This summer will be my last big #CrossBorderRail tour – 80 more borders, mostly in Central Europe. There simply are not too many more borders to visit. And as the project on the ground winds down, I have started to wonder who might benefit from the lessons I have learned […]
The European Commission and the state owned railway companies are getting very excited about the idea there could be a EU masterplan for high speed rail. With that in mind, let’s do a little thought experiment. This started as a Bluesky thread, and has been lightly edited into this blog […]
At a simple, basic level it sounds appealing. Packages cannot be delivered efficiently in congested cities, so use less congested tram tracks instead. Add a the appeal of autonomous vehicles, a bit of AI, and a sprinkling of blockchain, bundle it up with some nice neat renderings, and you will […]
In Switzerland, as a test, 48 solar panels have been laid between the tracks on an active railway line between Neuchâtel and Buttes. News about it here, and cue all the feel-good-but-don’t-think-twice influencers crowing about it. But let’s think twice about this. First, should you install solar panels in a […]
Launched with some fanfare in the summer of 2024 (see The Times and Kurier that covered it for example), the “Trieste” – Rijeka international train service is no more. The train will not run in 2025, and there is no known date for the resumption of the route. This was […]
As I raced around Europe during my #CrossChannelRail project for the past three weeks, it looked like there were three or possibly four private companies in the frame to rival Eurostar on high speed routes through the Channel Tunnel – Virgin Trains, Gemini, Evolyn and possibly Heuro. But today’s news […]