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

Analysis

Eurostar ordering just 30 Alstom trains: pragmatism, and a lack of ambition

Put all the rhetoric to one side. In announcing today they are ordering 30 Alstom Avelia Horizon (TGV-M) double decker trains (see the FT here), with only options for 20 more, Eurostar is being less ambitious than has been rumoured for more than a year, where the talk was of

Analysis

What train other than Alstom Avelia Horizon could Eurostar even consider?

Back in June I wondered why - despite it being heavily rumoured for more than a year - Eurostar still had not signed a deal with Alstom for the purchase of 50 Avelia Horizon double deck high speed trains. These trains are to be called TGV-M in France, while Avelia

Belgium

Constraints on future Channel Tunnel operators

Sometime this autumn the UK's Office of Rail and Road (ORR) will adjudicate on capacity allocation at Temple Mills depot in east London. Responses to ORR from Eurostar and the four other companies that seek to also enter the market for long distance trains through the Channel Tunnel

Analysis

Why you probably should not re-gauge railways in Europe

Once in a while the debate pops up that some country should re-gauge its railways - Finland being the most recent example. In this blog post I am going to delve into this issue, and explain why - in most cases - it does not make sense. But first let&

Analysis

SNCF's half hearted effort to support international night trains in danger of hitting the buffers

In December 2023 the Paris-Berlin night train re-started after a 9 year hiatus. Operated as a Nighjet service by ÖBB, SNCF provided motive power for the train from Mannheim to Paris. They even put SNCF stickers on some of the carriages, and ÖBB lauded the launch of the service as

Bullshit Meter

A Stockholm-Turku link with tunnels and bridges

No, there is not going to be a Turku 🇫🇮 - Stockholm 🇸🇪 fixed link (tunnels, bridges) Too far, too expensive, not enough people living either side Maybe instead Sweden could complete its high speed railway south of Stockholm that does make sense but they can't find money for?

Austria

Two public bike tours, and a speech on board the Kulturzug Berlin-Wrocław - let's talk #CrossBorderRail this autumn!

Starting 15th September I am back on the rails (and cycle paths!) of Europe on my #CrossBorderRail conclusions tour. You can find the whole route of the tour here (dates indicated in the data panel of the map), and the signup form for all the events here. But there are

Analysis

Building a machine-translated railway news aggregator

One of the side effects of the fracturing of the social media landscape has been it has become harder to follow breaking news that has niche importance. If it's the big questions of war and peace, sure, we all still see it. But what is happening in European

Analysis

Connecting the everyday user experience with the big picture politics of French railways

There is currently an argument in France about the future of the national railway operator SNCF that goes roughly like this: better keep the whole thing together, because then some smaller places that are not profitably served can still have their trains. If we let private companies cherry pick the

Analysis

Green Signals podcast about rivals to Eurostar, and some further thoughts about the challengers

I was a guest this week on the Green Signals podcast about rivals to Eurostar and their chances of success. You can watch it here: You can likewise get it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. Also - amazingly! - the comments on Youtube are mostly constructive. That is

European Union

Does a railway operator need to know about all the legs of my journey so as to offer me passenger rights?

One of the most interesting discussions provoked by my previous post about the European Commission's passenger rights consultation was whether a railway operator really needs to know about my whole journey to be able to offer me passenger rights. Oliver Blanthorn and Cycling on Rails - two of

European Union

Mapy.com - the map app for everything?

This summer's #CrossBorderRail Finale tour was the first I did without using Komoot as my bike mapping tool. Read the post I wrote before the tour for the background as to why I wanted to switch. Now after having been using Mapy.com as my alternative for more

Analysis

Replying to the European Commission's call for evidence on revision of Rail Passenger Rights

On 20th August the European Commission heavily promoted (Bluesky, LinkedIn, Mastodon) its public consultation on the revision of the Rail Passenger Rights Regulation. As a few people asked me what I thought of this process, here's my response - part analysis of the problem, and part list of

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