TGV Les Laumes-Alésia? Astérix is having a laugh

In the Extra Newsletter this week
Analysis: Astérix has a view on TGV stations
Gadgetbahn of the week: Urbanloop
Good week: This RegioJet is going straight to hell
Bad week: Berlin's new trams are too heavy
Very bad week: Fehmarn disputes
Photo of the week: Postcards to the Transport Commissioner
Calendar: Open Transport Community Conference 2026

Regular subscriber-only newsletters are sent on Fridays at 14:00 CET. However some weeks there are so many interesting things to write about there will be an Extra Newsletter sent on some weekday at 14:00 CET, and these extra newsletters will go to everyone. This is the first such newsletter.

Astérix has a view on TGV stations

What happens when you have organised all of your railway network around high speed trains? And then smaller stations begin to lose those services, but there is nothing else?

France has started to grapple with that problem, and has come up with the notion that TGVs should get track access charge reductions if they stop at smaller stations. The news story explaining the background to this one is here - thanks Cycling on Rails for pointing me towards this.

The problem? The reduction is a rather measly 4%.

The second problem? The choice of stations that are to benefit from the reduction are... somewhat peculiar.

One of the stations mentioned is Les Laumes-Alésia, not too far from where I am based in Bourgogne. And famous mostly because of the Astérix cartoon (there is a museum there to mark the spot by the way, if you are wondering).

But I suspect you are instead wondering: why would anyone want to stop a TGV at Les Laumes-Alésia anyway? Given not even 3000 people live there.

Places that small do not need high speed train stops.

Instead they need reliable regional services to connect with high speed trains in larger places.

The problem is that the all-stops TER trains from Dijon to Les Laumes-Alésia ought to go one station further, to Montbard, and connect with TGVs there. But while there is space for an extra platform to be built to facilitate this, it has not been done. And even thinking that way is not the way French rail works. So there is the ridiculous idea to stop TGVs at Les Laumes-Alésia instead.

The same - more generally - would apply to some of the other stations in the list. These places do not need more TGVs, but they do need better connections to their TGV stations (also known as gares des betteraves, hence Astérix talking about beetroot above), and even the TGV stations that have connections to the regular rail network (such as Avignon TGV and Valence TGV) often have horrible timetables.

Think of rail as a network in other words. What a radical idea.

Gadgetbahn of the week: Urbanloop

What combines the inflexibility of rail (tracks) with the low capacity of cars, runs on tires like a French metro, and adds a bit of swanky rendering on top? And has the additional cost of ground level electricity supply?

Yes it's Urbanloop!

Not to be confused with Hyperloop. Because it doesn't go in a vacuum tunnel. Just to get that clear.

Although give them their due, unlike the five other gadgetbahn projects I am aware of in France, this one is meant to run in cities.

Why you would build this rather than, say, a tram, is beyond me.

However Railway Gazette says they are bringing "fresh momentum to the ultra-light metro concept". Maybe they have seen some appeal in this I haven't?

Good week: This RegioJet is going straight to hell

Polish manufacturer Pesa (they are the better ones that do not brick their trains, in contrast to their Polish rivals) are entering the market for 200km/h EMUs, and have sent their first one to Velim in Czechia for testing. Background from Rynek Kolejowy here. RegioJet will operate these trains in Czechia between Praha and Brno, having won the tender for the operation of that route.

But why are they going to hell?

The four car units, as shown, are class 666.

Sing along!

Bad week: Berlin's new trams are too heavy

Berlin is supposed to be getting new extra long and extra large trams. They even showcased one at the last Innotrans in Berlin:

Everything was set to launch the new trams on 16th February. They even invited the Mayor of Berlin to the launch. And then, 48 hours ahead of the event, cancelled it, and the trams are still not running.

The issue - among other things - is that the extra large trams are too heavy, and this poses a problem at Alexanderplatz where the tram stop is above the fragile roof of the U2 metro line station below. All explained by Peter Neumann in Berliner Zeitung.

Very bad week: Fehmarn disputes

The Fehmarn Tunnel (for road and rail traffic) between Puttgarden (Germany) and Rødby (Denmark) is two years behind schedule, and now a bitter argument has broken out as to who is responsible.

As reported by Danish publication Ingeniøren - who even translated their story into English - Sund & Bælt A/S (Danish) is in dispute with Vinci (French), and the latter has escalated the problem politically, but the Danish transport minister is not having any of it.

Somehow I suppose everyone on the German side is breathing a bit of a sigh of relief, as Germany's rail connection to the tunnel is also delayed. Maybe by 2032 we might see some trains actually running?

Photo of the week: Postcards to the Transport Commissioner

Each week I am going to include a photo from my archive in the newsletter. These are going to be places that remind me of the joy of this railway work, or are simply good picture or beautiful places. But each time there will be a reason.

In 2022 during the first #CrossBorderRail project I sent a postcard every day of the trip to then European Commissioner for Transport, Adina Vălean, and a second postcard to someone who had helped me with the project. This was one of the later days, at the Hubbrücke Karnin, one of the original Michael Cramer priority borders.

Calendar: Open Transport Community Conference 2026

I attended the inaugural Open Transport Community Conference 2025 in Vienna, and now the date for 2026 is known: 6-9th October in Bern, Switzerland. Put the date in your diary! Background about the event here.

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

All photos in this newsletter were taken by Jon Worth, except the RegioJet train which is from VUZ Velim, and the BVG Alstom tram: Ein Multigelenkwagen in Zweirichtungsbauart, vom Hersteller seit kurzem Urbanliner genannt; der ausgestellte Wagen 5003 gehört zur neunteiligen 50-m-Version. Nach der bisherigen BVG-Bezeichnungslogik müsste die Bauart als F10Z eingeordnet werden, Falk2, 25 September 2024, CC BY-SA 4.0.