Jon Worth

EU politics and sustainable transport, especially railways Brit who became German & lives in a village in France. When he's not escaping it on a train or a folding bicycle Teaches at College of Europe, still writes a blog, photographs with a drone

Analysis

Revival of the Trans Europ Express (TEE) - these plans are going to need some new trains

Nostalgia is important in railways. Families and enthusiasts alike visit heritage railways, and railway companies across Europe try to motivate passengers to take trains today using symbolism of the past. And there is no symbolism stronger in cross-border rail in Europe than the Trans Europ Express (TEE), probably because more

Analysis

Thank you MEPs Delli and Cuffe for thinking of night trains as part of smart mobility in the EU

The European Parliament is currently debating an own-initiative report about a Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy for the EU - the whole legislative dossier is here, and German S&D MEP Ismail Ertug is the Rapporteur. MEPs - perhaps all of them stuck at home and suffering from the

Analysis

"Rail at the forefront of smart and sustainable mobility" - Council of the EU conclusions offer scope for night train investment

The Council of the European Union today adopted Council Conclusions on railways, entitled "Rail at the forefront of smart and sustainable mobility" - you can read the press story about this, quoting Portugal's transport minister here. The full conclusions are here (PDF). As I see it

Analysis

It's a night train, but not as we know it - Arriva has plans

A night train? In the Netherlands? Not the news we had expected to read. But here is the boss of Arriva Netherlands Anne Hettinga arguing for exactly that in an interview with NRC Handelsblad. The story was likewise covered by Railway Gazette International. As you might imagine this is not

Analysis

France's PM Castex takes the re-introduced night train Paris-Nice, but it's hardly comfortable!

After a three year absence, the Paris-Nice Night Train is back. The first service ran last night with an important passenger on board - French Prime Minister Jean Castex. He even made the welcome on board announcement to passengers: https://twitter.com/JeanCASTEX/status/1395460907728257029 The problem though - as

Analysis

Germany's Transport Ministry makes the case for a European rolling stock pool

On 17 May Germany's Ministry of for Transport and Digital Infrastructure held its Schienengipfel (Rail Summit) in Berlin. The centre piece of the event was a renewed commitment to speeding up Berlin - Dresden - Prague - Vienna connections, but an eagle-eyed Josh Posaner of Politico spotted an

Analysis

French Ministry of the Ecological Transition report on night trains - focus on both French and international routes

The Ministère de la Transition écologique (Ministry of the Ecological Transition) in France has released a new report entitled ÉTUDE DU DÉVELOPPEMENT DE NOUVELLES LIGNES DE TRAINS D’ÉQUILIBRE DU TERRITOIRE (TET) (STUDY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW TERRITORY BALANCE TRAIN LINES (TET)) - this assesses the way train connections

Analysis

RailPro diagnoses the challenges for new operators trying to enter the long distance rail market

Dutch Publication RailPro has written an interesting piece entitled What are the biggest barriers for new entrants on the international train market? There is also a version of the same post in Dutch here. The piece does not distinguish between daytime and night-time trains, but focuses on the challenges common

Analysis

Detailed night train research from Oui au train de nuit

The French campaign group Oui au train de nuit has produced some of the most detailed research about the opportunities for night trains - understandably with the focus on routes within France, and between France and its neighbours. Its first report from January 2020 (PDF here) sets the scene. There

Analysis

EIB electric buses funding model the way forward to finance night train stock?

In January 2021, the European Investment Bank and Banque des Territoires launched a Clean Buses Platform - a mechanism through which public transport operators in France have access to up to €100 million to procure electric buses. A similar mechanism might be the way to allow rolling stock leasing companies

Analysis

Tough times ahead for German rail supply industry? Procure some night trains!

International Railway Journal reports that the rail industry in Germany is facing tough times. So that makes now surely is an ideal time for new night train rolling stock to be procured! Photos used in this post Richard MatthewsBombardierJuly 7, 2011 License: Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

European Union

Bloomberg publishes new interactive website about night trains in Europe

Entitled "Europe Asks Travelers to Ditch Planes for Night Trains", Bloomberg has published a sort of interactive guide to night trains in Europe, and what the European Union is trying to do to solve the night train conundrum. It's not all quite right in the technical

Analysis

Germanwatch report on European trains travel

Berlin-based NGO Germanwatch has published a new report about train travel in Europe, in German - you can read the report here. The focus is heavily on what Germany should do, with an eye on the 26th September Bundestag election. The report has 6 key messages: 1. Develop a "

Analysis

If there's demand for a night train on a route, and a night train could be profitable, how can it be that no-one runs it?

One of the questions I am often asked when discussing rail travel in the European Union is why there is no night train on a given route. "People would take it!" I am told, and I do not doubt that. It is not the demand side that is

Analysis

The EU should place a blanket ban on trains being scrapped

This week we learned that part of Europe's night train renaissance is going to be built on... some couchette carriages that date from 1965. Yes you read that right - some 56 year old carriages are going to be deployed by ÖBB for its new Wien-Paris night train.

Analysis

Night trains are excellent, but marginal. How can their provision be scaled up in Europe?

Earlier this month European Sleeper announced its first route - Brussels-Amsterdam-Berlin-Prague - and the news was gushing. Euronews covered the story, saying how it was driven by flight shame, TimeOut talked of a "a ton of cool new sleeper trains", and Travel+Leisure talked about a "major

Analysis

Sage of the suburbs? When New York Times makes a kind of political GeoGuessr

A friend alerted me to this tweet earlier today, knowing full well a combination of political nerdiness and geographic geekery would appeal to me. And since then I have been playing the New York Times "Can you guess how these neighbourhoods voted?" game and wondering about... the political

Guides

Why you should buy a bike trailer for cargo

In 2009 I asked my parents to buy me a bicycle trailer as a birthday present. It was a Croozer Cargo, original 2003-2013 model (no longer manufactured, but you can find the manual for it as a PDF here), and cost £160 back then (about €200). Looking back little could

Guides

The weird and wonderful world of Eiffel Tower replicas and derivatives - Geoguessr

Work to update this post is ongoing. More than 470 Eiffel Towers are now mapped on umap here. The map is generated from a .ods Spreadsheet that you can find on Nextcloud here - if there are errors or omissions in either the map or the table please let me

Analysis

Long distance rail in Europe - an absence of a discernible strategy

Trains are a good thing. Capable of shipping huge quantities of people and freight over long distances and doing so without most of the downsides of road or air transport. Politicians of pretty much any political colour will be happy to say they are pro-rail. 2021 is even European Year

Analysis

Europatakt - a vision for EU-wide rail?

I have set foot in the Swiss town of Biel/Bienne more often than I care to remember, and for strictly 6 minutes each time. For that is where the Basel SBB-Lausanne InterCity train crosses the Zürich HB-Genève service, and as my trips are always Basel SBB - Genève, that&

Analysis

Tegel Airport - good riddance

It's finally happening. Almost 8 years late, Berlin Brandenburg Airport is at last opening this coming Saturday (31 October), and that means Tegel Airport will finally close by 8 November. That has prompted another round of outpourings of emotion about the old Tegel. So einen Flughafen wie Berlin-Tegel

Analysis

How could the EU solve the night train conundrum? Procure a massive fleet of night train carriages and lease them to operators

From the doldrums of a few years ago - when Deutsche Bahn left the business of running night trains completely - this mode of transport is back. Or at least in terms of public attention it's back. Snälltåget has bold plans for Sweden to Germany services in 2021,

Analysis

Why is the Berlin-Amsterdam train so slow? And why is it so hard to do anything about it?

This tweet and news story from The Netherlands caught my eye this morning - "Dutch Railways will make trains to Berlin and Brussels much faster: "We want to seduce air passengers"" the title says. Whether prioritising that route - to get people off planes - even

Analysis

Don't be distracted by ÖBB's shiny night train to Brussels - the problems of EU-wide rail run far deeper

Hey journalists! I'm glad to see you're writing about trains! ÖBB running its first NightJet to Brussels seems to have got you into a particular frenzy. It's amazing what a bit of red carpet at Gare du Midi, and Martin Selmayr on board, can