Lmst

#crossBorderRail

DB Fernverkehr requested paths in Belgium for two train pairs between Antwerpen-Centraal and Köln Hbf, starting december 2026, to be operated by ICE3neo (Baureihe 408) #CrossBorderRail

Projected timetable for the new trains, with stops in Köln, Aachen, Liège, Leuven, Brussels Airport and Antwerpen. Departure from Köln at 6:30 and 14:30, arrival 9:00 and 17:00. Departure from Antwerpen at 11:00 and 19:00, arrival 13:30 and 21:30.

#CrossBorderRail reality:

I would like to go from Wismar to Glasgow by train, or at least check my options

- Thetrainline tells me it can't do that and please to book separate trips for the leg to London, and from London to Glasgow
- Omio folds immediately and tells me to take a 40+h bus ride instead
- SBB at least provides me with a fully connected trip of between 17 and 24 hours, but inforns me it cannot sell me a ticket for that trip.

So, Interrail and reservation according to SBB timetable it is, or are there better ways that don't require intimate knowledge of the railway guides of at least four different railway operators?

#CrossBorderRail Finale Train 42 of 155
X2 526
07:07 Malmö C - Stockholm C 11:42
SJ

Train type: ABB, Adtranz, Kalmar Verkstad X 2000 tilting EMU, 6 carriages and 1 power car
⚡️ (15kV ac)
🚲: ⛔️
🦽: ✅ (needs a lift or ramp)
🛜: ✅
🍽️: ✅ (inc a good breakfast)
🧳: 🙂
🧽: 😐 (it's orderly, but it is grimy and worn)️

🎫 Interrail: 😐 (needs compulsory reservation, costs between SEK 75 and 165)

Here's today's #CrossBorderRail music track

NATTOG
Claus Holmen

Thanks @jacobchristensen for this one. Important for some linguistic diversity, even if I am not really much of a fan of the style!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahw9uZOECUc

Welcome to today's thread - 2025 #CrossBorderRail Finale Day 9 - 17 June - Arrival of night train, Malmö – Stockholm, onto night train

No new borders today! It's a bit of a way to Narvik...

Today's trains on the routes map:
https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2025-finale_1163738#6/62.760/19.325

#CrossBorderRail Finale Train 41 of 154
EN 346
22:03 Hamburg Hbf - Malmö C 04:01 (arrived +150)
SJ, RDC

Train type: ADTranz 101, followed by a Siemens Vectron, 8 carriages (inc. couchettes & sleeping cars)
⚡️ (15kV ac, 25kV ac, 15kV ac)
🚲: ⛔️
🦽: ✅ (lift on platform)
🛜: ⛔️
🍽️: ✅ (at least there's breakfast)
🧳: 😐 (very narrow doors, corridors, OK once in)
🧽: 😐 (ok inside, but grimy outside, worn)

🎫 Interrail: 😐 (needs compulsory reservation, costs vary depending on class of accommodation)

@jon @aloxe more #nox press coverage for you. As well as ambitious talk, it seems like a poor name for #crossborderRail #trains, as isn't NOx a legacy vehicle pollution measure?
https://metro.co.uk/2025/06/12/ambitious-new-sleeper-train-will-connect-100-european-cities-private-rooms-67-23396283/

#CrossBorderRail Finale Train 40 of 154
ICE 1020
12:11 Köln Hbf - Hamburg Hbf 15:51
DB Fernverkehr

Train type: AEG, ABB, Henschel, Krauss, Krupp, Siemens ICE 1, 2 power cars and 9 carriages
⚡️ (15kV ac)
🚲: ⛔️
🦽: ✅ (needs lift on platform)
🛜: ✅
🍽️: ✅
🧳: 🙂
🧽: 🙂

🎫 Interrail: 🙂 (accepted)

ICE1 under the modern extended roof at Köln Hbf, it makes a dappled shadow on the train

#CrossBorderRail Finale Train 39 of 154
S 19
10:59 Horrem - Köln Hbf 11:20
DB Regio AG NRW

Train type: Adtranz, Alstom LHB, ABB, Bombardier 423 EMU, 2x 4 short carriages
⚡️ (15kV ac)
🚲: ✅
🦽: ✅ (step free, although not all trains on this line are)
🛜: ❓(forgot to check, but I think only renovated trains have wifi and this wasn’t renovated?)
🍽️: ⛔️
🧳: 😐 (not the best design, door vestibules are more cramped than they need be)
🧽: 🙂

🎫 Interrail: 🙂 (accepted)

#CrossBorderRail Finale Train 38 of 154
RE 1 (26810)
10:20 Köln Ehrenfeld - Horrem 10:28
National Express

Train type: Siemens Desiro HC EMU, 2x 2 single deck and 2 double deck carriages
⚡️ (15kV ac)
🚲: ✅
🦽: ✅ (step free into single deck carriages)
🛜: ✅
🍽️: ⛔️
🧳: 🙂
🧽: 🙂

🎫 Interrail: 🙂 (accepted)

#CrossBorderRail Finale Car 1 of 4
Taxi paid by DB as train missed
00:15 Aachen Hbf - Bruxelles Midi 01:45

Bus type: Toyota Prius
⛽️, 🔋 to save braking energy
🚲: ⛔️
🦽: ⛔️
🛜: ⛔️
🍽️: ⛔️
🧳: 🙂 (it had a big boot)
🧽: 🙂

🎫 Interrail: 🙂 (accepted)

(forgot to photograph this too, my mind was too addled)

OK, re-mapped and re-assessed from Saturday...

#CrossBorderRail Finale Train 36 of 154
RE 1 (26856)
22:47 Köln Hbf - Aachen Hbf 23:46
National Express

Train type: Siemens Desiro HC EMU, 2 single deck and 2 double deck carriages
⚡️ (15kV ac)
🚲: ✅
🦽: ✅ (step free into single deck carriages)
🛜: ✅
🍽️: ⛔️
🧳: 🙂
🧽: 🙂

🎫 Interrail: 🙂 (accepted)

(forgot to photograph it, but this is the train type, older pic)

Despite being late a few minutes, the connection to the 0947 Railjet would have been possible. But I didn't rush, took a few steps in Innsbrucks old town, had 2nd breakfast in a Café and a visit at the ÖBB lounge until my booked train.

The last trains of the trip (with visits in the respective diningcars) led through a rainy Arlberg, along cloudy Walensee and then back home from Zürich.

I might add a few conclusions on the whole trip here later.

🚂🇨🇭🇩🇪🇵🇱🇱🇹🇱🇻🇪🇪🇸🇪🇩🇰🇩🇪🇦🇹🇱🇮🇨🇭

#baltirail2025 #CrossBorderRail

View out of a Railjet train along Walensee in Switzerland

Low hanging clouds are covering most of the mountain range Churfirsten. The wind is causing ripples on the lake surface. A medium size passenger ship is on the lake.

Baltirail - day 22 - travel day back home

The night in the Mini Cabin was ok. The bed was a bit short for me and I slept not too good but alright, both as usual on nighttrains.

For more details and pictures, I can recommend the following article (in German) by @sebwilken for @zugpost :
https://zugpost.org/nightjet-mini-cabin/

I share their conclusions & the ambivalence on privacy vs community.

🚂🇨🇭🇩🇪🇵🇱🇱🇹🇱🇻🇪🇪🇸🇪🇩🇰🇩🇪🇦🇹

#baltirail2025 #CrossBorderRail

Back on the Ouigo from Bruxelles to Paris. Mobile reception is on Brandenburg level here. Barely 3G for most of the journey so far. Significantly worse since we got into the French territory. Hard to get work done with most services requiring connectivity these days.
#CrossBorderRail

#CrossBorderRail Finale Train 37 of 152
ICE 11
06:23 Bruxelles Midi - Köln Hbf 08:15
DB Fernverkehr

Train type: Siemens ICE3neo Velaro, 8 carriages
⚡️ (3kV dc, 25kV ac, 3kV dc, 25kV ac, 3kV dc, 15kV ac)
🚲: ✅ (needs reservation)
🦽: ✅ (lift on board or ramp on platform, but not step free)
🛜: ✅
🍽️: ✅
🧳: 🙂 (well designed)️
🧽: ☹️ (it wasn't cleaned overnight and is full of beer bottles, and I cleaned beer off my seat myself. Train manager was apologetic at least)

🎫 Interrail: 🙂 (accepted)

Wave yourself up with this one this morning! Today's #CrossBorderRail music track

Nightrain
Guns N' Roses

I think I am going to need this to get myself to sleep on the SJ Night Train heading north later

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMDljoM5JFI

Welcome to today's thread - 2025 #CrossBorderRail Finale Day 8 - 16 June - Bruxelles- Köln - Hamburg, onto night train

Today's new borders:
None - I've been to Aachen a few times before 😀

Borders map, inc. borders re-crossed:
https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-all-the-borders_935041#18/50.71857/6.04204

Today's trains on the routes map:
https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2025-finale_1163738#6/55.198/11.206

Baltirail - day 21 - travel day to Hamburg

Rain and clouds made for rather dull views on Øresundsbron (Öresund Bridge).

In København, 🇩🇰 Statsbaner (DSB) made sure we got the usual train ride confusion, they only sign Padborg on the direct EuroCity to Hamburg.
The day before, 🇸🇪 SJ did it by attaching a carriage with different seat numbers than the reservation system showed.. 🙄

The journey itself was unspectacular, which I count as a plus.

🚂🇨🇭🇩🇪🇵🇱🇱🇹🇱🇻🇪🇪🇸🇪🇩🇰🇩🇪

#baltirail2025 #CrossBorderRail #interrail

View out of an Øresundstog on Öresund Bridge

The picture is grey in grey and blurry. Parts of the bridge are out of focus as the train is passing.
It is a rainy day, there are rain drops on the window, some are in focus, others not. The water below is agitated and dark grey, the sky above cloudy and light grey.

I am now on the train from Frankfurt Main to Paris (with stops in Mannheim, Karlsruhe, Strasbourg). It's the last leg of my trip from Wrocław (Poland). The train is a TGV Duplex.

On the platform I saw people disassembling their bikes so I would assume that there are no bike places. WiFi works. 10/n

🛜: ✅
🚲; ❌

#bikesOnTrains #tgv #sncf #paris #Frankfurt #crossborderrail

#crossBorderRail

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