In the summer of 2022 with the #CrossBorderRail project I crossed all of the EU’s internal borders that you can cross by train. This video sums up what I discovered:
Rather than one huge project, this year I am going to be doing a series of smaller projects to document further international railway problems in Europe, and propose political solutions for the problems I discover.
The first of these is the all of Germany’s borders project that will take place 2-15 May and it will be crowd-funded. I need to raise a minimum of €2627 to make this project happen, and ideally would like to raise €5171 (so as to be able to pay myself the minimum wage for my time). You can donate to the project on Betterplace here
This is the route for this project:
A zoomable version of the map is available here. The project will encompass 3973 km on 59 trains, 158.3 km on 2 buses, 24km on 2 ferries and 354.2 km across 15 bike legs. As in 2022 the places trains no longer run will be investigated on my folding bike. In total I will investigate 30 current, former and future cross border railway lines – with the emphasis on places I did not go in 2022:
(by train) Aachen (DE) – Welkenraedt (BE)
(by train) Cheb (CZ) – Schirnding (AT)
(by train) Furth im Wald (DE) – Domazlice (CZ)
(by train) Gouvy (BE) – Troisvierges (LU)
(by train) Gronau (DE) – Enschede (NL)
(by train) Lauterbourg (FR) – Berg (Pfalz) (DE)
(by train) Saarbrücken (DE) – Sarreguemines (FR)
(by train) Sebnitz (DE) – Dolní Poustevna (CZ)
(by train) Simbach (Inn) (DE) – Braunau am Inn (AT)
(by train) Wasserbillig (LU) – Konz (DE)
(by train) Wernstein (AT) – Passau (DE)
(by bike) Aachen (DE) – Montzen (BE)
(by bike) Aachen-Vetschau (DE) – Bocholtz (NL)
(by bike) Alstätte (DE) – Broekheurne (NL)
(by bike) Avantis (DE) – Spekholzerheide (NL) – Planned line
(by bike) Barlo (DE) – Winterswijk (NL)
(by bike) Bocholt (DE) – Aalten (NL) – Former 750mm gauge tramway
(by bike) Borken-Burlo (DE) – Winterswijk (NL)
(by bike) Cheb (CZ) – Schloppach (DE)
(by bike) Coevorden (NL) – Emlichheim (DE)
(by bike) Ebersbach (DE) – Jiríkov-Filipov (CZ)
(by bike) Forst (Lausitz) (DE) – Zary (PL)
(by bike) Görlitz (DE) – Zgorzelec (PL)
(by bike) Gronau (DE) – Glane (NL)
(by bike) Konstanz (DE) – Kreuzlingen (CH)
(by bike) Leer (DE) – Bad Nieuweschans (NL)
(by bike) Niedaltdorf (DE) – Bouzonville (FR)
(by bike) Puttgarden (DE) – Rødby (DK)
(by bike) Wegliniec (PL) – Horka (DE)
(by bike) Wissembourg (FR) – Schweighofen (DE)
I will organise small events about international railways in as many of the places en route as I can, and I will document everything as I go – this year with Mastodon threads (follow me here) rather than Twitter threads as in the past, and each day will start and end with a live video summary. There will be a live blog each day on the #CrossBorderRail site. Photos from the project, including from the drone, will be posted on Flickr (the header picture in the post is from the 2022 project – the rail bridge at Görlitz). As in 2022 I will also be sending postcards throughout the trip – but this year to different politicians each day, rather than all of them to the European Commissioner for Transport.
All of the more detailed planning for the project, including details of events, timetables, and train and bike routes, is on the #CrossBorderRail site.
