Ok here we go. Berlin Hermannstrasse S-Bahn. Trains are disrupted. But I should still get to Spandau in time for my ICE.
Here’s today’s route map
Hmmm. This isn’t starting well. No live data for a ICE is never good. And for mobility reduced passengers it’s even worse…
Also note the price here - it’s €129 if you walk up and get on. But I booked 13 May and paid €32,90, 1st class, for a ticket Berlin-Offenburg-Kehl (with BC25). That’s a super price I think! I’m only using Interrail for the France part today.
This morning’s obligatory Wolfsburg pic. Inc. an electric van built by… StreetScooter I think!
(I am on a ICE that’s currently running on time. For the first time in *ages*. Ok, I still have to pass Frankfurt and Mannheim today, so loads can still go very wrong, but for now it’s really nice. As it’s supposed to be!)
The air in the ICE meanwhile is not great. The air con is blasting air out from the vents in the roof, but I assume it’s circulating air, not drawing in new from outside.
#CrossBorderRail wouldn’t be possible without the old Birdy bike that’s taking me across the borders at the places where trains no longer run!
Kassel Wilhelmshöhe. I don’t like the late 1980s architecture (it finally opened in 1991), but this station on the Hannover-Würzburg high speed line works for the city in a way pretty much no dedicated high speed station in France does… Background: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kassel-Wi…
Sadly on the wrong side of the ICE arriving in Frankfurt (Main). The Main is nice nevertheless!
My ICE is 14 mins late leaving Mannheim. Meaning I’ll miss my connection at 12:35 in Offenburg for Strasbourg. Which means I’ll miss the 13:36 TGV to Lyon…
The problem is there’s no way to book this trip with 1 ticket. DB will sell it in 1 transaction, but with 2 tickets… that means no through passenger rights
There is an alternative - to take a later TER from Strasbourg to Mulhouse, pick up a TGV towards Paris there, and catch up my TGV in Dijon - 2nd option in this screenshot
The problem is I’m not formally allowed to do that… not least as the TGV between Mulhouse and Dijon is compulsory reservation
But I’ve also likely not got time to go to a ticket office in Strasbourg or Mulhouse
But there ARE spare seats on the Mulhouse - Dijon TGV (that’s operated by Lyria) so I’m going to chance it - get on and go find the train manager an explain. And see what happens
#CrossBorderRail Train 42
SWE 87432 13:05 Offenburg - Strasbourg 13:36
Ave speed: 55 km/h
Operator: SWEG / bwegt
Train type: RS1 Regio Shuttle
⛽️ (even though whole line is ⚡️)
🚲: ✅
🦽: ✅ (just about step free German side)
📶: ✅
🍽: ⛔️
Well I never! Run a cross border train every 30 mins… and people use it!
Problem is it’s only 2 railbuses, so it’s standing room only in here
Kehl. The last station German side…
There’s life in the old legs yet!
Quick sprint across Strasbourg station (it helps I know the station well!) and I’m onto the right TGV with 30 secs to spare 💪
Thanks @Lenny_du_Nord for the extra timetable info - about how the train from Offenburg can arrive early. It did!
📸 Boris Arbogast - TGV Réseau n°512 - Gare de Strasbourg - 18.12.2015 - BY-NC-ND
And sorry to not be able to have a pic of my own of the TGV, but I was running to jump on
But given how *insanely long* the dwell times are at all the interim stops I ought to be able to hop out at one of them!
TGV: fast when it runs, very slow at stations…
Thanks to @coco_rennes & @partialcontent I was wrong above - this 8 carriage TGV can convey 4 bikes, in this small second class area… that’s at the end of the first 1st class coach. It’s better than it used to be!
Easily the fastest speed on #CrossBorderRail so far… LGV Rhin-Rhône approaching Besançon Franche Comté TGV
Dijon. This is the closest I get to #Ravières on #CrossBorderRail. No detour to say hello to Josette today!
Meanwhile a new passenger has got on, sitting in front of me, and is coughing a lot. No mask. Ugggghh.
I’ve taken refuge in the bar. And there’s a woman here, confused. “Ce train ne va pas à Paris?” Eh, non. That’s why it’s marked Nice Ville at every door, and that’s the other way from Paris. Oh and she had 20 mins to work it out in Dijon! 😆
Bourgogne time lapse
I don’t really like the bar on TGVs as a @_DiningCar but the high windows are perfect if you want to stand and look out and you’re over about 1m 70 tall!
As my train nears Lyon, a few thoughts about what I’m doing there…
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!
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
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 😉
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*