France Archives - Page 3 of 9

France

Analysis, European Union, France, Germany, United Kingdom

Abandoned luggage on trains, and the presumption of innocence

08.04.2024 1 comment

Once – in all my years travelling by rail – I left a bag on a train by mistake. It was sometime between 2005 and 2007 when I was working in both London and Sunningdale (50 mins west of London), and unusually I had a bag with a suit in […]

Analysis, Austria, European Union, France, Germany

If you reduced track access charges in European passenger rail, very little would happen – at least short term

28.03.2024 6 comments

Transport & Environment, Allrail, Trainline and some private railway companies and ticket sellers have released a letter (PDF here) to the European Commission calling for a reduction in track access charges for passenger trains. They specifically mention “trains with high capacity” (whatever that means exactly – run fewer, larger trains?), […]

Analysis, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland

Yield management and compulsory reservation – how much of each should we tolerate in railways?

23.03.2024 7 comments

Is taking a train something you do every day, rivaling a car? Something flexible, you just get on and go? Or is it something you do less regularly? Something where you plan, that you know long ahead where and when you will travel? More similar to how most people take […]

Analysis, European Union, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain

“Europa spoort niet” – reflections on appearing in vpro’s documentary about European railways

10.03.2024 2 comments

On 3rd March the documentary “Europa spoort niet” aired on NPO2, the Dutch public state broadcaster’s TV channel. It is in the documentary series Tegenlicht, produced by vpro. You can watch the whole thing (50 mins) with Dutch subtitles here, and there is a version for Youtube edited to be […]

European Union, France, Guides, Poland, Romania, Spain, Ticketing

Interrail tips and tricks

22.01.2024 8 comments

In the course of my #CrossBorderRail project I have learned a fair bit about how to use Interrail passes in a bunch of different countries. While this is far from a complete guide, here are a bunch of tips and tricks I have picked up. All are correct as of […]

Austria, Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany, In the media

Deutschlandfunk and Süddeutsche Zeitung about railway ticketing, and a niche slow train in Croatia

22.01.2024 0 comments

Warum Bahnfahren in Europa oft so kompliziert ist Mal eben schnell mit ein paar Klicks buchen, das funktioniert nicht. Aber ein paar Tricks gibt es doch, um schneller oder zumindest maximal günstig an eine Fahrkarte zu kommen. “Man sollte die Planung von der Buchung trennen”, sagt Jon Worth. Süddeutsche Zeitung […]