It’s one of the most common questions I field from journalists: “would more private companies help with the state of the railways in Europe?” And rather than a yes or no, my answer is instead “I’m not sure“. That puts me in a strange position – I take no position […]
Austria
Border stations in national tariff systems – a simple change with a meaningful impact
At opposite ends of Germany there are two cross border railways where tickets for the trains are wonderfully simple – from Gronau (Nordrhein-Westfalen) to Enschede (Netherlands), and from Freilassing (Bayern) to Salzburg (Austria). At two other borders – Kehl (Baden-Württemberg) to Strasbourg (France), and Forst Lausitz (Brandenburg) to Żary (Poland) […]
Where is the sense of urgency in international rail in the EU? I can’t see it
Party! From 28 July there will be 4 trains a day each way on the Figueres – Perpignan cross border high speed line! A doubling of the services! Renfe’s entry into the French market! Eh, hang on. 4 trains a day each way on a dual track electrified line capable […]
TimeOut makes a right hash of the new Milano-München trains story
Christian Hunt (I was a guest on his podcast) just sent me this article from TimeOut about proposed Milano-München trains, and asked me if I could do some quick analysis of it. I have already written one piece about this proposed route here, but TimeOut makes such a complete mess […]
Quoted in Berliner Zeitung about the Brenner pilot project
I spoke to Peter Neumann of Berliner Zeitung about the plans for new, faster trains on Italy-Germany routes over the Brenner Pass – explained more in English here. This is a quote in German: “Das sind dicke Bretter. Doch Trenitalia, die ÖBB und die DB pflegen eine „gute Kooperation“, berichtet […]
Faster trains between München and Milano, and München and Roma? Possible, but not quite in the way Merkur frames it
Over on Mastodon, Gregor Herrmann pointed me towards this story in German publication Merkur about German, Austrian and Italian railways planning faster rail connections between München and Milano, and München and Roma. ORF and Die Presse covered the story in Austria, but here I am going to focus on the […]
