About

For more than a decade I have tried to make all of my business trips by train. And as a self employed person based with clients all over Europe that resulted in a lot of complicated journeys, and a fair amount of frustration.

But rather than simply getting annoyed about the dysfunction of the railways, since 2021 I have started to work more systematically on railway policy in the European Union. Why - if there are cross border railway problems - has the EU not stepped up to fix them? And if others are not seeking to fix these problems, what can I perhaps seek to change myself?

I launched a small campaign - Trains for Europe - to address the absence of night trains in Europe, and propose ways to solve this gap, working to address the rolling stock problems in this area that I see as central. In 2022 I crossed every internal border of the European Union you can cross by train, in one crazy summer - the #CrossBorderRail project, and that project in various ways has continued until 2025. A related project called #CrossChannelRail - about the Channel Tunnel - started in 2025.

All of my commentary about railway and transport topics is here on this site, separate from all the other politics work I have done in the past (all of that can now be found at euroblog.jonworth.eu).

Starting in January 2026, a weekly newsletter (paid subscription) about European railways has been added here. Sent every Friday, the newsletter analyses what has happened during the week - explaining what the news means, rather than just repeating industry statements. You can signup for the first four editions for free, and if you have any questions about the newsletter then contact me!

All newsletters will be made available for everyone a month after they are published. So subscribers are paying for the analysis to be current.

Background

I am not really a typical railway person. I do not work for a railway operator or a manufacturer, and I have never worked for a transport ministry. My background is in European Union political communication, not railways.

But I am a person who needs railways to work better, for the way I want to live. Maintaining mobility while not further contributing to climate change is something that many people can relate to, and that is my motivation. I want to make sure I keep seeing things from the passengers' point of view.

The articles on this site will hence be written in that vein - how can railways, especially cross-border, improve? Where are the shortcomings in our railway policies - both nationally and EU-wide? What tips and tricks are there to make everyday rail travel more palatable, more reliable, and cheaper? All the pieces I write should be understandable to a knowledgeable traveller, and not require any detailed technical knowledge.

If you don't trust my word for it, then have a look at what others say. The "In the media" section of this site lists where I have been quoted or interviewed - in places as diverse as New York Times, Berliner Zeitung, ARD and Politiken.

I am not employed by any company or organisation in the transport sector, and hence what I write on this site ought to be seen as independent. The #CrossBorderRail and #CrossChannelRail projects are crowd funded.

I am a member of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen (The Greens) but have no transport policy responsibility within the party.

If you have a question, or would like to employ me to write something for you or speak at an event, please do contact me. You can also follow me on Mastodon, Bluesky or LinkedIn, and I post pictures from my travels on Flickr.

I am mostly based in Bourgogne, France, and speak English, French and German. I am a British-German dual national.