There’s a Flag for That: Train Day. The “golden spike” was pounded into place on May 10, 1869, in Utah marking completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the U.S. Celebrate on May 10 by hoisting this stylish flag in observation of our rich history and deep affection for trains.

I have updated my article on the longest rail trip in the EU: jonworth.eu/the-longest-... It now adds a third variant: most route-km in the EU where there is no shorter route available I *think* this in the end is Savonlinna 🇫🇮 - Vila Real de Santo António 🇵🇹, 6744.5 route-km - but I cannot be sure!

The first Régiolis #CrossBorderRail train finally transported passengers Strasbourg 🇫🇷 - Offenburg 🇩🇪 this morning. ⚡️ replacing ⛽️, 2 years behind schedule I’ll take one myself this evening to check it’s real 🙂 We‘re a long way from the end of this sorry saga, but today is progress 💪

Or this

I did a train trip to Sorrento a few weeks ago. It took two days each way but it was an absolute joy.

Well, it's been a while, but my #train2EGU trip starts now from Potsdam HBF. Just 8 hours to go...

Capitalist morons over at Forbes even get it now.

My ride home from NYC to Providence last night: Amtrak Northeast Regional! It was also Amtrak’s 55th birthday yesterday!! Happy belated birthday!! 🥳💙🚆5️⃣5️⃣🎂

Boss of DB long distance Peterson thinks platform 1 at Köln Hbf could be adapted for channel tunnel trains Imho it can’t - not because of the platform, but because the track heads east not west Oh and border controls pre-date Brexit Someone’s not done their research 🤷‍♂️ #CrossChannelRail

Today is #CrossBorderRail Spring 2026 Tour Day 30 - 3 May - Rimini - San Marino - Rimini New borders: Cerasolo Ausa 🇮🇹 - Rovereta 🇸🇲 (Former 950mm gauge) Live blog: crossborderrail.eu/live-blog-3-... The live thread bridged to Bluesky here bsky.app/profile/jon....

HOLY MOLY!! This NYC Subway station entrance is very unique because it’s carved directly into a ridge of Manhattan schist bedrock!! This rocks!! 🚇🪨😲 📍190th Street Station on the A Train - Bennett Ave. entrance

After a 3 hr. 40 min. trip on Amtrak Northeast Regional from NYC, I made it home to Providence safe and sound Friday night! Thanks for the ride, Amtrak! See ya soon! 👋🏽🚆⚓️

Today I took a ride on Africa’s first (and only) high-speed train! Al-Boraq tops out at 320 km/h between #Casablanca and #Tangiers. Sweet ride! #trains #railway

Different high speed trains in Roma earlier #CrossBorderRail

Welcome to today's thread - #CrossBorderRail 2026 Tour Day 29 - 2 May - Roma - Ancona - Forli - Predappio - Faenza - Ravenna - Rimini New borders: None Borders already crossed: None Across Italy to get close to San Marino, but no borders today. But I will go […] [Original post on gruene.social]

Metrolink has released a menu of options to deal with the budget deficit. They include: - no weekend service - lower peak frequency - Fewer midday and late-night trains.  - Shortened lines in addition to fare increases. Public hearings on May 13th and 14th! metrolinktrains.com/about/board-...

Patchwork funding strikes again! Spreading limited funding across every project increases costs and timelines for all.

🎉 I’m in Strasbourg on 4th May @aufgleis13.bsky.social

The new railway in Albania 🇦🇱 is a shoddy disappointment If you’re going to go to the effort of building a new railway Tirana - Airport - Durrẽs, DON’T do it like this! Low capacity single track, not electrified (so ⛽️ trains). Poorly situated stations. And hell knows when it’ll even open

Nicely coinciding with the 40th 🎂 of a very special railway event on Strasbourg - Offenburg. On 3-4 May 1986, . TGV PSE tri-voltage set Nr 117 and . Prototype ICE-S met in Kehl for a joint 🇫🇷🇩🇪 presentation to the public. They ran free souvenir shuttles Strasbourg V ↔️ Offenburg Hbf. 🔜

This Italo entering the 🇩🇪 rail market stuff… It’s important, don’t get me wrong But DB Fernverkehr 2026 ≠ Trenitalia 2012 And the lines Italo could run in Italy were built and reliable in the 2010s. Where can Italo run reliably in Germany? 🤔

If this is legit then all the energy modelling, scenarios and projections you have seen are wrong. electrek.co/2026/04/27/c...

I’ve been cycling around Tirana 🇦🇱 today trying to work out what’s going on with their effort to build a new railway here My investigations continue tomorrow, but so far I’m not at all sure this will be an adequate railway to tempt people out of cars

Re-upping this thread for those asking my opinion on electric vehicles in the context of the big need for better cities with a lot fewer cars, a lot less driving, and zero car dependency.

🚨🚨I had the pleasure of being interviewed by @elisabraun.bsky.social for this great @euractiv.com piece on incoming PM #Magyar's struggle to unlock the billions in EU funds frozen during the #ruleoflaw breaches era. Key insights. 🧵 www.euractiv.com/news/hungary...

What’s everyone reading? Is it this?

Can anyone guess which country will dominate the global auto industry going forward?

Damn passenger rail advocacy is tiring. We, the passengers, are supposed to be what passenger trains are *for*. But all too often it’s as if it’d all be so much smoother without the pesky passengers!

🆕 EU Longest Train Journey 🆕 Kemijärvi 🇫🇮 - Lagos 🇵🇹 🦅 Geodesic: 4088.33km 🛤️ Route-km: 6251.5km ⏱️Trip time: 87 hours 29 minutes 🚆Trains: 16 💶 Cost: around €400, with Interrail All mapped and explained here 👇 eulongesttrainjourney.jonworth.eu

I’m quoted in The Guardian about Ryanair closing its Berlin base Take the train to Berlin, folks* www.theguardian.com/business/202... * - and before anyone says “but Deutsche Bahn”, I know. But railways could see things like this as an opportunity

Trams are awesome More cities need trams

Prewar Merz would under no circumstances provoke Trump by admitting he'd been 'humiliated' by the IRGC. We are speed-running through geopolitical realignment and energy disruption. www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/...

This week's newsletter is out! jonworth.eu/we-now-know-... This week: Analysis: We now know the scale of EU rail ticketing issues. Commission, over to you! Bullshit Meter: Italo to run high speed trains in Germany Good week: Nox raises €2 million in pre-seed funding

Inadvertently reminded of this today, a great piece by my friend Andreas, sadly no longer with us to write things like this medium.com/kosmopolito/...

Putin is panicking - a nationwide revolution in Russia might not be likely, but protests are brewing and the economy is in freefall. The consequences on energy supply chains will be global, and Russia could even disintegrate as a nation state.

Let’s put it this way: based on what I’ve heard on the grapevine, this Stuttgarter Zeitung article about Italo entering the German rail market is plausible www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de/inhalt.oeffe...

THIS!!!

Battery storage is now the fastest-growing power tech on Earth. 108 GW added in 2025, dominated by #lithium. More than gas ever managed in a single year. This isn’t a gentle transition. It’s full replacement. Storage is scaling. Gas is peaking. #LFP is winning.

The Guardian swallowed the report of course, as they do anything from T&E www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Prices were negative at times yesterday, so gas wasn’t setting the price. In that sense, gas is already beginning to be squeezed out of its role as the marginal price setter. Also, importantly, the increasing amount of renewables (and eventually nuclear) on CfDs don’t ever get the price set by gas.

Good to see this report, but not a surprise especially to those following @jonworth.eu 's work. "Across Europe, the report found incumbent operators do not sell competitors’ tickets on 86% of routes where competition exists, while on 59% of the routes, the alternative is not even displayed."

Simply put, T&E has some very useful statistics about the scale of the problem, and so WHY we need a solution. The HOW this is supposed to be done is rather lacking coherence at the moment. All my posts on this: jonworth.eu/tag/ticketing (11/11)

Stuttgarter Zeitung reporting Italo 🇮🇹🚅 about to enter German Long-distance market with an an order for 25-30 Siemens Velaro Neo EMUs. www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de/inhalt.oeffe...

I’ve written a reaction to @transportenvironment.org‘s report on ticketing problems for iPaper inews.co.uk/inews-lifest... We know the scale of the problem now. The ball is in the Commission‘s court to fix it now! #CrossBorderRail #ticketing #sdbtr

Absolutely important given the projected aviation emission trajectory in the EU. Data: www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/...

"The willingness to travel long distances by train has increased dramatically...The Berlin-Paris ICE is a great success, 80%+ occupancy. We thought 50% of passengers would travel the full 8h, but 75% do. Talking to SNCF about a 2nd Berlin-Paris train in 2028." www.berliner-zeitung.de/article/chef...

Ich verstehe, warum @sebwilken.net sich über diesen TAZ-Artikel zum T&E-Bericht ärgert. Darin wird überhaupt nicht versucht, der Frage nachzugehen, warum diese Probleme bestehen oder ob andere Länder stärker darunter leiden als Deutschland! (Antwort: Ja, und zwar VIEL stärker!) taz.de/!6172631

cant believe i gotta go back to australian public transport after this