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

What should be in an EU High Speed Rail Action Plan?

"EU High Speed Network Plan Announced" screamed the headline on the Community of European Railways (CER) LinkedIn page this week. It caused me to scratch my head a bit, as there is no such plan yet - this was CER getting a bit carried away with one line

Analysis

Assumptions

I've been struggling quite a lot recently with negative reactions to what I write about railways, but not in the "you're wrong" sort of way, but a more insidious kind of casting doubt about my ability, my motivation or my knowledge. So here I

Bulgaria

A story of two tunnels: Kriva Palanka to Gyushevo, and the Channel Tunnel

When I went to Kumanovo in June of 2024 and found a railway station half complete, I must admit I did not think trains would run there any time soon. But this week I was proven wrong - the first part of the line that will eventually connect Skopje ion

Bullshit Meter

Lisboa-Madrid to be a bit less painful

Rather surprisingly I think this one might happen: Lisboa-Madrid will likely improve once the Elvas-Evora line opens https://www.dn.pt/economia/lisboa-madrid-obriga-a-troca-de-comboio-mesmo-com-nova-linha-de-évora

Bullshit Meter

Oslo-Malmö in the summer of 2025

Vy to run summertime trains to Malmö - it'll happen To København - don't believe it yet, because the company has no suitable trains yet Story for #BullshitMeter submitted by https://mastodon.nu/@Gurre https://www.vy.no/vygruppen/presse-og-nyheter/2025/3364053

Bullshit Meter

Subotica-Novi Sad to open in 2025

This is a story I looked into closely in 2024 when I was in Serbia for #CrossBorderRail. With everything more or less prepared, the question is politically what would happen.

Bullshit Meter

Frecciarossa Milano-Ljubljana in 2025

The idea stems from 2024, when Frecciarossa 700 trains were to be used. In early 2025 the idea resurfaced, this time with the newer Frecciarossa 1000 trains to be used. I don't mind what trains it will be - the question is if it will happen!

Bullshit Meter

A Spain-Morocco Tunnel

Oh this is a classic of the genre! A Spain-Morocco rail tunnel by 2030 So much 💩 I can smell it from here! https://www.mirror.co.uk/travel/huge-6bn-tunnel-connecting-spain-34308458

Bullshit Meter

Tunnel under Frankfurt (Main) for long distance trains

The idea to build a long distance rail tunnel under Frankfurt (Main) is not a bad one. But the question is whether financially and politically it can be delivered. News story here

Bullshit Meter

København-Oslo in Spring 2026

Here's the story. But given this would run with Talgo trains, and these have not been been OKed to run to Germany yet, which is the first priority, getting them to run through Sweden to Norway and get this all sorted by 2026 - looks like a long

Bullshit Meter

A Helsinki-Tallinn tunnel

This one has been talked about for years - some background here for example. But with question marks over the completion of Rail Baltica to Tallinn by 2030 I am not holding my breath for this one!

Bullshit Meter

Oslo-Göteborg in 1 hour

Here's the "story": «Hemmelige» lyntog-planer: – Vi har valgt å ligge lavtSvenske og norske kommuner har i det stille samlet seg om planer om helt ny hurtigjernbane mellom Oslo og Göteborg, Skagerrakbanen.ABC NyheterMagnus Fossen

Analysis

Introducing the Rail Story Bullshit Meter

Sometimes ideas are borne from frustration. After reading for the umpteenth time on LinkedIn that Portugal will relaunch night trains to Spain in 2025 (it likely won't), I snapped. I have hence come up with a simple system to call out bullshit stories about railways - the Rail

Bullshit Meter

Qbuzz to run Amsterdam-Paris in 2027

Here's the news story. This one is obvious at one level - Amsterdam-Paris is ripe for a rival. But trying to do this by January 2027 (so timetable change December 2026) looks like a hell of a long shot to me. But given Qbuzz is owned by Trenitalia,

Bullshit Meter

Night trains combined with freight

An older one this - the story is from 2019. But it still will not happen.

Bullshit Meter

Re-gauge Finland's railways to standard gauge

These ones crop up once in a while, and are not completely separate from each other - while Finland has only one standard gauge railway line, re-gauging makes no sense. But building a further one - a tunnel to Tallinn - is ridiculously expensive, and then would only make sense

Bullshit Meter

Dubai to build a rail tunnel to India

If anyone believed this you better stop reading right now.

Bullshit Meter

Berlin-Warszawa with Flixtrain

Flixtrain has two paths a day each way between Berlin and Warszawa from December 2025 - outlined here. The problem is it needs carriages that can accept 3kV dc current head end power, and at the moment it does not have any of those in its fleet. Until it either

Bullshit Meter

Portugal-Spain night trains to return in 2025

Here's the story. This one is also eminently do-able, but we do not know who would do it and, importantly, how and when. There are either old Talgo trains, or some Arco couchettes that CP acquired from Renfe that could be used for the service, but how much

Bullshit Meter

Gorizia - Nova Gorica to have passenger trains

We have a bunch of news stories (like this one) with a concrete date - 8 February. It's 3km of track with no significant engineering headaches. Trains exist, an operator exists, Gorizia and Nova Gorica are European Capital of Culture. This one is going to happen.

Bullshit Meter

Virgin Trains to rival Eurostar by 2029

Here's the story. There is something afoot with regard to a company trying to rival Eurostar - Virgin Trains is apparently ready to sign a contract "this quarter". But until they do I do not believe this will happen.

Bullshit Meter

Milano-Paris an April Fool, or not?

A landslide has blocked the track France - Italy high speed services use, and what was meant to be a closure of a few months has dragged on beyond 18 months. It is of course impossible to be sure that everything is now OK, but finally Trenitalia has announced a

Bullshit Meter

European Sleeper Amsterdam-Barcelona

Sorry Elmer van Buuren and European Sleeper, but I do not believe this one. And the only real fault is having announced this idea before realising there are two problems with it 1. France and 2. Spain European Sleeper has even itself understood this route would be a pain, and

"here’s what a joined-up 21st-century [train] network needs" - trying to give some answers

A story entitled "I love to travel Europe by train. But here’s what a joined-up 21st-century network needs" by María Ramírez was published by The Guardian yesterday. 'I don't disagree with the piece' was the gist of my answer when asked about it

More passengers are a problem for the railways

When - from a passenger point of view - I make the case why the EU ought to pass a Regulation to fix cross border railway ticketing, the reaction from the railway industry (especially state owned railway firms) is essentially "why should we make booking easier, because our cross