Jon Worth

European, originally a Brit, became German, moved to France. Runs #CrossBorderRail project, writes a newsletter about railways. Green, lives happily without a car Normally stuck on a train, stuck in a village, or escaping either on a folding bicycle

Quick takes

A rail postcard from Göteborg

Dear Siim, I hope you liked my last e-postcard from Hendaye. Today I am writing to you from Göteborg, Sweden. I’m only writing this from the comfort of the train south of Sweden’s second city because I’m lucky – my train from Oslo arrived 2 minutes early, at

European Union

A rail postcard from Hendaye

Dear Siim*, Although we have never met, you seem familiar to me. I follow all your upbeat reports on Twitter about the bright future of European rail, and your great liberalisation plans, and investments in trans-European networks. Well Siim, for me as a traveller, I'm not feeling it.

Guides

The worst international train service I've taken for a long time – in Switzerland! (OK, with an Italian train)

The Cisalpino joint venture between the Swiss SBB and Trenitalia no longer exists, wound up in 2009 due to failing service quality and problems with an order of new trains. The sad news is that now, with the EuroCity trains between Switzerland and Italy using some of the same railsets

Analysis

Taking the train rather than the plane for business travel in Europe: does it work?

Anyone who follows me on Twitter will know I take the train for almost all my journeys, and many of these are business trips. Sean Hanley has asked me to sum up my experiences in a blog entry, so here goes. This post should be read in conjunction with the

Analysis

Torn between a retro past and an uncertain future: is the sun setting on Romanian rail?

The two guards on the EN472 “Ister” between Bucuresti Nord and Budapest Keleti pu. set aside their fading hats with the silver trim and the CFR logos and tuck into the dinner they have brought from home in the bar carriage. They crunch what look like home grown, gnarled gherkins,

Analysis

Bike boxes at traffic lights - a little eye witness example

I've been sat for 30 minutes at a café on the corner of Great Smith Street / Great Peter Street in Westminster. This is the view of the cycle box on Great Peter Street, going westbound. More than half of the times the lights were red cars stopped more

Analysis

The future of channel tunnel long distance passenger railway services

A small step forward step in the prospect of long distance high-speed train services using the channel tunnel was taken this week, with Deutsche Bahn granted a 'Certificate B' to operate trains through the tunnel. This has been a long time coming - in 2010 DB was talking

Analysis

Five types of railway market in Europe

I travel a lot by train. On all kinds of services, all over Europe. As Europe's rail market supposedly opens up to competition with the 4th railway package, what can I conclude about where competition does and does not work? 1) The profitable long distance route This is

Analysis

Are reservation fees and private railways killing the allure of Interrail?

Knowing how much I travel by train some friends have rather flippantly said I would be better booking Interrail tickets for my trips than the individual tickets separately. So with a trip København - St Malo, and then Par - Trieste - Brussels - København, and a week later København

Analysis

The Lille Loophole - stop London checks on all except 3 trains

What is the Lille Loophole? It is a means by which people without the correct identification papers necessary to enter the UK can do so thanks to a loophole in the Schengen rules, as applied at Gare du Midi in Brussels, and to the Eurostar rail service. News about the

Analysis

A little Brussels-London security paranoia case study - this coming Friday

I have not taken Eurostar recently, but judging by comments posted on my previous blog posts about the service, it seems that the security paranoia that afflicts the route has not diminished. Anyway, for the first time in months, I am going to be on Eurostar on Friday this week,

Switzerland

A border control dressed up as a customs control, inside Schengen. Buchs, Switzerland, 1020, 14 March 2013

Switzerland is in the Schengen Area. But it is not part of the EU Customs Union. Therein is the newest excuse I’ve heard for a border control within the Schengen area. I was a passenger on Railjet 362, departing Feldkirch* (Austria) at 0948 this morning, and scheduled in Buchs

Analysis

Non-Schengen compliant border control at Puttgarden, 21st January 2013, 1244

Today I'm at least as angry at myself as a blogger (who was not adequately prepared) as I am about yet another breach of EU law and Schengen. My ICE train had just left the ferry, heading into Germany at Puttgarden at 1244, and was stationary at the

Analysis

Non-Schengen (or non-Danish law?) compliant border control at Padborg, 16th January 2013, 0651

Back in spring 2011, when Denmark still had a centre right government supported in parliament by the populist Dansk Folkeparti, the country drew sharp criticism from the European Commission with a plan to reintroduce border controls. The centre right lost the election later in 2011, and the borders plan did

Analysis

Odd and cool videos about Denmark

A few things roughly related to Denmark that I've come across recently... Via @sorenhave - a fun way to advertise a bus company Reminded by @iaindale - a bus flash mob (I've even been on a bus in København with this guy driving) A very elegant

Analysis

How to organise a rail replacement bus service (Schienenersatzverkehr)

ICE36 train, departing 0944 from København H to Hamburg Hbf will not be able to run any further than Rødby on the Danish side of the Fehmarn Belt, and all passengers will have to board the ferry on foot instead of in the train, and take a replacement bus on

Analysis

More from that little Nordic rail trip... Liberalisation doesn't work

The theory of liberalisation of European railways is all very well. At one level the cross border service between København and Malmo, the Øresundstog, is a good example of it – a rail service running every 10 minutes across the bridge between Denmark and Sweden, and run by neither Swedish incumbent

Analysis

Goodbye Benelux train, the service that gave me my best-ever rail story (to date)

Tomorrow is the last day of operation of the Benelux Train, an hourly Intercity service that has been connecting Brussels, Antwerp, Rosendaal, Rotterdam, Den Haag and Amsterdam since the 1950s. Philip Richards documents his three eras using it here, here and here, and Alex van Herwijnen will be on the

Analysis

How to complain to an airline: do it en masse

Maybe it's the winter season, or perhaps it's just bad luck, but two friends of mine are currently wrestling with airline customer services to get compensation - one for luggage lost for a fortnight, and another for a long delay. There is one clear lesson from

Analysis

The demise of CityNightLine

A goods train derailed in southern Jutland on Friday last week and, as can be seen from the picture from the local newspaper, it was on a single track line section between Padborg and Kolding, meaning the whole connection between Hamburg and Jutland is blocked. The wagons were dragged between

Analysis

OK, so Schengen is a myth. Systematic checks on the train leaving France are OK according to the Commission.

Back on 9th October I documented a non-Schengen compliant border control that took place on a train between St Jean de Maurienne and Modane - see the full details here. I put all that information into a full and official complaint to the European Commission, and today (about 2 weeks

Analysis

A little Nordic rail trip

I will be making what should be a reasonably simple rail trip in early December - the 600km journey between Copenhagen (station: København H) and Oslo (station: Oslo S). So how do I do it? Well, it turns out that it is all nowhere as simple as it should be.

Analysis

Non-Schengen compliant border control between St Jean de Maurienne and Modane, 9th October 2012, 1240

Four French police boarded the front carriage of the 0749 Paris Gare de Lyon – Milano Garibaldi TGV at St Jean de Maurienne on 9th October. The train was running with a delay of around 55 minutes, hence departing from St Jean at around 1230. At 1240 the four police entered

Analysis

Schengen: what can they ask, and what am I obliged to tell?

Bleary eyed and grumpy last week due to a delayed night train, I was nevertheless rather surprised when a Danish policeman demanded to see my passport abord the night train to København H at Padborg (border station from Germany). When I asked him why and how he was demanding this

Analysis

In praise of @DB_bahn (not the railway, but the Twitter account)

This is for you Torsten, Simon, Norman, Marc, Kai, Danny, Janice, Matthias, Maik, Filiz, Jana, Christian, Christian and Nicole: a huge thanks from a regular DB traveller for helping to make my journeys a little more manageable and pleasant. For those of you reading this that are not regulars on