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

Belgium

Deciphering the "Virgin Trains to order 12 Alstom trains for Channel Tunnel" stories

OK, we have three pieces of "news" to go on - a story from The Times, a Richard Branson column in The Times, and this from Rail Magazine - that Virgin Trains is to order 12 high speed trains from Alstom. The central point: Virgin Trains is one

Belgium

The €2bn question: why has Eurostar still not ordered any new trains?

Is there space for a further Channel Tunnel operator at the Temple Mills depot off the HS1 line at Stratford? The issue rumbles on, with ORR expected to make a decision on the issue by this autumn according to The Times today. But what if the extra capacity at the

Czechia

#CrossBorderRail: what am I trying to find? And what's the goal?

15 June 2022, and it is Day 2 of my very first #CrossBorderRail tour, and it is a gorgeous sunny morning in Nijmegen in Netherlands. I unfold the Birdy bike and cycle off towards the 6th border of the project at that stage, the dismantled line between Nijmegen and Kleve

Czechia

Planning with disruption in mind - would you attempt this trip?

On Friday to start my #CrossBorderRail project I need to get from Ravières (Bourgogne, France) to Praha (Czechia), and this is the connection DB (the best rail planning site) shows me: 06:39 Nuits-sous-Ravières SNCF TER91371 06:49 Montbard 15min to change 07:04 Montbard SNCF TGV 6760 08:09

Quick takes

Komoot: you saved me on Lithuanian dirt lanes, and through the streets of Roma. But it's time for something new

One constant throughout my #CrossBorderRail projects - despite the name! - is my bicycle. The faithful Birdy folding bike has been with me throughout, in more than 30 countries. And mounted on the handlebars (using a Quad Lock mount - amazingly good as well) is an old iPhone 6s. And,

Quick takes

Rough notes about the longest train journey in the world - in 2025

When I had time on my hands sometime during a COVID lockdown and started digging into the longest train journey in the world, I did not know what a saga this one would become. Within a few months of publishing this long post about the topic, war in Ukraine meant

Belgium

Preliminary conclusions from my #CrossChannelRail project

OK, I have to face it: I bit off more than I could chew. When I conducted the research for my #CrossChannelRail Project in March and April this year I thought I would be done with the report from the project by the end of May. And it is the

Finale Summer 2025 - crowdfunding open

Between 6th June and 5th August I will undertake the last large tour of the #CrossBorderRail project, examining a further 82 rail borders, mostly in central and eastern Europe. Three short years ago when planning the first tour that was known as #CrossBorderRail, little did I know this would be

European Union

Podcasts and webinars galore about the future of the Channel Tunnel (thanks to #CrossChannelRail)

As I am still finalising the report from my #CrossChannelRail project in March and April, it has not stopped me getting the message out about the future of long distance through services through the Channel Tunnel, and examining the sort of lingering feeling of the tunnel somehow being an amazing

France

8am on the slow train to Paris

It's just past 8am. I've been on the slow train to Paris Bercy from rural Bourgogne for an hour an a half. The sun has just about burnt off the fog of the morning along the Yonne and now the Seine. We are rumbling along the

European Union

Railway work: what I am doing has some ethical purpose, but is anyone listening?

This summer will be my last big #CrossBorderRail tour - 80 more borders, mostly in Central Europe. There simply are not too many more borders to visit. And as the project on the ground winds down, I have started to wonder who might benefit from the lessons I have learned

Analysis

A high speed rail plan for Europe? Let's start with a high speed rail plan for France's borders

The European Commission and the state owned railway companies are getting very excited about the idea there could be a EU masterplan for high speed rail. With that in mind, let's do a little thought experiment. This started as a Bluesky thread, and has been lightly edited into

Bullshit Meter

Night train to the alps - this year

There was quite some fuss a few weeks ago about a company called Travelski claiming to run a night train Paris to the Alps ⛰ for skiiers, and from the coming season https://www.travelski.com/travelski-night-express But I can find no evidence HOW they can do this, so I made

European Union

Can't deliver packages in crowded cities? Put more... err... passengers on your trams

At a simple, basic level it sounds appealing. Packages cannot be delivered efficiently in congested cities, so use less congested tram tracks instead. Add a the appeal of autonomous vehicles, a bit of AI, and a sprinkling of blockchain, bundle it up with some nice neat renderings, and you will

Analysis

Solar panels between the tracks on an active railway line: a dreadful idea

In Switzerland, as a test, 48 solar panels have been laid between the tracks on an active railway line between Neuchâtel and Buttes. News about it here, and cue all the feel-good-but-don't-think-twice influencers crowing about it. But let's think twice about this. First, should you install

Bullshit Meter

Eurostar trains to a theme park (no, not that one!)

Ken Tindell on Bluesky asked me to assess this one. There is not a hope this will happen. I am confused as to why anyone would possibly suggest it.

Croatia

No Villa Opicina - Divača - Pivka - Rijeka trains in 2025, no re-launch date known

Launched with some fanfare in the summer of 2024 (see The Times and Kurier that covered it for example), the "Trieste" - Rijeka international train service is no more. The train will not run in 2025, and there is no known date for the resumption of the route.

Bullshit Meter

Warszawa - Rijeka train to start in 3 months

A night train to the coast, but trying to do it at just 3 months' notice? Background here

France

Trenitalia to run London-Paris in 2029 - the most serious rival to Eurostar yet

As I raced around Europe during my #CrossChannelRail project for the past three weeks, it looked like there were three or possibly four private companies in the frame to rival Eurostar on high speed routes through the Channel Tunnel - Virgin Trains, Gemini, Evolyn and possibly Heuro. But today'

Analysis

New Channel Tunnel entrant? You need a plan for what happens if you fail, so you can actually succeed

No company wants to enter a market thinking they are going to fail. But what happens were they to fail might have a bearing on whether they succeed in the first place. It was with this in mind that I read this morning that Virgin Trains is looking for money

Analysis

The really simple guide to what we need to fix in EU wide rail ticketing, and how

I have just been in a focus group for an academic project about cross border railways in Europe, and ticketing was one of the aspects of it. Some of the others in the discussion were ticketing people from state owned railways, some from rivals to state incumbents, and some from

Belgium

The accessibility problems with Alstom's new TGV-M train - with implications for future Channel Tunnel operators

There is no way to sweeten this: my original conclusion that Alstom's Avelia Horizon (known as TGV-M with SNCF) is not legal at higher station platforms outside France was incorrect . Because transparency and correcting my errors matters to me, you can read the original blog entry in full

Bullshit Meter

London to Milan once St Pancras is rebuilt

Time for another #Bullshitmeter Or merda di bufalo d'acqua perhaps, and I can smell it from here No, there are not going to be trains to Milano 🇮🇹 when St Pancras station is expanded Response to this Times story https://www.thetimes.com/uk/transport/article/st-pancras-expansion-route-train-travel-fbfkmw9xv

Analysis

Want to rival Eurostar on Channel Tunnel routes? How do you differentiate yourself?

For three weeks in late March and early April I am running a project called #CrossChannelRail that is looking at the future of long distance high speed train services through the Channel Tunnel. The future of Eurostar and any of its potential rivals if you like. A whole lot of

Analysis

Solving the Valence-Armentières Problem - the gold standard for railway trip planning and ticket sales

Geopolitics had the Schleswig Holstein Question. Machine intelligence has the Turing Test. Jumble those up, throw in a little extra European Union complexity, and I am proud to present you the railway equivalent: the Valence-Armentières Problem. At one level the theoretical solution to the problem is simple: calculate all the