It has been something in the back of my mind for more than a decade: how could railway passengers be better represented to campaign for improvements in international rail? Here’s a piece I wrote in 2014 about the topic. And the issue very much came to a head in 2021 […]
Dear Alberto, It is a little odd for me, a blogger and campaigner, to be writing an open letter to you as Executive Director of Community of European Railways (CER). But the combination of circumstances I have faced today on a cross border journey involving trains operated by two of […]
After three weeks of research on the ground in spring 2025, dozens of follow conversations, and plenty of desk research, today I finally published the conclusions report from my #CrossChannelRail project – you can download the PDF of the report here. The stations map is also available in a zoomable […]
A post popped up in my Bluesky feed from Renfe: 🚄 Renfe se suma a la declaración conjunta @cer-railways.bsky.social y @eurocities.eu para ✅ Triplicar el tráfico para 2050✅ Conectar todas las capitales y grandes ciudades✅ Billetes integrados y financiación sostenible¡Una Europa más conectada y verde! 🌍🔗 renfe.com/es/es/grupo-… — Renfe (@renfeoperadora.bsky.social) […]
There’s this railway joke* where a passenger is at Calais Fréthun station, staring at the “Londres, Ebbsfleet – Voie 3” sign. The passenger stops a gnarled SNCF employee and asks “How do I get to London?” (in French, obviously), and the response is “Well I wouldn’t start from here!” That […]
Today the European Commission released its “plan to accelerate high-speed rail across Europe” (press release here). Only it’s not a plan. And Community of European Railways (CER), the state owned railways’ trade body, stated this will “revolutionise the way travel distances are perceived in Europe” (press release here). Only this […]