Welcome to #CrossBorderRail Autumn 2023 Day 29, 29 Oct, Hendaye - Paris - Mannheim - Berlin

Today I’m crossing these borders
Euskotren - Irun Ficoba 🇪🇸 - Hendaye 🇫🇷
Saarbrücken 🇩🇪 - Forbach 🇫🇷

Map of today’s route
https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-political-tour-autumn-2023_933893#6/48.115/5.801

Today’s Live Blog
https://crossborderrail.trainsforeurope.eu/live-blog-autumn-2023-day-29/

Here’s today’s intro video https://urbanists.video/w/86yCgcc9qMRqJdfM8S7iQE

Since filming it I’ve fixed the problem with the Interrail pass so I’m good for the day ahead.

#CrossBorderRail Autumn 2023 Train 112
TGV 8530
07:12 Hendaye - Paris Montparnasse 11:54
SNCF Voyageurs

Distance: 770km
Average speed: 164km/h

Train type: TGV Oceane double deck TGV, 8 carriages
⚡️
🚲: ⛔️
🦽: ✅ (lift on board)
🛜: ⛔️ (supposed to be but it doesn’t work)
🍽️: ✅
🧳: 🙂 (better than older double deck TGVs - space under seats)
🧽: 😡 (filthy outside)

Here’s the Euskotren crossing the bridge to France at 06:50 this morning. A cross border service every 30 mins, all day. And it’s *used* - this morning mostly for people going home to France after a night out in Spain!

There’s a pedestrian and cycle path on the old road bridge between Irún and Hendaye

But it’s blocked with barriers French side

Border paranoia I presume - forcing pedestrians to use the new road bridge next to it instead. Easy enough, but just sad to see

Although - thankfully! - there was no border control there this morning, and indeed no French to be seen. In Irún last night there were lots of police - although given how many police Spain seems to have everywhere in general I’m not sure this was necessarily abnormal.

Dax - Bordeaux is one of those frustrating lines in France

Flat terrain. No towns. Could easily have been upgraded to 200, or even 220 or 230km/h throughout on the existing alignment

But no, it’s mostly 160 (with a short 200 section) because they’re waiting for a high speed line instead…

Re. the border controls within #Schengen

You cannot control everything at every internal Schengen border. Border crossings are too numerous, police resources too thin

All a state can do (and obviously shouldn’t as it’s stupid) is do controls to show *sonething* is being done, or control buses and trains to pick up some clueless poor people

👏 for European collaboration

In Paris Est they increased the height of platforms for 8 carriage TGVs

Forgetting 8 carriage ICEs have a door further towards the end than TGVs do 🤦‍♂️

So it’s pretty steep up here!

Hmmm. So we’re going via Strasbourg not via Saarbrücken

The signs outside say one thing, inside another 😃

This means Krimmeri-Meinau 🇫🇷 - Kehl 🇩🇪 is the border, not Forbach 🇫🇷 - Saarbrücken 🇩🇪 #CrossBorderRail

Haaaa

Very funny

A very entitled lady who already tried pulling down the blind without even asking me and gave me a stare when I declined, now has the wrong ticket - she has Sparpreis on the wrong train

She’s now being forced to buy a very expensive new ticket 😂

Also the train manager - who’s polite but firm - told the passenger “if you’d found a staff member and explained this before being controlled we might have found another solution”

Important point here: if there’s some confusion with a ticket, seek out the train manager. Then you’ll likely be ok!

Now they’re telling passengers to Saarbrücken to change in Strasbourg - and take a TER to Sarreguemines and there the tram to Saarbrücken *and buy a separate ticket for the tramway* and then get it reimbursed. That’s NOT a handy solution!

Oh and the wait in Strasbourg for the TER is more than an hour…

Today's re-routing necessitated a bit of re-mapping - now all done https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-political-tour-autumn-2023_933893#5/47.456/2.373

And all the stats and border crossings from this autumn’s project will begin to be compiled when I am sat in the Mannheim-Berlin ICE shortly

And my all the borders map has now been updated too

Pink - main #CrossBorderRail project 2022 (74)
Lighter pink - follow up projects in 2022 and 2023 (119)
Orange - visited prior to #CrossBorderRail (34)
Grey - not yet been (254)

https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-all-the-borders_935041#5/50.303/12.189

At one level it's 🥵 I have a lot to do

But I am missing only 42 #CrossBorderRail lines with passenger services, and just 31 of those are at internal borders of the EU, Norway, Switzerland and Vatican (the scope of the projects so far)

And in just under 18 months I have been to 1️⃣9️⃣3️⃣ rail borders - that's not bad I think 🙂