And here’s Zoltán Ádám Németh in front of the new Szeged tram train
Also this tram train is a bit of brilliant design - it has a gently sloping two level floor - so it’s step free at both tram and rail platforms
Off go yesterday’s postcards to @AdinaValean and one of my supporters
This is where political will gets you. The renovated Szeged 🇭🇺 - Subotica 🇷🇸 line. Just needs the overhead wires now! Cc @fabianvendrig@EUWB6_TCT
My train is here
Ūjszeged
I’ll post all the data about the trains later. But for now I’m just enjoying the absurdity of all of this here. It’s joyous. I’m chatting to one of the three fellow passengers who speaks German.
Deszk Hbf
I’ve been on worse
Some of the stations here show this line once was a little more important.
And there it goes… I leave the railbus at Nagylak, to then 🚲 to Nadlac in 🇷🇴
Nagylak
The road border. It’s grim and smells of piss.
I’m glad it’s only a very short cycle!
You know you’re in Romania when there’s Piata Unirii
And it’s so good to be back in Romania. My first Interrail trip in 1999 took me here. And I’ve been returning on and off ever since. Great place for railway adventures…
Waiting room. Nadlac
And I’ve got some wonderful photos and film of the Arad-Nadlac train arriving at Nadlac. But the train guard ticked me off for taking them so I’ll post them later on, once I’m off the train! For now this one will do
And Nadlac-Arad is I think by some distance the most bizarre train ride I’ve ever taken. Just wait for the videos once I’m off this one!
Pro tip: wear glasses while on the Nadlac - Arad train. The bushes overgrow the line and branch’s and leaves fly through the open windows and doors!
* - branches
You could just about imagine if were the faded window of the Trans Europ Express 🙃
A classic Romanian rail scene at Arad
My window for the next 3 hours
The Regio Calatori Arad-Nadlac service arrives at Nadlac
And here’s today’s route map - finally remembered to post it!
#CrossBorderRail BONUS! Tram Train
Line 1 Szeged, Széchenyi tér - Anna-kút
Ave speed: no idea, not high!
Operator: MÁV
Train type: Stadler tram train
⚡️ here, also runs on ⛽️
🚲: ✅
🦽: ✅ (step free for 30cm and 55cm platforms)
📶: ❓ (no idea, didn’t have time!)
🍽: ⛔️
#CrossBorderRail Train 117
37047 11:57 Ujszeged - Nagylak 13:08
Ave speed: 40 km/h
Operator: MÁV
Train type: Class 117 Bzmot railbus (version with air con! ❄️)
⛽️
🚲: ❓ (not officially, but 1 guy got a bike on)
🦽: ⛔️
📶: ⛔️
🍽: ⛔️
#CrossBorderRail Train 118
R 11208 15:56 Nadlac - Arad 17:34
Ave speed: 32 km/h
Operator: Regio Călători
Train type: ex-SNCF Class X 4500 Caravelle
⛽️
🚲: ✅ (luggage area, can load bikes there)
🦽: ⛔️
📶: ⛔️
🍽: ⛔️
Train type: Electroputere locomotive & carriages
⚡️
🚲: ❓ (pretty sure there’d be space somewhere, but not obvious)
🦽: ❓ (likewise not obvious, would need a lift)
📶: ⛔️
🍽: ⛔️
And some photos from earlier…
Here a drone shot at Szeged - the red line shows where the rail bridge between Szeged and Újszeged used to be - it lost importance in 1919, and was destroyed in 1945
This video starts to the left of the bridge pic in the previous tweet, and the station can be seen, and then pans around
The challenge - were a bridge to be (re-)built here would be the buildings in the way
There is also the demand for a road bridge here - maybe combine them?
That means that for the moment Újszeged feels very abandoned… because it doesn’t really connect to anywhere anyone would want to go!
Further eastwards the line to Cenad (RO) used to branch off, that then would have connected Szeged to the regional centre Timisoara. But since 1919 these are in separate countries… You can see a bit of the old track bed on Google Satellite
Nagylak - the Hungarian station closest to the border - has a nice old station, rather overgrown now
Nadlac - the Romanian village - is a more substantial place
Nadlac station - old sleepers made into a basic platform
The Caravelle DMU. Built in Crespin 🇫🇷 in 1968! And that, I presume, is the same plant - now owned by Alstom - I passed between Valenciennes and Quiévrain on Day 1 of the project when visiting @ERA_railways
I’d wondered when I boarded why there were leaves on the floor…
And that means as no one has cut the bushes everything flies in!
And here you can see it a bit better! Clear section, then the bushes come…
Anyway, after the slightly strange trip to Arad, I have now boarded the next train - a night train bound for Mangalia at the Black Sea. I just have a seat, because I am going only as far as Simeria - a 3 hour trip
And the Astra Trans Carpatic night train was also parked up at Arad
Meanwhile my train is crawling through the Romanian countryside as loads of track works are ongoing here. In a year or two this will be a pretty efficient route - but it isn’t yet!
Train vs a Dacia on gravel. We win, just.
Deva. 50 minutes late… Luckily this is my final train today. Then a bike ride to my hotel in Simeria shortly.
Getting ready to unfold the Birdy before arriving Simeria, and people board the train there - on their way to beach holidays at Constanta or Mangalia. Quick cycle to my B&B that’s *impeccable* and they serve me a cold Ursus 🍺
Oops. This is what the back of my t-shirt looks like after a day of #CrossBorderRail through a heatwave! Thankfully tomorrow it’s 10°c cooler…
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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*