This - found via nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpqzadn9vrh0g57r498a70u2k7ducc7030xpvlyl64nnrx2stc3pc3qpwpput - has a little detail on extending trains from Slovakia and Austria/Hungary to Chop 🇺🇦 the 20km further to Uzhorod https://unn.ua/en/news/ukrzaliznytsia-opened-ticket-sales-for-direct-trains-to-the-eu-on-the-european-gauge-list-of-routes
They will extend EC 146 (that is diesel hauled on the border section anyway) https://www.vagonweb.cz/razeni/vlak.php?zeme=%D0%A3%D0%97&kategorie=%D0%A3%D0%97:%D0%A8&cislo=%D0%A3%D0%97:146%D0%94:%7CM%C3%81V:146:Tisza%7C%C3%96BB:146:Tisza&rok=2025
Extending R 961 is more interesting as that's electric https://www.vagonweb.cz/razeni/vlak.php?zeme=%D0%A3%D0%97&kategorie=%D0%A8&cislo=961&nazev=&rok=2025
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpqeh2cfglg0swfej958yk5ewjc0ekzaw8xt0wxt7jxww83edkwe9nqurrmzm Which is barely used, and when it is there are no replies to any enquiries. So yes, but...
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpqu3l76njuhccwlk4tg3l4cjrumysnrkc8a4tl4rkd0w28gxa7ysesgcugjj Is it ETCS making it long and costly, or SNCF making it long and costly? Some countries like Czechia and Belgium have installed it on most of their networks already!
(and apologies if I am veering away from my core political rail work here, but over and over I hear ETCS is too complex and costly to retrofit. This *might* be a solution. But it might well bring other problems too. If you have quibbles with The Signalling Company's approach please raise those with them not me)
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpqu5wmhnh8cpkuxlvlcwzarfq0gecg6hwvz3zwgqsdexymjx6h99jq9yegst Speak to Nico Huurman in Ljubljana about that. There are ways around that problem.
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpqfl9ywh2zcmqjwapk6na2y527v4m4sn3pmhux0qwc7llsqsa3ecfswxpks7 (note here: this is not any comment or not on whether ETCS is a good system, or if this way to do it is good. Simply this: upgrading old stock to add ETCS is hellish. A simpler way to*might* make sense)
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpqfl9ywh2zcmqjwapk6na2y527v4m4sn3pmhux0qwc7llsqsa3ecfswxpks7 Look at how ETCS works otherwise and I am not sure that is any different?
This is potentially very significant for the roll out of ETCS (a signaling and safety system for the whole continent for rail)
Previously retrofitting old trains with ETCS has been hellish hard and/or expensive. The Signalling Company - a Belgian firm that belongs to Škoda, and has been working most closely with freight operator Lineas - has now got its first lower cost retrofit approved:
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpq447hkjad6s4h5mdn8kulvq3jvqdwgpya927pts4zwsqza42gduvqtc420v Sure, but that wrong attitude then is *still wrong*! It is no less wrong now!
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpqjd2lgrnu7vl8tv6tjx6tzeuppcf8xmvwtkttc2424z62muneseeskh4w0g Right, I saw the story. Sometime I ought to just spend a few days in Lower Silesia exploring those places!
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpqjd2lgrnu7vl8tv6tjx6tzeuppcf8xmvwtkttc2424z62muneseeskh4w0g nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpq5n2tsslsw7pxqqcnkmw0fx2ylys3rxpf6y6jfhcvg778zy80qwjsd2atxm Don't get me wrong: there are plenty of problems still. But damn the progress is good! And in some Vovoidships more than others (Dolny Slask being the best of all in my experience).
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpqjd2lgrnu7vl8tv6tjx6tzeuppcf8xmvwtkttc2424z62muneseeskh4w0g nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpq5n2tsslsw7pxqqcnkmw0fx2ylys3rxpf6y6jfhcvg778zy80qwjsd2atxm 4th October I am in Poland for the day (Kulturzug to Wroclaw, EC back to Berlin) so there will be lots of positive posts. You have been warned!
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpq5n2tsslsw7pxqqcnkmw0fx2ylys3rxpf6y6jfhcvg778zy80qwjsd2atxm Bear in mind lots of people think French rail is great, but I disagree. I think it makes some terrible decisions. So this goes both ways - I might be too pro rail in Poland and too anti in France! 😀
Bit of a rant from me, in light of von der Leyen talking of "tech sovereignty" today
"If you’re a “thought leader” about anything in European politics, it’s imperative you practice what you preach in terms of the tech you use" 👇
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpq8jre58pmvgn5usdt7hys2f0ymfuw73x4jmvvfl0glca03f2asjfqxyy70q It's not a good solution for anything other than branch lines (in my view). Just wire it properly!
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpq5n2tsslsw7pxqqcnkmw0fx2ylys3rxpf6y6jfhcvg778zy80qwjsd2atxm Let's put it this way: given my experience of other European railways, I have a more positive view of Polish railways than Poles do 😀
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpqwq8ujq6khtt34n08e4eeg3jdruxhh7jvd4zk8rs5mw58qetqzgmq89gwkm You know I am a German citizen, right? 🤔
Today on Mastodon I have Brits complaining at me that I don't know the problems of UK railways (I was born in the UK and still have a UK passport), and Germans writing to me assuming I do not understand German railways (presumably because I am writing in English, but I am also a German citizen and until last year lived in Germany)
People, really
*It is my job to understand railway politics*
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpqwq8ujq6khtt34n08e4eeg3jdruxhh7jvd4zk8rs5mw58qetqzgmq89gwkm Yep. Same for Dresden-Görlitz - there's a 2003 Treaty between Germany and Poland to electrify that one. Poland it is done, Germany did not start.
Today I'm presenting #CrossBorderRail at Antwerp Rail School (but at Infrabel Academy Beekkant, Brussels) - these are my slides (PDF, KEY, PPTX) https://bit.ly/CrossBorderRailAntwerpRailSchool
No live stream though, it's a closed event
But as ever: if you'd like me to explain my #CrossBorderRail work to you or your organisation, let me know!
Especially so if I am visiting where you are based in June and July - mapped here https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2025-finale_1163738#6/48.166/21.382