Screaming down the tracks

In the Newsletter this week
Rant: Screaming down the tracks
Event: Passenger Package Webinar - 28 May
Bullshit Meter: Baku - Tbilisi train to restart this month
Good week: Turku will get its tram
Also a good week: My newsletter host, Magic Pages, gets a new luxury train
Very bad week: Fehmarn tunnel to open for road traffic before trains
Good and bad week: Škoda's battery trains
Elsewhere this week: More media about the Passenger Package
Photo of the week: San Marino's train
Calendar: Tornio - Haparanda to open 10th August, maybe?

Newsletter 018, Friday 22nd May 2026.
Subscriber-only newsletter, sent every Friday at 14:00 CET.

Screaming down the tracks

Every day I read the news and everything about the accelerating pace of climate change scares me. Just this week it is Karachi struggling with extreme heat, Germany struggling to act on what its climate law states, and the slowing of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation.

And I think the reaction of many of us to that news is "oh shit, but what the hell am I supposed to do about that?"

For years I have been trying to line up my own behaviour with the need for climate neutrality, if nothing else to show I am not a hypocrite. Not flying, not owning a car, not eating meat, recycling and repairing whatever I can, and helping those in my circles to do the same.

But I know full well that is nothing like sufficient - political and systemic change is the only way.

And I work on railway policy.

Trains are green. Get more people on trains! Progress!

And there is this in central Paris:

That former Autorail terminal at Paris Bercy station (OpenRailwayMap) has stood unused since 2019. A decaying car park deck above 7 passenger platforms, in a prime inner Paris location, with access to lines towards south and south east France. The 5 platforms beyond the concrete hulk that are used by one or two trains an hour.

Just across the Seine this is what you find:

The grand old Paris Austerlitz station (OpenRailwayMap), for services towards central and south western France, standing close to empty at the morning rush hour.

And then when the European Commission comes up with proposals to make it easier for passengers to book cross border railway tickets, what does state railways lobby Community of European Railways (CER, where SNCF is a member) say?

As reported by Reuters:

Alberto Mazzola, executive director of CER, a lobbying group representing European rail operators, said the EU should focus on simplifying ⁠the ​delivery of infrastructure rather than simplifying ​ticket sales.

"If you don't have the infrastructure," Mazzola said, "selling tickets has very limited ​benefit."

That makes me scream down the tracks.

Perhaps not everywhere, but really, railway companies you have infrastructure that is good enough to do a lot more than you are currently doing with it!

And sure, the Bercy and Austerlitz cases are at least partly attributable to poor government decisions, and a lack of finance. And even on ticketing are there are some legitimate concerns railways may have.

But, railway industry, please share the urgency. Search for solutions. Demand better political decisions and more stable finance. At least look like you are trying to be on the side of passengers, and stop coming across like a bunch of defensive, bitter, grey, defensive old men, holding onto the past for dear life.

Rant over. Analysis will resume next week.

Event: Passenger Package Webinar - 28 May

Together with ERPU and Back on Track, I am organising a webinar on Thursday 28 May 16:30-18:00 CEST about the Passenger Package. The event is free and is online only - please signup on the ERPU website here - the link to attend will then be sent to you by email.

The intention of the event is to discuss the contents of the three proposals in the Passenger Package, and then begin to work out lobbying and influencing strategies in order to improve it from a passenger point of view.

Bullshit Meter: Baku - Tbilisi train to restart this month

Trains between the capital of Georgia, Tbilisi, and the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku, were suspended at the time of the COVID pandemic and have not been re-started. Until this month, probably. At talks this week in Baku, governments of both countries agreed to resume services on May 26. Given that all the infrastructure to run the service is still in place, and that the problem was political and not technical, I expect this to happen - although whether you can sort out the border controls quite that quickly we will see. Overall though this looks solid enough to not be bullshit.

All previous Bullshit Meter posts can be found here.

Good week: Turku will get its tram

A rare diversion into the politics of light rail, but given how difficult this one has been to get agreed, it deserves a mention: Finnish city Turku is going to get a modern tram line, after the last trams ran in the city in the 1970s. The new line will be in operation by 2033.

Rail activist, Turku resident, and fellow newsletter writer Sebastian Wilken has been following this story closely - follow him on Bluesky or Mastodon for more updates.

Also a good week: My newsletter host, Magic Pages, gets a new luxury train

Austria is getting a new private rail operator: Silverstar. However unlike state incumbent ÖBB and its main rival Westbahn, this one is appealing to a rather different clientele - it is to run deluxe trains between Wien and Bad Aussee. There's a discussion about it on Bluesky here.

Oddly this route is going to serve the town - Bad Ischl - where the company hosting this newsletter, Magic Pages, is based. Given the amazing service Jannis, the company's founder, has given to help me get this newsletter started, I wish him a pleasant trip on the new train (although his prices are so fair I am not sure hosting newsletters for me is going to help him pay for a ticket!)

Very bad week: Fehmarn tunnel to open for road traffic before trains

Not only is the opening of the Fehmarn Tunnel going to have to wait until 2032 (so two more years later than planned), but the tunnel is going to open for road traffic first, before trains can use it. The reason is mundane and tedious: Germany does not know when works to build the track between its side of the tunnel and Lübeck will be complete.

Good and bad week: Škoda's battery trains

As anyone who has followed my work a while knows, I am highly sceptical of hydrogen trains as an alternative to regular electrification, but I do see some role for battery electric trains as an alternative to diesel on branch lines - and that is exactly what Czechia and Slovakia are starting to work on.

This week has been a mixed one for Škoda though. It's supply of battery-electric multiple units (BEMUs) to České dráhy is being challenged by Stadler in court, while across the border in Slovakia a Škoda–ŽOS Trnava consortium has won the tender to supply 16 BEMUs to ŽSSK.

Elsewhere this week: More media about the Passenger Package

Now the dust has settled a bit on the Passenger Package some media are trying to analyse the issues with it in a more systematic way. I spoke to German business magazine Capital for one such piece.

Photo of the week: San Marino's train

On 3rd May I went to check out San Marino's former railway. It has an interesting history, but I am not hopeful for re-activating it in this car dominated micro state. A few hundred metres of the historic railway have been re-activated for tourists though.

Calendar: Tornio - Haparanda to open 10th August, maybe?

I can't possibly claim it's thanks to my rant about it, but there is maybe some news about the opening of the Tornio 🇫🇮 - Haparanda 🇸🇪 cross border line. Yle now thinks the line will open on or after 10th August.

For anyone wanting to attempt the EU's longest train route once it is possible, this is not the best news: the summertime only daytime trains to Kemijärvi will have stopped by then, resulting in a total trip time at least 8 hours longer than the theoretical minimum.

If you would like to stay up to date with what I am doing, there are public calendars to which you can subscribe: Jon Worth - Speeches and Events ICS | Jon Worth - Travel ICS | Jon Worth - Other Rail Dates ICS And if you'd like me to speak at an event or run a workshop, contact me about that.

Photo Rights

Turku render - from City of Turku's press releases.
Škoda BEMU - Martin Grill - ČD 690.250-6. Os 23167 (ODIS S8), Ženklava, 325 - December 26, 2024 - CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
All other photos by Jon Worth.
Bullshit Meter images always have photo rights listed directly on the image.