Latest Twitter Threads by @jonworth on Thread Reader App

Dec 11, 2022 • 8 tweets • 5 min read

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 ⛔️

Dec 10, 2022 • 12 tweets • 5 min read

Signal failure south of Fulda. Looks like I could miss the event in Mons I’m organising 😭

https://twitter.com/jonworth/status/1601427369192935424

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…

Dec 1, 2022 • 16 tweets • 10 min read

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

Nov 30, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read

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.

Nov 17, 2022 • 5 tweets • 2 min read

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?

Nov 12, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read

😭 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*?

Nov 9, 2022 • 13 tweets • 4 min read

So you’re concerned about the impact of the Musk takeover of Twitter?

And you’ve heard about Mastodon as an alternative, and want to know quickly and easily how to make a start there?

This is the 🧵 for you ⚠️ What you need to start ⚠️

ALL of this works better in a web browser on a regular computer than it does on a mobile or a tablet. So *start* there

You’ll need access to your email, and about 10 minutes to do all of this

Nov 6, 2022 • 9 tweets • 2 min read

OK, let me explain this one in some more detail

I am not that much of a fan of building high speed lines, but the one I sketch in green on the map here - I call it LGV France-Allemagne - would make a lot of sense

I will explain it in the 🧵

https://twitter.com/jonworth/status/1589218709847298048

First the credit: @nicohuurman was the one who suggested this solution to me

And this is based on what I saw on the ground this autumn when I cycled from Rastatt 🇩🇪 to Roeschwoog 🇫🇷 - you can find those tweets here:

https://twitter.com/jonworth/status/1571082936669327363

Nov 4, 2022 • 13 tweets • 3 min read

The new #49EuroTicket for regional public transport in Germany is good news!

But how it will work, and who and when it can be purchased, has caused some confusion

So I have made a FAQ about it in English on my blog 👇
jonworth.eu/germanys-49-eu…

Summary in the 🧵 What is the 49 Euro Ticket?

It is a flat rate public transport ticket – for 49 Euro you can travel on all local and regional buses, trams, metros, S-Bahn and regional trains for 1 calendar month in the whole of Germany.

Oct 23, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read

Another thing…

Tory MPs send nominations to 1922 Committee, but AFAIK the 1922 will only publish the final totals, not the names of nominees

Is it possible Tory MPs say publicly they’ll back Johnson, but in private actually nominate Sunak?

So Johnson needs >110 publicly? Declaring for Johnson - publicly - might serve two purposes

It keeps local members - who lean towards Johnson - happy. And Johnson is mendacious, so will more strongly reward only backers than Sunak or Mordaunt

Wdyt @patrickjfl @robfordmancs @ProfTimBale @SnellArthur ?

Oct 21, 2022 • 12 tweets • 3 min read

My diagrams are back!

Not sure if this is 🎉 or 😢 or 😡 but hey ho, this Tory leadership contest only lasts a week

And we all want to know: who is going to win! #Toryleadership

So here’s my effort to work that out…

Explanations in the 🧵

All versions of these diagrams, calculations will be available at:
jonworth.eu/nextprimeminis…

Version 1.0.0, headline figures
Sunak - 4️⃣3️⃣% chance
Johnson - 3️⃣4️⃣% chance
Mordaunt - 1️⃣3️⃣% chance
Someone else - 2️⃣% chance
Chaos as procedure rendered invalid - 7️⃣% chance

Oct 20, 2022 • 10 tweets • 2 min read

OK, a quick 🧵 on #ToryLeadership permutations

This isn’t about what I want to happen, or what ethically should happen, but is about what could well actually happen - basically there are no value judgments in here The Q: which MPs that could stand will get 100 nominations?

Sunak - highly likely
Johnson - possible (he’s already at 41)
Mordaunt - probably

Wallace probably doesn’t want to run - and that’d be to Sunak’s advantage

Braverman, Badenoch: unlikely to get 100

Oct 18, 2022 • 14 tweets • 5 min read

I’ve spent a *lot* of time on railway issues in the past 18 months, but I am not really a railway person. I have never worked in the rail industry

That means I have many 🤯 moments when reading the rail trade press

A 🧵 on decrypting rail stories

Let me present Kevin Speed

First, no, this is not a joke

This is not 1st April

Someone is genuinely proposing to build a railway company called Kevin Speed

But it’s important to bear in mind: there are lots of really *weird* plans and names in rail. Who calls a train FLIRT, seriously? Anyway I digress

Oct 15, 2022 • 11 tweets • 2 min read

There’s a question implicitly being asked in UK politics just now: how could Britain end up with someone so obviously ill suited to the job of Prime Minister as Liz Truss? And is she even intelligent?

I think I can partially explain it For the record: I’ve never met Liz Truss. I have however met and worked with a bunch of notionally successful politicians in the UK and elsewhere over twenty years

Oct 12, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read

TGV Paris-BCN (train 9713) now - takes 6 hours 40 mins, inc. planned 38 min dwell time in stations

From 11 Dec Paris-BCN (still train 9713, amended timetable) - takes 6 hours 56 min, inc. planned 36 mins dwell time

How? 🤯
10 mins more Girona-BCN
7 mins more Paris-Valence

https://twitter.com/lopezestape/status/1580108158693179393

Here’s the full calculation

And you can get all the times - inc. interim stops - here sncf.com/fr/itineraire-… (put dates before or after 11 December)

Oct 10, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read

I’ve tied myself in a bit of a knot

I am now known enough in EU rail circles to be invited to chair panels at events

However I’m currently earning ZERO from rail advocacy, so finding €125 for Thalys home from that event is tricky… and the “pay” to chair is free attendance And to those saying “if they want your time they should pay”, the response sadly is no, not really. Organisers would find loads of people who could replace me who’d have all their costs covered by their employers in the rail industry… so it’s at my costs, or not at all.

Oct 10, 2022 • 6 tweets • 3 min read

Why French rail needs better timetables, part 6242639

These are the times for Paris-Lille trains on Monday 14 November, across the morning and lunchtime

If you think *only* about Paris-Lille this sort of makes sense… More trains for commuter peaks

But what if Paris-Lille is only one part of your journey, and you need connections?

My trip is Nuits-sous-Ravières (2 hours south of Paris) to Bruges (90 mins north of Lille) on that day

And I need to be in Brugge by 13:15 or so

And so it all breaks down…

Oct 10, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read

Sorted Nuits-sous-Ravières 🇫🇷 - København 🇩🇰 🚆🎟 to go to @europeangreens Congress 1 Dec

7 🚆 (Nuits-Montbard-Paris-Mannheim-Neumünster-Flensburg-Fredericia-Kbh)

⏰ 18 hours 40 mins

💻 2 bookings, giving me 4 tickets

🤪 trick needed to save €€€ by avoiding BXL / Thalys Booked Nuits-sous-Ravières - Neumünster with @SNCB_Int for €82.50 - gave 3 tickets (Nuits-Montbard-Paris, Paris-Mannheim, Mannheim-Neumünster)

Hamburg - København H with @DB_Bahn 1 ticket €30.65 *

Seat reservation Mannheim-Neumünster €4.50 from @DB_Bahn as SNCB charges €6

Oct 4, 2022 • 15 tweets • 2 min read

I see tweets saying Liz Truss’s premiership is already “done” and that she might not even see out the year

But a serious question: HOW is it going to end?

Theories in the 🧵 RESIGNATION

Truss sees the game is up and resigns

Her ego might not be quite the size of Johnson’s, but it’s still quite large, although you can see the pressure of the last week has started to tell…

Oct 1, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read

The last time I took Jadran Ekspres - to Budva in 2019 - it was massively delayed and grim. The bus hasn’t changed, but maybe I have better luck today, off season? Only as far as Herceg Novi today

It’s funny. A person from the bus station, not the bus firm, checks tickets. She speaks decent English. Passengers in front ask “can you tell me the bus times Kotor back to Dubrovnik?” “No! Other country!” she says. She must be asked this *every single day* 🙂

Sep 27, 2022 • 15 tweets • 6 min read

Why does it have to be so “Great”?

Starmer today proposed to form

Great British Energy

Story 👇
msn.com/en-gb/news/ukn…

A quick 🧵, inspired by @Mattio_mattioli

This follows on the heels of

Great British Railways

Background 👇
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Bri…

Share this page!

Enter URL or ID to Unroll