There are two high-ish speed routes between Paris Est and Frankfurt(Main)Hbf by train – the shorter one in terms of route-km but with less high speed infrastructure via Saarbrücken (mapped here), and the 70km longer one but with more high speed lines via Strasbourg and Karlsruhe (mapped here). Both give […]
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The personal is political. Have you ever been to Seifhennersdorf, Zgorzelec or Ormenio?
A Friday evening in early June. I am in a compartment in a delayed EuroCity train from München to Klagenfurt, and I am helping one of my fellow passengers in the compartment with their onward connections due to the delay, and conversation turns to broader railway issues, and I explain […]
Good news! The Seifhennersdorf (DE) – Varnsdorf (CZ) line to re-open
One grey and overcast August day last year I took a New York Times journalist and photographer to Seifhennersdorf, a town in Sachsen, Germany, that is less than 2 kilometres from the border to Czechia. The town features in the resulting piece in the Times about my #CrossBorderRail project. The […]
Explaining complexity in my usual way – with a diagram! This time: Deutschlandticket
1st May heralds a major change in public transport in Germany: the introduction of the Deutschlandticket. I’ve explained where to buy it before – but that’s quite simple. What about where it’s valid? That’s more complex. And the way I explain complexity? With diagrams of course! All the versions of […]
DeutschlandTicket as a tourist? Buy it from mo.pla
From 1st May 2023 there is a new, flat-rate ticket for public transport in Germany: the DeutschlandTicket. €49 per month, for unlimited use of regional public transport in the whole of the country. That means buses, trams, metros, S-Bahn and regional trains. Or the other way around, it means everything […]
New trains for France-Germany regional services to be delayed 2 years – now 2026 not 2024
Ordered in 2019, and presented with great fanfare by Malu Dreyer in 2021, the new Régiolis diesel-electric hybrid trains were due to enter service on France-Germany regional routes in December 2024. And now – it quietly slipped out – that date has been pushed to December 2026, according to the […]
