Quick takes

A collection of 50 posts

Quick takes

Railway churnalism: how many stories do I need about some new seats and a bit of carpet?

Cross Country in the UK has revealed the first of its rebuilt fleet of Voyager DMUs. These trains are getting some new carpets and some new seats. And some new paint. Big deal! It is going to cost £75 million apparently. How do I know? Because in my rail news

Quick takes

Dear European leaders: here's a little idea for your competitiveness agenda

This idea would: * Allow Europeans to travel internationally, while emitting as little CO2 as possible * Create jobs in European manufacturing industries, some even in the most deprived corners of the EU * Boost the construction industry that would get contracts to build new lines * Benefit both state owned and privately owned

Quick takes

Up and running on Ghost

As of today, 27th January 2026, this site is running on Ghost rather than WordPress. All the posts have been moved across, and URLs ought to pretty much all work as well. If something is missing here, the old site can still be found at oldsite.jonworth.eu Why am

Quick takes

Now we're going to get a Bruxelles and Amsterdam to Milano night train. Or are we?

After yesterday's news that Basel-Malmö will not happen, today there's news that a new night train route will open up - European Sleeper is proposing to run from Bruxelles and Amsterdam to Switzerland and Milano from June 2026. Their press release about it is here (PDF)

Quick takes

Geo Racers: the most fun web travel game since GeoGuessr

I was sent this a few hours ago in a messenger group, and it's brilliant: Geo Racers, a kind of web based version of Race Across the World the TV series. It's made by Chris Pattle - more about him here, and you can donate here.

Belgium

All about 2 metres? The importance of the difference between a 200m and a 202m train is scarcely plausible

When discussing the future of long distance services through the Channel Tunnel, we generally talk of 400 metre long trains composed of one unit, and 2x 200m trains composed of two units coupled together. But when you drill down to the detail, these numbers are approximations. Eurostar's original

Belgium

Constraints on future Channel Tunnel operators

Sometime this autumn the UK's Office of Rail and Road (ORR) will adjudicate on capacity allocation at Temple Mills depot in east London. Responses to ORR from Eurostar and the four other companies that seek to also enter the market for long distance trains through the Channel Tunnel

Quick takes

Komoot: you saved me on Lithuanian dirt lanes, and through the streets of Roma. But it's time for something new

One constant throughout my #CrossBorderRail projects - despite the name! - is my bicycle. The faithful Birdy folding bike has been with me throughout, in more than 30 countries. And mounted on the handlebars (using a Quad Lock mount - amazingly good as well) is an old iPhone 6s. And,

Quick takes

Rough notes about the longest train journey in the world - in 2025

When I had time on my hands sometime during a COVID lockdown and started digging into the longest train journey in the world, I did not know what a saga this one would become. Within a few months of publishing this long post about the topic, war in Ukraine meant

France

8am on the slow train to Paris

It's just past 8am. I've been on the slow train to Paris Bercy from rural Bourgogne for an hour an a half. The sun has just about burnt off the fog of the morning along the Yonne and now the Seine. We are rumbling along the

European Union

Railway work: what I am doing has some ethical purpose, but is anyone listening?

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

European Union

Can't deliver packages in crowded cities? Put more... err... passengers on your trams

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

Germany

Berlin's problem with dumped cars

It is a pernicious combination. Parking on the street is free in most of Berlin, and the city's administration deficient - there is even a lack of clarity as to who is supposed to clear such wrecks. So that means Berlin is extremely slow to deal with cars

France

How to not fall foul of SNCF's luggage rules

SNCF - for all TGV inOui and TER trains - introduced new luggage rules in February 2024, with a transition period up until mid September 2024 for their introduction, although it seems that even at the time of writing (August 2024) some SNCF staff are getting a bit over zealous

Croatia

Somewhere between hell and hype(r-loop) - where our railway discussion ought to be

Another day, and another stream of railway news pops up in my social media feed. On the hell side - unsurprisingly from Germany - comes news that the situation for passengers at München Hbf continues to worsen, while DB has closed the Hamburg-Berlin line for 4 months for works, something

Germany

What good is live tracking data if I cannot act on it? (and how to subsequently claim compensation from Flixbus, in some circumstances)

This morning I was meant to take Flixbus 1324 from Amsterdam Sloterdijk to Berlin ZOB, booked because Deutsche Bahn train drivers are striking today. Needs must and all that. The timetable for the service is departing Sloterdijk at 06:10 and arriving ZOB at 16:20, before the bus continues

Germany

Bad Muskau - Łęknica, and the joys and tensions at the Germany - Poland border

It's one of the many joys of my #CrossBorderRail project - it takes me to these amazing and sometimes slightly odd border places, and I never know quite what I am going to find when I get there. This was the case when I went to Bad Muskau

Belgium

Mannheim-Bruxelles in 1972, and what it tells us about Mannheim-Bruxelles today

I stumbled across this little gem on Facebook - posted by Peter Osten (one of my predecessors as President of JEF Europe) and reproduced here with his permission. It is a rail ticket from April 1972 Mannheim Hbf - Bruxelles return, and it cost DM 95.20. Look at it

Cycling

Please look after your activists when they are alive - the Natenom case

Cycling activism is not really my thing - I am a regular cyclist in cities in Germany, know plenty of people who campaign for better cycling infrastructure, and follow a bunch of activists on social media. But I've never been more than a participant in Critical Mass or

Cycling

Why Berlin can't just do as Paris does on cycling and parking policy

Paris is to hold a referendum in February 2024 to triple parking charges (to €18/hour) in parts of the city, and double them (to €12/hour) in some of the outer parts of the city. Details of exactly what is proposed here. Great idea, I am all for it.

Hungary

Budapest to Belgrade by train - from 28 November 2023

In the summer of 2021 I made a trip from Berlin to Beograd, Serbia (this blog post resulted from the trip) - with as much of it by train as possible. At that stage Budapest-Kelebia-Subotica, and Subotica-Novi Sad were both possible by train, but Novi Sad-Beograd had not been re-opened

Belgium

Why DB Reiseasukunft on the web is still my main train planning tool

This week's schedule: Tuesday - train Berlin-Bruxelles Wednesday - train Bruxelles-Maastricht-Bruxelles Friday - train Bruxelles-Berlin Three countries. Borders I have crossed dozens of times before. But not altogether simple when it comes to the railway connections. At least I know that for all of these countries all trains

France

When the only way from Wissembourg to Strasbourg is... through Germany (with 3 changes of train)

52.2km as the crow flies. 67.3km train route kilometres. Those are the distances between Wissembourg (Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France) and Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France). And I want to travel between the two by train after dinner on Saturday 21st October. Fair enough, surely? France the country of good food

European Union

Strasbourg? Karlsruhe? No - Saarbrücken? Where the future Paris-Berlin ICE stops is not the issue

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)

Quick takes

Toute l'Europe - a future night train map that's very, very bad

This cropped up in my LinkedIn feed earlier today. At the time I commented on it, simply saying it was bullshit. Now I am going to take it apart, and break down why it is bullshit. The map comes from this article from Toute l'Europe. We've