Independent Railway Commentator
In the Newsletter this week Analysis: The #CrossBorderRail method Bullshit Meter: Arriva NL to run international high speed trains Good week: Leo Express manages to run to Przemyśl (but there's a catch) Also a good week: Italy and Austria able to do what France and Germany
Here we go again. Arriva NL wants to run direct trains from Netherlands to France, as reported by De Dagelijkse Standaard (this week) and Treinreiziger (in July), and maybe from 2028. Yet in 2023 they said they wanted to do the same , from 2026. Then, as now, they have no
Today, finally, the first passenger trains since 1988 have crossed the border bridge between Tornio 🇫🇮 and Haparanda 🇸🇪 ( OpenRailwayMap ), services finally resuming more than a year after the border bridge was repaired and electrified. When Finnish broadcaster YLE asked me about this connection back in the spring
There's a higher chance that Scotland becomes independent, and joins the EU and Schengen, than the Caledonian Sleeper is extended through the Channel Tunnel under the current political framework. Really. I am not joking. Whatever the SNP and The Scotsman might say. I know a thing or two
In the Newsletter this week Analysis: After years of frustration, suddenly progress with France - Spain rail connections Bullshit Meter: Direct trains Trieste - Beograd Good week: A little summer holiday pause Also a good week: Electrification at Fuentes de Oñoro might be done this year Bad week: Nothing more
Italian Transport Minister Matteo Salvini went to meet President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić, and promised there would be Trieste - Beograd direct trains. There was no commitment as to when these trains would run, or whether they would be freight or passenger trains. You can read more about
Today should have been simple enough. A TER train Nuits-sous-Ravières - Paris Bercy, a TGV Paris Nord - Lille Flandres, then SNCB IC trains Lille Flandres - Kortrijk and Kortrijk - Brugge. But a half an hour out of Nuits, bang. The train hits something. I was in the first
In the Newsletter this week Analysis: Praha - Berlin - København: well at least the carriages can complete the entire journey Bullshit Meter, retrospective: Lisboa-Madrid to be a bit less painful Good week: Andorra to get a railway (well, a tram, maybe) Also a good week: New France - Italy
In the Newsletter this week Analysis: A train trip across a roasting Europe Bullshit Meter: Kyiv-Chișinău train to run every day from end of June onwards Good week: Delivery of new 200km/h IC trains for Italy Good week, possibly: Talgo has a record backlog,
When I took the Kyiv - Chișinău train last summer, I must admit it was not my best journey. Having boarded it just a few kilometres into Ukraine at Mohyliv-Podilskyi, it then crawled its way across Moldova, on a circuitous and slow route via Ungheni to
In the Newsletter this week Analysis: TGVs Bruxelles - France, the unloved other high speed train from Belgium Bullshit Meter: NS to operate trains Amsterdam - Utrecht - Germany from 2028 Good week: Trains from Luxembourg find new life in Romania Also a Good week: Stadler's first EURO DuFour locomotive for
This one was widely reported this week, and for once I think this is actually going to happen! The line from the Netherlands - Germany border to Duisburg ( OpenRailwayMap ) is currently being rebuilt, but once that is done there will be capacity to run some more trains, and at the moment
In the Newsletter this week Analysis: SNCF would sooner leave passengers stranded than make simple timetable adjustments Bullshit Meter: Beograd - Zagreb - Ljubljana trains back and faster by 2029 Good week: New Cottbus - Legnica service from December 2026 Good week, possibly: Renfe to get a new website Good journalism this week:
Observer of rail in the Balkans Fabian Vendrig sent me this story about plans to have the infrastructure in place by 2029 to be able to run a Beograd - Zagreb - Ljubljana train with a reasonable trip time , pointing to the renovation of the Ruma - Šid section in Serbia as
In the Newsletter this week Analysis: There are always more international rail lines to discover and understand Bullshit Meter, retrospective: Frecciarossa Milano-Ljubljana in 2025 Good week: Foundation of the European Rail Passengers' Union Also a good week: Record rail passenger numbers in Netherlands and Belgium Good week for