Gares des betteraves FTW!

The French drive to take the train.

🇮🇹 Trenitalia tendered for the supply of at least 70, and possibly up to 370 night train carriages

That tender *received no bids* in March

https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:138093-2023:TEXT:EN:HTML&tabId=1

But now Trenitalia has negotiated with Titagarh Firema S.p.A. (Caserta 🇮🇹) & Skoda Transportation A.S. (Plzen 🇨🇿) to actually award a contract, and this was signed in June - in Italian here

https://www.ferrovie.info/index.php/it/13-treni-reali/27245-ferrovie-nuove-carrozze-per-intercity-notte-di-trenitalia-ecco-chi-le-costruira?s=35

I am somehow still a little cautious here, but IT LOOKS LIKE AN ORDER FOR NEW NIGHT TRAINS IN ITALY IS ON

One of my oldest friends, and someone I trust greatly, told me straight up today I ought to be back on Twitter for my effort to get selected for the EP list for the Grüne

In terms of audience reach he is right

But in terms of ethics he is not - I want nothing to do with the Musk-run place

It is *our responsibility* to make alternatives work, and to line up our ethics with our actions. So this campaign will not be tweeted, and I will make the very best of Mastodon (and Peertube, Bluesky) I can