I was doing my best David Coburn impression today, although more the French village workman look in the knackered Renault than the Coburn farmer look in the green Citroën.

Vor einer Woche erhielt Thomas Wüpper vom @tagesspiegel.de eine Studie aus BaWü zu meinem Thema – #CrossBorderRail. Ich habe mich umgehend beim Ministerium erkundigt, ob sie diese veröffentlichen würden. Keine Antwort erhalten. 😡 background.tagesspiegel.de/verkehr-und-...

I'd be especially amused if Coburn *had* been taking bribes, as - admittedly years back - he would regularly troll me on Twitter accusing me of only saying what I was saying because the Commission was paying me (the Commission wasn't) www.bbc.com/news/article...

obacht!

One effect of our age of the rich: the flattery industry is booming. Call them luxury hotel concierges, personal trainers, Trump cabinet members, Musk "loyalists", wealth managers etc, but the essential job is flatterer. Me @financialtimes.com on how the industry works on.ft.com/43SIvbR

So, my dear German followers...some News "in eigener Sache"! Und bitte nicht schreien, 😚....ich bleibe in London !

After being left out of pocket yesterday due to the problems of #CrossBorderRail between Belgium and France, I have just sent my open letter to Community of European Railways Let's see what response I get 😀 Here's the letter: jonworth.eu/an-open-lett...

Lange hat es gedauert, nun ist sie da: Die Zulassung der Steuerwagen (Bfmpz) der DaNi-Züge (Railjet/Nightjet 2) für Österreich, Deutschland, Italien und die Niederlande. 🎉 eratv.era.europa.eu/Eratv/Home/V...

My #CrossBorderRail trip from Brugge 🇧🇪to Nuits-sous-Ravières 🇫🇷has gone so badly, and will leave me €59.94 out of pocket So Alberto Mazzola of @cer-railways.bsky.social is getting an open letter and an invoice for €59.94 from me Here's the letter 👇 jonworth.eu/an-open-lett...

The long way home starts 2 hours earlier than normal in Brugge (because of the Belgian train strike) But via Gent and then Kortrijk I’ll make it to Lille

Having run a negotiation simulation game in Paris about this dossier, I am happy to see it advancing 😀

Good morning from Brugge 🇧🇪

And some Finns got blocked. Sorry. You assume I can’t do rail analysis about Finland because I’m not Finnish, and attack me as a result, so bye bye. That you hold one passport or another is not a necessary qualification for understanding railways.

🕺 🎉 GOOD RAILWAY NEWS! www.railtech.com/all/2025/11/...

But… but… but just think of all the strategic benefits of spending billions of euros to cripple the Finnish railways for a decade or two! That’s sure to defeat Russia, somehow.

Yes you can 🤣

Were I still on X I wonder what where this account was created thing would even show for me. I could easily have been in Romania or Portugal when I started the account. Plus suddenly revealing where a person is posting from is shocking in terms of privacy too.

This is excellent. But if you read this you’re one of the people who’s already asking yourself what the social networks of the past have become. And I’m on my way to Brugge to run a comms training course. Where few attendees will care about this.

What's so damned corrosive rebutting this influencer shit about railways (or probably anything else for that matter) is it makes you doubt whether hard work is even worth the effort Why bother asking, checking, confirming if something makes sense, when the bullshit wins more plaudits than truth

Was mich inzwischen am meisten nervt auf Plattformen wie dieser sind „Feelgood-Influencer“, die vermeintlich gute Nachrichten verbreiten, um damit Aufmerksamkeit für sich zu generieren. Diese Nachrichten sind oft schlecht recherchiert oder schlicht unwahr. Aber egal, Hauptsache es klickt.

FFS 😡 FINLAND IS NOT RE-GAUGING ITS RAILWAYS Just because an urbanist influencer has posted a 6 months old piece (that was anyway inaccurate) about it does not mean it is happening! Finland *might* lay some additional standard gauge track from Sweden to Oulu

This is partly right. You *also* crucially need to plough enough money into the infra - tracks, bridges, signals - to make sure what runs on them can run reliably. And you can do that from taxation if you want to.

This observation, and the discussion below it. At one level I miss this: really sharp people picking over the politics of the day (some of those replying I know offline). At another level: I can't bear it, as that whole Brexit process was such a pointless waste of time.

(Once again) this is a Brexit reflection. ‘Global’ Britain was meant to mitigate losses from Brexit and surpass EU membership. That ‘vision’ was based on trade deals and liberalised ‘fair’ immigration. The latter is now being dismantled and the former relies on no defunct liberal multilateralism.

Was soll diese 💩, @bahnblogstelle.bsky.social ? Du kopierst einfach eine Pressemitteilung von jemandem, anstatt selbst zu recherchieren. Ach ja, und dein Datum stimmt nicht. Wir haben jetzt 2028, nicht 2027. Denn im Gegensatz zu dir habe ich das recherchiert. jonworth.eu/news-that-re...

Reminds me of my childhood. My father worked at Philips and we had the exact same equipment at home. Amplifier was great for playing Rolling Stones records (when parents were not at home).

Today’s adventures in vintage hifi from Emmaüs Planay Philips AG 9018 amp - working (and it’s valves not transistors!) Philips AG 2230 turntable - has a motor problem Both mid 1960s, made in Netherlands €10 each The amp is worth upwards of €500, the turntable if repaired at least €200

One of the most controversial things I discovered in my #CrossChannelRail work is that the Avelia Horizon trains ordered by Eurostar do not comply with existing Channel Tunnel evacuation rules in the case of a controlled stop Background, and how to overcome the issue 👇 jonworth.eu/the-avelia-h...

Damn I am tired Baden Württemberg - that is ABJECTLY INCAPABLE of fixing its own #CrossBorderRail to France... ... has conducted a study about this topic Europe wide, but has itself no way of acting on this. Nor is the study public. FFS. background.tagesspiegel.de/verkehr-und-...

this week's newsletter is titled "aren't you tired of feeling insane all the time?" and I think it speaks for itself it is also free to read youngvulgarian.substack.com/p/arent-you-...

Neues Interrailangebot: -25% vom 25.11. - 17.12 www.sncf-connect.com/de-de/catalo... (ganz unten) #bahnbubble @zugpost.org @seatsixtyone.bsky.social @jonworth.eu

The next phase is to ask the local state monopoly operator VR with an exclusive agreement to run state funded trains until 2030 "are you interested and if so, then what are you willing to run with this money".

We might finally get passenger trains Tornio - Haparanda next year! #CrossBorderRail valtioneuvosto.fi/sv/-/regerin...

Oh.. die EU Kommission untersucht... Hyperloop. 🤦‍♂️ @jonworth.eu please don't try to test this with your Bullshit-Meter, it would break the scale. 😁 Naja.. schauen können sie ja. transport.ec.europa.eu/news-events/...

👏 I need to update the firmware on an old HP printer The updater won't load on an Apple Silicon mac So I get an old Intel Mac out of the cupboard And HP's website won't load properly on that!

Rongrong!! Auch schön - vsl. ab 15.12. neuer Zug Tallinn 🇪🇪 <> Riga 🇱🇻 : Tallinn 15.00 - Tartu 17.30 - Riga 21.15 Riga 7.30 - Tartu 11.00 - Tallinn ??.?? @seatsixtyone.bsky.social 👀 #crossborderrail www.err.ee/1609860720/t...

German chancellor Merz was invited to speak at a foundation for integration (Deutschlandstiftung Integration). Dozens of attendees - mainly scholarship holders - walked out in protest at Merz’s immigration policy and his ‘Stadtbild’ comments. Nice one.

French journalists when they hear a politician talking about the Régiolis trains 🤷‍♂️ #CrossBorderRail background: jonworth.eu/news-that-re...

Annnnd there is *even more* bullshit in the Régiolis #CrossBorderRail saga, this time in Le Parisien jonworth.eu/news-that-re... This vice president of Grand Est, Thibaud Philipps, just keeps on making up more and more stuff. Which newspapers just transcribe, but do not question

Do some effing research 🤬 Germany didn’t change the brake rules. The trains were ordered before 2021, not last year. #CrossBorderRail www.capital.fr/economie-pol...

"Using the internet without agency" euroblog.jonworth.eu/using-the-in... A quick rant, based on a both defeatist and perceptive comment from one of my students yesterday, and drawing on some posts from @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com

New agreement to task the European Network of [Rail] Infrastructure Managers with developing management frameworks on cross-border -capacity -disruptions -performance Maybe an OK first step, but it sounds ... underwhelming. @jonworth.eu, what's your analysis? www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/pre...

Some news on Nuremberg-Bayreuth. Bundestag budgeting committee is providing funds for electrification works, starting 2030. If and when the line to Cheb via Marktredwitz will be electrified as well, who knows. @jonworth.eu www.sueddeutsche.de/bayern/frank...

One of my students in my online comms workshop in Maastricht: "I don't know how third party apps are supposed to work, I am not a boomer" and she laughed I was NOT laughing If you have never asked yourself why third party apps matter, you're letting the social network itself determine what you see

The #CrossChannelRail report PDF, and the video from the launch today, are now online: crossborderrail.trainsforeurope.eu/crosschannel... And the questions I couldn't answer at the event are answered in writing too! All the: Train types (8) Stations (63) Operators (7) assessed and evaluated!

The capacity of stations biggest factor for #CrossChannelRail trains. @jonworth.eu tripbytrip.org/2025/11/17/c...

The #CrossChannelRail final report is now out! You can download it here: crossborderrail.trainsforeurope.eu/projects/cro...

Final call for Monday's #CrossChannelRail report launch - in Brussels and online crossborderrail.trainsforeurope.eu/projects/cro... If you're already signed up you'll get all the practical info by email before the event Monday morning!

I've never understood the numbering of platforms in French railway stations (letters, numbers, sometimes not in order) And now I have watched a video about it... and I understand even less www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxq2... Other than - typical SNCF - NONE of this is designed with passengers in mind

This - found via @guitarmoog.bsky.social - is handy as I am boarding a train to Brussels this afternoon 😀