Phil Richards

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TCDD restaurant car menu posted on the wall.

Bread, paper cup of tea and melemen dish (egg and tomato)

Had a breakfast of Melemen (Menemen?) dish with bread and tea. The menu is quite extensive. Understandably, no alcohol. Cards taken (subject to a signal). @seatsixtyone.bsky.social

Heading from Sivas to Kars. Early start (04:56) although we departed 50 mins late. I've done Turkish night trains before. I was more interested in the catering as that has seen some changes in recent years. Full restaurant car. One person serving and cooking the food.

A fish dinner - loads of anchovies, lemon wedges, French fries, salad, bread and water.

Screenshot of xe.com app illustrating the exchange rate of 350 TL into various currencies.

A lot of intermediate stops and most passengers in my coach at least only travelled part way. No catering. I stay in Samsun tonight and head back to Sivas tomorrow. Really not much of a town to write home about, but a great fish dinner for just 350 TL!

TCDD 4 car diesel train at Sivas before departure to Samsun.

The same train on arrival at Samsun station.

Map with the section of line highlighted

Screenshot of the TCDD app booking

After a night in Sivas I took the train to Samsun. 8 hours or thereabouts. 4 car diesel set which was less than half full. And this only runs three times a week each way. Buses are several times a day, take 5 hours but a quick check revealed the price was around 800 TL each way.

YHT High Speed Train from Ankara to Sivas where I stay the night. Fantastic food market.

Ada Express 5 car electric train set at Adapazari station.

Two tracks for the Marmary Commuter and one for mainline. Both trains lost time. Train to & from Adapazari was the Ada Express which connects with Marmary trains at Gebze. These have reserved seats, catering and security checks before entering the platforms. Same security for YHT too.

Did Istanbul (Bakirköy) to Ankara today on the YHT with a detour at Arifiye to cover the short line to Adapazari. Very slow in the Istanbul area and several waits to cross over with another YHT. Only room for three tracks most of the way through the suburbs.

I'm not sure if the classic line will retain the regional trains. Suspect it will stay open for freight. Part of the new line east of Çerkezköy is already in use. Open Rail Map still hasn't been updated.

They were minimising trains on the classic line during the day, presumably to work on connections onto the high speed lines..

between Montréal and New York.

Once #EES is up and running for Bulgaria's only rail crossing out of Schengen, suspect process at Svilengrad non-EUs at least will need to detrain. I doubt there's portable EES equipment. Ironically the US does have that. Had biometrics done in the comfort of my seat on Amtrak's train in May

Heading to Bakirköy for my hotel for tonight. No surprise, but got basically no sleep on the train last night. YHT high speed train to Ankara tomorrow.

Turkish train at Uzunköprü prior to departure for Istanbul.

Border checks for Turkey as @seatsixtyone.bsky.social reported a couple of months back is Edirne. The train wasn't that full (50 pax?) so not much hanging around in the cold. I got off at Çerkezköy & train was less than 10 mins late. Backtracked to Uzunköprü which of course was a route into Greece.

Finally got to cover the Sofia to Turkey sleeper train last night. Bulgarian border control was the easy one. Though I checked my passport when it was given back and no stamp. Fortunately officers hung around on the platform, so one went off and got it stamped.

Heading to Cornwall having just crossed the Royal Albert Bridge.

The RMT press release is a bit sketchy. Onboard train crew, station staff or fleet engineering? Different roles walking out could have different impacts on whether Eurostar could partially run or just grind to a halt?

And the others? Apparently around here. There's plenty of floor space but no sign of any work to install them.

So a slow start. E* like airports etc. have until 10 April 2026 to be fully up and running.

Staff member near Premium check-in said a block of terminals here - opposite National Rail ticket office & Thameslink.

Thought I would pay a visit to St Pancras today to see what I could of the #EES I'm not travelling. Spotted that all 7 terminals near the Premier check-in weren't in use and the glass doors. E* have announced non-Premier pax won't be "invited" to do EES until next year.

This was posted on an email group a few weeks ago

I'm not expecting much sleep but have gone for a solo cabin so I can at least see what's going on. When @seatsixtyone.bsky.social took the sleeper from Bucharest to Istanbul a few weeks back, the x-Ray machine had broke.

Its one of the few (only?) cross border trains that needs booking that can't be done online. Can't afford to take risk booking it a couple of days ahead in Sofia. Discover By Rail's Sofia agent, leaves paper ticket at hotel front desk.

That got rejected but attempt no.4 worked again after verification with banking app. I'm booking my last border crossing out of Bulgaria and first one into Turkey through Discover By Rail. Around equivalent €75 for single sleeper if you book it locally. £35 fee for agency.

Just booked my first of several journeys in Turkey on the TCDD website. Not exactly the most robust site. Payment success is best described as "wonky". Two "check payment details" to start off with. Then for no. 3 attempt (with same card) it wanted my banking app to verify.

I'm assuming the trains will now go SE of Caserta through Maddaloni Inferiore then NE following and weaving close to the old line through Valle di Maddaloni etc.?

Photos at Głuchołazy Miasto station. The other station has a better service to neighbouring Czech Republic than Poland!

And has a regular cross border service between Poland and Czech Republic (or Czechoslovakia) ever gone this way?

Odd that the departure posters at Głuchołazy don't advertise the through České dráhy services that outnumber Polregio.

First did the Czech line in 1996. Can't remember back then if passengers could alight or board as passport checks would have been necessary back then.

Technically not #CrossBordeRail but this was on my travels today. Nowy Świętów to Głuchołazy Miasto. Been on my to do list for ages and worked out well as a route from Poland to Olomouc. Last night stayed in Nysa. Two round trips per day, Saturday and Sunday only but all year round.