Elmo Allén

It’s always pretty interesting to have some folks try hard to dispute car dependency by describing their conditions that suggest that driving is the obvious choice and other options are non-viable, thereby pretty much describing car dependency, without seeming to get the irony of that.

(Meaning that they didn’t even check if it was my passport. Just having one from the EU was enough.)

As others said, quite a typical occurrence on those trains, unfortunately. Even more bothersome when they do it on night trains. I’ve also got a check on the D-NL and AT-IT border. Sometimes just holding a burgundy passport is enough.

Sekin onnistunee. Taktisena vinkkinä laivalta (siis Grace Tegelvikshamnissa) poistutaan peräaulasta, ainakin mun vuorolla se oli sieltä. Siinä voi voittaa jopa 10 minuuttia, jos on siellä odottamassa. Kannattaa toki varmistaa laivan henkilökunnalta eikä luottaa vain muhun. :)

Sama juna! Meinaatko tehdä reippaan 3 kilometrin aamulenkin sinne 6:30 laivasta? :) Itsellä se meni noin 40 minuutissa ilman suurta hikeä. Aamun 13 asteen lämpötila kyllä auttoi siinä.

Oma junani Malmöön pari viikkoa sitten oli puoli tuntia myöhässä, ja se jotenkin vain kertyi matkan aikana pikku hiljaa. En mielestäni nähnyt ratatöitäkään, joiden takia olisi ajettu hiljaa, mutta on se mahdollista. Onhan keskikesä.

Vaikea sanoa missä pahimmat pullonkaulat nyt on. Uudet raiteet Malmössä varmasti helpottivat. Myöhästymisiä tuntuu silti tulevan moninaisista syistä, eikä niitä saada kurottua kiinni.

Se livesändningen i efterhand här! Ostlänken gör det möjligt för fler, snabbare och smidigare resor. Fler människor får närmare till bostäder, studier och arbeten - samtidigt blir det mer plats på spåren för hållbara godstransporter.

Jos Ostlänken ei ole tuttu, se on uusi eteläisempi rata Linköpingistä Södertäljeen. (Seurailee kyllä vanhaa rataa, mutta käytännössä rakennetaan uusi.) Nopeustaso 250 km/h. www.trafikverket.se/vara-projekt...

Ei kilpailu haittaisi, mutta ennen kaikkea Tukholma-Malmö kaipaisi lisää kapasiteettia ja toimintavarmuutta. Junien myöhässäolo sillä välillä on nyt aivan liian yleistä. Ostlänken sentään auttaa, mutta valmistuu vasta 2035. Pitäisi saada muita toimia rakenteille mahdollisimman pian.

The Nextbike felt quite clunky, even for a city bike. And the posture was really bad. I needed to rest about half my body weight on the front handlebar, which made my hands hurt. The Dott e-bike, however, felt quite good. The 100 min for 10 euros deal was good enough for a day of bike tourism. 4/4

But the intersections are well-made generally. It was always clear where to stop and - very importantly - how to turn left.

And there being quite some cyclists (not on NL level, of course) helped in that the car drivers could feel the presence of cycling traffic. 3/

The quality of the bike path straight stretches is on par how we made them in Helsinki 20 years ago. Couldn’t find any during my 3 hours of riding that were to contemporary standards. In Helsinki we at least started to build them about 7 years ago or so. 2/

Nextbike parked on bike parking spot

Cycling in Berlin today using Nextbike and Dott e-bike. Mixed feelings. Pros: there are bike paths and lanes in Berlin, the intersections are clear and well-marked and - very importantly- there are other cyclists. Cons: the bike paths are overall quite poor quality and narrow. 1/

But you’re not alone in thinking that ICE 4 was a downgrade.

Actually, it wasn’t originally supposed to be an ICE train at all, but a next-gen IC train.

I’m quite sure that all the ICE trains have seat reservation indicators. The difference is just that in ICE 4s the display is in the seat, in other trains on the overhead shelf.

With dishes like this, it’s enough a restaurant car for me. :)

Map of the Prague-airport-Kladno railway renovation project

And that’s not all - the full project is to modernize the whole railway to Kladno, and finally connect the Prague Airport with railway as well. But it’ll take a lot of time. It’s interesting to see this railway as well in ten years or so and how far it has progressed then. We’ll see! 13/13

The reason being that this railway is also already under heavy reconstruction. A new underground station and a new track eastwards is being built, later again connecting the railway to Masarykovo, and possibly the main railway station as well (I’m not sure). 12/

Dejvice station with narrow platforms, people disembarking from the train

This railway from Kladno used to take trains to the Masarykovo station near the city centre, but for the time being, it terminates at Dejvice, a couple of kilometres away. At least the metro line A has a station nearby. 11/

Hostivice station. No actual platforms to be seen.

R45 train back to Prague

This train terminates at Hostivice, a small suburb near the Prague Airport. The station is in quite a dilapidated state already, with no platforms whatsoever.

I decide to just board the next train back to Prague, the R45 to Dejvice, as it happened to arrive in just a few minutes. 10/

The line isn’t a probable candidate for any modernization, and I wouldn’t count out a total closure, but if it ever were modernised and electrified, I’d go for a light rail conversion, á la Stockholm Lidingöbanan. At least it’d offer a direct connection from Hostivice and Zličin to new Smíchov. 9/

Žvahov halt. No passengers.

Very few passengers board, and I understand why. It’s a slow route with sparse catchment, largely overlapping the metro B line and three tram lines. (I didn’t count the whole primary school class that boarded it for one stop, as I don’t think that’s a regular occurrence.) 8/

Former Smíchov northern station, a train dispatcher

I even saw a real train dispatcher at work! 7/

Smíchov rail yard. Large heaps of gravel.

The ride starts at snail-pace, as its former stop on the north side of the rail yard has already been dismantled. For the first ten minutes the railcar just shunts from the southern platforms to the northern side of the yard, amidst crossing traffic on the main line, with two direction changes. 6/

Series 810 railcar, RegioMouse, on the Smíchov station

My first ride today is also vintage, albeit modernized - a short series 810 DMU from Vagonka, aptly branded as RegioMouse.

The route, S65, is a curiosity. A nickname “Prague Semmering” might be overselling it, but the scenery from the meandering uphill route to the city is still quite nice. 5/

Smíchov railway station, the street with parked cars and a tram track

Smíchov railway station platform, no train yet

Today, the station itself is still in its well-worn state, bordered by a busy tram and bus street. Just as interesting to see this street in the next decade. 4/

Smíchov street block, new urban development, bike path and urban trees

Road-side parking at the new block of Smíchov

Only two blocks have been completed so far. The urban development seems to be on par with other cities, though as with Prague, comes with a lot of street-side parking.

Definitely interesting to visit this place in five years or so. 3/

Smíchov construction site, with ~10 high-rising cranes

I started my trip from the Smíchov station. Behind the station is already a vast construction site, called Smíchov City, where used to be a large freight yard, and in the future a city for 12,000 people, at a respectable 60,000 ppl/km² density. (Not counting the new station itself, I presume.) 2/

Prague regional train map

Prague. My Interrail stop. An oddball city. Lots of trams and a nice old town, but otherwise quite a car-centric city.

Today I took a glimpse at the regional trains, the Esko Praha, on the west side of the city. While the system is quite outdated, it’s now undergoing a huge renovation effort. 1/

But a 11-hour train without a restaurant car or a bistro is just, I say, insanity… Only a food vending machine in those trains.