying reactivating the rail line is not possible...

But 🥁 FR and BE now agree to reopen this one! Without any date by which to do it though...
railjournal.com/freight/france… ImageImageImage
Border 3

Dunkerque 🇫🇷 - De Panne 🇧🇪

This is what Cramer says

But there is no news about this one. FR and BE instead want to look at Mons-Valenciennes

Question to French and Belgian rail nerds here - which of these lines makes more sense to re-open? ImageImage
Border 4

Kleve 🇩🇪 - Nijmegen 🇳🇱

This is what Cramer says ImageImage
Today this is a cross border Draisine! The lines hence in part still exist. In 2018 it looked like reactivation would not work rp-online.de/nrw/staedte/kl…

This one is really close to Emmerich 🇩🇪 - Arnhem 🇳🇱 line. How strong is the case to even reactivate this one? ImageImage
Border 5

Rechnitz 🇦🇹 - Szombathely 🇭🇺

This is what Cramer says (inc. a 2018 update) ImageImageImage
Again here I struggle with this one

The line further south from Graz to Szentgotthárd connects to Szombathely, and now even has a Budapest-Ljubljana EuroCity that uses the route

Even the lines Austrian side are only branchlines

Sure it'd be nice. Is it economic? Image
Border 6

Selb-Plößberg 🇩🇪 - Aš 🇨🇿

This is what Cramer says (inc. a 2018 update) ImageImageImage
🎉

This is true! This re-opened!

And there's a delightful 🇩🇪🇨🇿🇩🇪 service here Image
Border 7

Waldkirchen 🇩🇪 - Nové Údolí 🇨🇿

This is what Cramer says (inc. a 2018 update) ImageImageImage
There's a bit part of the DE-CZ border here without any cross border rail

But even Passau-Freyung struggles to survive. Before closure Waldkirchen - Nové Údolí was in a bad state. Again this one looks really questionable to me...

(also that's all today - I'll resume tomorrow) Image

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More from @jonworth

Dec 11, 2022
This morning I’m one of the first new regional trains Maubeuge 🇫🇷 - Charleroi Central 🇧🇪 #CrossBorderRail
It was a bit of a #fail at the station. I needed a ticket to Erquelinnes, the first station in Belgium. But prior to today trains from Maubeuge didn’t stop there!

Ticket machine ⛔️
Ask at the ticket office. “Le train ne s’arrête pas à Erquelinnes!” I politely told the SNCF employee that yes, it did stop at Erquelinnes. I explained the situation to the SNCB train manager and he laughed, confirmed it did stop there, and I bought the ticket online!
Read 8 tweets
Dec 10, 2022
Signal failure south of Fulda. Looks like I could miss the event in Mons I’m organising 😭
Delays in my favour. Maybe? S-Bahn to FFM Flughafen. Get a late running ICE to Köln Messe/Deutz there. Then try to blag my way onto a Thalys Köln Hbf to Bruxelles? It’s a long shot but it might work…
ICE 612 Frankfurt Flughafen to Köln Messe/Deutz.

This is why accurate live running data in apps matters. Were this not running 10 min late I’d not have caught it… but live data allowed me to plan a connection that’d otherwise not work
Read 12 tweets
Dec 1, 2022
Already on the 2nd train of the day: TGV Montbard - Paris. All being well I’ll be in Denmark tonight… but that feels a long way off just now! #EGPCongress #crossborderrail
Across Paris RER Gare de Lyon to Gare du Nord, walk to Gare de l’Est (faster than changing into a Métro to Est) and it’s onto the TGV to Mannheim. So far so good, but I banked on this bit working 🙂 #EGPCongress #CrossBorderRail
Franco-German train service. Very French prices! And no, it’s too early (and expensive) for #beerontrains 😉
Read 16 tweets
Nov 30, 2022
Tomorrow hundreds of delegates - myself included (from 🇫🇷) - will start their trip to @europeangreens congress in København

Most of us will go by 🚆
Many trips will be disrupted as railways are a mess

But there’s nothing about transport on the programme europeangreens.eu/congress2022/p…
I don’t blame @europeangreens for this, short term. They only have on their programme what member parties want.

But there isn’t the fierce debate or intellectual exchange in the Green movement about transport as there is about other issues.
Given CO2 emissions in transport are still rising (unlike in other sectors) that ought to be a matter for urgent attention from Greens.

And hell, the event is in København, a paradise for 🚲. There’d be opportunities to use that as a hook.
Read 4 tweets
Nov 17, 2022
Talking #9euroTicket at #PassengerFest - slightly frustrating that it’s DB talking about it. Other views are available 😉
“Did behaviour change in the way the government intended?” asks the moderator. Ha. Did the government even *know* what its intention was?
Oh and the DB dude is saying it was too cheap. As he would. Poorer citizens would say otherwise… zeit.de/mobilitaet/202…
Read 5 tweets
Nov 12, 2022
😭 Germany builds a high speed line through Baden-Württemberg - to speed up Stuttgart-München services

It’s been in planning for *years*

But SNCF’s TGVs used for Paris-Stuttgart-München services haven’t been updated to be compatible with the new line!

swr.de/swraktuell/bad…
Jeez. It could take until 2025 until TGVs are approved for the line.

And the whole effing point of Stuttgart21 - of which this line is a part - was to create a Paris-München high speed corridor!

Really, how can everyone mess up *so badly*?
And to those going “yeah but there are few TGVs anyway” true, but so it goes on and on. International services are the lowest priority - even when *they were the stated rationale for building the line*
Read 4 tweets

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