Thread by @jonworth

Welcome to Day 40 #CrossBorderRail Bratislava - Wien - Liberec - Berlin. The final day of the main project! twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

So that wasn’t the best video start to the day - bombed by a wasp at Bratislava!

But the cycle to the station took me past this - the Slovak Radio Building 😍

Bratislava hl. st.

And a kebab baguette? No I didn’t partake

#CrossBorderRail Train 139
REX 8 (2535) 06:37 Bratislava - Wien Hbf 07:44
Ave speed: 58 km/h
Operator: @unsereoebb & ŽSSK

Train type: @SiemensMobility Hercules & 4 carriages
⛽️
🚲: ✅ (and lots on board!)
🦽: ✅ (needs a ramp or lift)
📶: ✅ (in some carriages)
🍽: ⛔️

And there it is! Slovakia-Austria, crossing the Morava at Marchegg. Every internal border of the EU you can cross by train now crossed in #CrossBorderRail 💪

Upgrade works ongoing here - some stations still to be completed. But a S-Bahn train at Marchegg is a sign of what’s to come. Because this is @unsereOEBB and Austria’s government @lgewessler you know it’s going to work impeccably once done

Lots of wind farms when arriving in Austria

Here’s today’s route map. I’m into Austria now. I’m crossing Czechia via Kolín and Liberec, and then crossing into Poland for a couple of kilometres to get to Zittau, then there’s a tiny slice of Czechia again between there and Dresden. The aim: Berlin Hbf at 20:42!

20 mins until my connecting train… and we’re stopped approaching Wien Hbf. Only one track available apparently. Please, please I don’t want this to mess up at the start of the final day of #CrossBorderRail!

Got the connecting train. But it is now late leaving Wien Hbf…

#CrossBorderRail Train 140
EC 104 08:10 Wien Hbf - Breclav 09:04
Ave speed: 99 km/h
Operator: @unsereOEBB, @ceskedrahy_ & PKP Intercity

Train type: @SiemensMobility 1216 locomotive, carriages
⚡️
🚲: ✅
🦽: ✅ (needs a ramp or lift)
📶: ⛔️ (perhaps in other carriages?)
🍽: ✅

CO2 PPM more or less direct out of the air con on the EuroCity. It’s in a compartment, the carriage is about 1/4 full. I’d need to do a lot more readings to make sense of this.

All I know so far:
- load matters (busier trains worse)
- design matters (some trains - even at high load - do better than others)

And I’m glad to have the CO2 meter with me!

#CrossBorderRail Train 141
EC 280 09:07 Breclav - Kolín 11:57
Ave speed: 90 km/h
Operator: @ceskedrahy_ & MÁV

Train type: ČD @siemensmobility Vectron & MÁV carriages
⚡️
🚲: ✅ (with eBike charging)
🦽: ✅ (needs a ramp or lift)
📶: ❓ (supposed to be, wasn’t working)
🍽: ✅

#CrossBorderRail Train 142
R 869 12:30 Kolín - Pardubice 12:55
Ave speed: 107 km/h (this really shifts - impressive)
Operator: @ceskedrahy_

Train type: Škoda InterPanter
⚡️
🚲: ✅
🦽: ✅ (step free)
📶: ✅
🍽: ⛔️

Also I was in the @_DiningCar and came back to my seat to find the fire alarm blaring. Everyone was just sat there… Why did they not go and find the guard? I did, and they stopped it. I think it was a defect, not someone smoking.

Warning: flash photography

Oh and this InterPanter has a very simple laptop support system on the tables. Clever. Not likely to break.

Also do Hungarians have very heavy babies?

Impeccable locomotive at Hradec Králové

Germans call this type „Tauchbrille“ - “Diving mask”

#CrossBorderRail Train 143
ARV 1068 13:03 Pardubice hl. n. - Liberec 15:53
Ave speed: 57 km/h
Operator: ARRIVA vlaky

Train type: ex-DB class 628 DMU
⚡️
🚲: ✅
🦽: ❓ (labelled wheelchair is possible, no idea where it goes. No accessible toilet)
📶: ✅
🍽: ⛔️

These Arriva Vlaky ex-DB class 628s are like putting lipstick on a pig. Not accessible. Bumpy ride (because track isn’t great). Not sure if there’s supposed to be air con, but air is grim.

Forgot to post these from Pardubice earlier. The mural! 😍

Builder’s plates. 1987.

Clouds gathering at Turnov. My train is Arriva service to Liberec. The elderly ČD kind of push-pull DMU power car and carriages on the left is for Prague.

But nothing is moving. We’re waiting for tracks to clear. Everything is rather fragile around here - lots of single track

Tip when travelling on these Arriva Vlaky trains (or any DB class 628). There’s 1 carriage with a motor (ringed in orange - has this kind of low hanging bodywork) - this carriage is noisy. Go for the unpowered one - it’s much quieter.

OMG 😳

This tiny bit of route through Poland between Liberec 🇨🇿 and Zittau 🇩🇪. The track is *knackered*

I am still shaking my head at this one. There’s *nothing* on that bit of track through Poland there. Just 1 level crossing. Solving this one is so *absurdly* simple. Get your damned acts together 🇨🇿 🇵🇱 🇩🇪 - and up the line speed to 80 or 100km/h!

#CrossBorderRail Train 144
TLX RE2 (20852) 16:28 Liberec - Zittau 18:22
Ave speed: 67 km/h
Operator: trilex-express - Die Länderbahn GmbH

Train type: @SiemensMobility Desiro Classic DMU
⛽️
🚲: ✅
🦽: ✅ (Step free)
📶: ❓ (In theory, but it’s not working)
🍽: ⛔️

Video from behind the driver crossing the tiny sliver of Poland. The grass. The bumps. The slow speed. This is genuinely one of the most absurd cross border cases I’ve found!

Ooops. Almost in Czechia again 😅

And this was a final bit of Czechia did today - but unlike the earlier slice of Poland the line is normal here

And that’s it… just Germany from now on!

Plenty of rolling hills of Central Europe today!

„Verspätung im Ausland“ - oder besser gesagt unsere Datenaustausch ist Scheisse

#CrossBorderRail Train 145
EC 170 19:02 Dresden Neustadt - Berlin Hbf (tief) 21:24
Ave speed: 117 km/h
Operator: @db_bahn & @ceskedrahy_

Train type: @SiemensMobility Vectron & 8 carriages
⚡️
🚲: ✅
🦽: ✅ (needs a ramp or lift)
📶: ✅
🍽: ✅

It’s taking me HOME! 🎉

And now we‘ve got police on board dealing with something at Dresden Neustadt… Damn I’ve had everything with delays these past days!

Prost! 🍺

At least there’s Pilsner Urquell in the @_DiningCar

Now 40 min late leaving Dresden Neustadt

Bit of #rearwindow approaching Berlin

Almost there 😃