Brutkey

Jon Worth
@jon@gruene.social

Yeah

A loop railway line connecting British and Irish cities

🐂💩

And to think Chris Williamson is apparently serious, normally

https://jonworth.eu/loop-line-to-connnect-british-and-irish-cities/

Jon Worth
@jon@gruene.social

Putting together a little #CrossBorderRail conclusions tour for this autumn (between mid-September and the end of October)

Some events already confirmed (Berlin, Maastricht, Praha, Kulturzug) and some are things I am attending (Wintersdorf, Wien, Balatonfüred, Paris), but if you'd like me to come and tell the stories of 3️⃣8️⃣8️⃣ borders crossed in this project in your city or at your event do let me know!

I have a few Interrail days free 😀 And two spare days in Bruxelles 🇧🇪 to fill as well!

Jon Worth
@jon@gruene.social

Ah. An unpleasant mansplainer I blocked on LinkedIn earlier (someone I didn’t know but chose to lecture me in a comment on my status) has now emailed me saying literally “blocking people is not nice!”

Hey dude. You should have thought of that before you were unpleasant 😀

Jon Worth
@jon@gruene.social

Part of all this SNCF malevolence is a central question: WHAT is a state owned company for in a capitalist system in 2025? And WHO is it for?

The idea ought to be that such a company could have a weaker profit motive than a private firm, and hence - for example - tolerate more staff at ticket offices, or more half full off peak trains

But SNCF is obviously hostile to its customers, hence WHO is it run for?

Jon Worth
@jon@gruene.social

SNCF

Really

"Our trains are too full, what do we do?"

"Impose compulsory reservation to stop overcrowding, and restrict the numbers who can take them!"

"But now our tickets are so damned complex now everyone is queuing to try to buy tickets!"

"Make the ticket office compulsory reservation too!"

FFS

https://www.franceinfo.fr/economie/transports/sncf/sncf-a-strasbourg-un-rendez-vous-obligatoire-pour-acceder-au-guichet-en-gare_7423162.html

BUILD A DECENT ONLINE TICKETING SYSTEM INSTEAD YOU IDIOTS! 😡

Jon Worth
@jon@gruene.social

Hmmm, is that a #CrossBorderRail line just a few metres into France? 🤔

Near Saarbrücken

https://openrailwaymap.org/?style=standard&lat=49.218424036100814&lon=6.938681602478027&zoom=17

Jon Worth
@jon@gruene.social

If it is (was) a #CrossBorderRail it must have been here - Google Satellite view https://www.google.com/maps/@49.2166176,6.9389898,258m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDgwNi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

But there is no sign whatsoever... 🤔

Jon Worth
@jon@gruene.social

Hmmm, is that a #CrossBorderRail line just a few metres into France? 🤔

Near Saarbrücken

https://openrailwaymap.org/?style=standard&lat=49.218424036100814&lon=6.938681602478027&zoom=17

Jon Worth
@jon@gruene.social

Adding up the stats from #CrossBorderRail...

388 #CrossBorderRail lines visited and investigated

150567km on 1010 trains

5079km by bike, across 208 bike stages

12111km by bus, ferry, tram, metro, car

And all of that since 13 June 2022 😀 And I might have a few more grey hairs than I had when I started!

All the borders mapped here: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-all-the-borders_935041#6/49.468/13.601

Jon Worth
@jon@gruene.social

Riese+Müller is ending sales of the Birdy folding bike, but production in Taiwan will go on under another name

Given R+M hasn’t given a damn about the Birdy for years, and won’t even supply most spare parts for mine, I’m not remotely surprised, and it’s probably a good call

https://radmarkt.de/birdy-aus-bei-riese-mueller-bedeutet-nicht-komplettes-birdy-ende/