Trains Trams Tracks

A load of lines and icons near Genève

#CrossBorderRail (and even a bit of #CrossChannelRail) starts again this coming week 🎉

(I'm happy about it anyway 🙂)

Map of the first parts of it:
https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2026-Genève-tour_1361108#12/46.262731/6.167965

And this […]

[Original post on gruene.social]

Chinese investment in European railways In the Newsletter this week Free to read: How to fix railway ticketing in the EU Analysis: Chinese investment in European railways Bullshit Meter this week: Loop line connecting British and Irish citi...

So after some technical issues, the newsletter is finally out

This week
- EU law on ticketing
- Chinese investment in European rail
- A bullshit ring line
- Good week for Una line
- Bad week for Bane NOR that made their own line collapse
- And an old picture from Cottbus
jonworth.eu/chinese-inve...

Bakfiets loaded with tool boxes, next to straw insulation panel

Transporter is loaded for the Repaircafé . Bring it on.

Silicon Valley's Push Into Transportation Has Been a Miserable Failure The titans of tech brought plenty of disruption to our broken transportation system but delivered little in the way of innovation.

“Elon Musk admitted to his biographer that the reason the Hyperloop was announced—even though he had no intention of pursuing it—was to try to disrupt the California high-speed rail project to get in the way of that actually succeeding.” — @parismarx.com in @gizmodo.com

Now he’s much, MUCH worse.

A portion of the Strøget pedestrian street in Copenhagen that widens into a grand people-place.

One of the most successful pedestrian streets in the world, the Strøget in Copenhagen, was filled with cars until a 2 year pedestrianization pilot project in 1962. The opposition argued “no cars means no business,” but the street has been a massive retail success, the city’s busiest shopping street.

When it prevents mass deaths all over the world and politicians prefer to remain out of prisons once the climate trials start.

Right about now is the only time that makes sense.

Everyone delaying is guilty of mass murder.

Full stop.

And smaller cars, better public transit, and more bike infrastructure.

LGBTQ U.S. Athletes Strike Gold at Milano Cortina Breezy Johnson makes history in downhill while Amber Glenn and Team USA’s hockey stars add to the medal count.

LGBTQ athletes struck gold at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games. Breezy Johnson made downhill history, while Amber Glenn helped secure gold for Team USA’s hockey team.

@jonnelledge.bsky.social

Politics London discussing driverless taxis casually referring to “jaywalking pedestrians”.

Jaywalking is not a thing in UK law.

Transport for London and Government had better not be asleep at the wheel on this.

Kaputte Gleise und keine Züge! CrossBorderRail-Erfahrungen mit Jon Worth – Teil 2/5 Mit dieser zweiten Folge unseres Europapodcasts kehren wir zurück zu Jon Worth und seinem Projekt Cross Border Rail – und diesmal wird es ungemütlich. Statt romantischer Zugfahrten durch offene Landschaften geht es um kaputte Gleise, fehlende Verbindungen und Strecken, auf denen zwar Schienen liegen, aber längst keine Züge mehr fahren. Jon berichtet von Abschnitten, an denen Europa infrastrukturell auseinanderfällt: Grenzbahnhöfe ohne Anschluss, stillgelegte Trassen, politische Versäumnisse, die sich im Fahrplan niederschlagen – oder eben nicht.

Kaputte Gleise und keine Züge! CrossBorderRail-Erfahrungen mit Jon Worth – Teil 2/5

Mit dieser zweiten Folge unseres Europapodcasts kehren wir zurück zu Jon Worth und seinem Projekt Cross Border Rail – und diesmal wird es ungemütlich. Statt romantischer Zugfahrten durch offene Landschaften geht es…

The EU is one of the world’s most fossil-import-dependent economies. In 2023, imports met 58% of its energy demand -near pre-crisis levels - leaving consumers exposed to price shocks. That’s far above China (24%) & India (37%); only Japan (84%) & South Korea (80%) rely more.

Graph @ember-energy.org

This B.C. Cyclist Turned His E-Bike Into a Snow Plow—Then Rode It Downtown for Vietnamese Food.
momentummag.com/this-b-c-cyc...

Italo sceglie Starlink per l’intera flotta I viaggiatori potranno usufruire delle velocità Starlink superiori a 400 Mbps e di una latenza minima di 25 millisecondi, il tutto a bordo del treno che viaggia a 300 km/h.

Reason to not use Italo trains then! www.ferrovie.info/treni-reali/...

Platform normally used for trains to Dijon

And due to a tree blocking one track near Montbard the train is departing on the wrong platform today

That I’ve just had to shout across to four passengers on the wrong platform. Because 🤷‍♂️ the SNCF staff in the office can’t be arsed

Alt, marode, trotzdem da,
Unterführung-Antifa!

'Nonsense': Miliband attacks Blair as former PM backs North Sea oil drilling The Tony Blair Institute says the North Sea basin should be treated as a 'home-grown strategic national asset'

'Nonsense': Miliband attacks Blair as former PM backs North Sea oil drilling.
inews.co.uk/news/politic...

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 £7...

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

A rant about press releases - and not even very significant ones - being presented as news
jonworth.eu/railway-chur...

Why American Farmers Are Hacking Their Tractors With Ukrainian Firmware A dive into the thriving black market of John Deere tractor hacking.

Ukrainian farmers know how to solve this problem.

Look at how Ukrainian farmers circumvented the John Deere walled garden enshittification.

www.vice.com/en/article/w...

China Starts Sea Trials for Largest Electric-Powered Containership China’s first 10,000-ton electric containership is beginning sea trials. The shipyard is billing the ship as the largest of its kind and a further bre...

Large electric powered container ships are already a reality.

When posting about this 2 years ago the so-called “experts” said it is impossible.

Can people stop listening to oil and gas “experts” soon?

As a native Buffaloanian (who could walk to University station) I have:
•cautious restraint: still needs an FTA rating, non-federal funding commitments & then FFGA.
•cautious optimism: a Metro Rail extension process has never gotten this far since the system’s opening.🚉🚊

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 ...

Dear European leaders!

Here's a little idea for your competitiveness agenda

It boosts:
- manufacturing jobs
- construction jobs
- public and private sector
and
- it promotes green mobility

WIN 🎉

Just a few national interests to overcome!

jonworth.eu/dear-europea...

cc @jonworth.eu

To safeguard rail as the backbone of sustainable #EUTransport, railways require stable, competitive clean-energy prices.

📝Read the CER Economic Note on energy prices cer.be/cer-reports/...

(2/2) @wopkehoekstra.ec.europa.eu

“Are you firmly in favour of rejoining the European Union?" - Robert Peston

“Firmly very much in favour. Brexit has been a disaster under any criteria, under any measure" - Zack Polanski

Zack always looks so happy. His opponents just look like the cranks they are - doubling down on a neoliberalism nobody is interested in anymore.

How to safely overload a high speed train (and why it matters for the debate about ticketing reform in the EU) Imagine you're making a simple international trip: Frankfurt (Main) Hbf to Lyon Part Dieu. One change of train, in Strasbourg*. But your Frankfurt - Strasbourg train is delayed, and you miss the Stra...

One of the questions I am often asked about the forthcoming EU reform of rail ticketing is how to handle disruption when trains are compulsory reservation

The solution: safe overcrowding, and deploying an idea from PKP IC

All explained here 👇
jonworth.eu/how-to-safel...

"We need an alternative to Starlink so we're not dependent on an unstable billionaire Trump crony!"
[gasp]
"NOT LIKE THAT".

In my area of work - railway policy - a reform of rail ticketing will be proposed by the Commission this spring

The draft is going to be good

If this reform happened, it'd mean more rail tickets sold and a boost to the sector

The danger?

National rail firms bend governments' ears, water it down

How to fix railway ticketing in the EU We know there is a problem with rail ticketing in the EU - anyone who has ever tried to book trains cross-border has encountered the issues. If you can find the trains you want, you often cannot get p...

The European Commission will propose the Single Digital Booking and Ticketing Regulation (#SDBTR) this spring

We know WHY rail ticketing in the EU needs to be fixed

Here I explain the building blocks HOW to do it
jonworth.eu/how-to-fix-r...