Notices by Jon Worth (jon@gruene.social), page 3

Put you dreams for Rail Baltica on this empty billboard

For here is where the Panevėžys station will be by 2030*!

* - opinions may vary

Kvas. Finally!

Ecolines bunch of shits

Even though the bus is empty, there’s masses of luggage space, they try to charge me €30 because my bike is too large

That’s almost 3x the ticket price (€12.70)

In the end the driver (who spoke only Russian - translation apps helped) let me on for €25 extra

Future Rail Baltica Bauska 🇱🇻 - Saločiai 🇱🇹

#CrossBorderRail border 286

*nothing* started yet. The bridge will be at the trees over there

BTW I see a bunch of people posting about this BBC piece about international rail in Europe and why it doesn't work better. It's fine explaining there is a problem, but has pretty much nothing on 1) why that problem really exists, and 2) what we can do about it. So it's not wrong, just not very new https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20241101-why-is-european-train-travel-so-expensive #CrossBorderRail

Welcome to today's thread - #CrossBorderRail 2024 Extra Days Baltic Circuit - Warszawa - Białystok - Ełk - Raczki

Crossing these borders:
None today - only getting close to Lithuania but not crossing!

Today's routes on the routes map:
https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-extra-days-2024_1030682#7/53.357/22.159

Here's this morning’s #CrossBorderRail intro video, filmed before departing at Warszawa https://peertube.netzbegruenung.de/w/nR9hgwRXJfwXFmnRmdYJog

#CrossBorderRail 2024 Extra Days Baltic Circuit Train 17 of 33
IC 144
07:50 Warszawa Centralna - Bialystok 10:02
PKP InterCity

Train type: Pafawag EP09 locomotive (look how classic that is!), 10 carriages
⚡️
🚲: ✅
🦽: ✅ (on board ramp)
🛜: ✅ (meant to be but it’s patchy)
🍽️: ⛔️
🧳: 🙂 (lots of space, good racks)
🧽: 🙂

IC 144
07:50 Warszawa Centralna - Bialystok 10:02

Distance: 184.2km
Average speed: 84km/h

9 stops:
Warszawa Wschodnia
Wolomin
Tluszcz
Lochow
Malkinia
Czyzew
Szepietowo
Lapy
Bialystok Zielone Wzgorza
Bialystok

This train, mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-extra-days-2024_1030682#10/47.4234/4.5779

BUT there was a track problem… so we were stuck almost an hour in Małkinia

My connection in Bialystok is long gone

What do I do now? 🤔

Go to Suwałki instead, cycle to Raczki? Or stick to plan, go to Elk, but then have only 90 mins of light to cycle 40km?

Annoying though it is I think the former is better

Damn, I have to skip Ełk

No way to do it by public transport now, or safely in daylight with the bike

So instead I will go to Augustów and cycle to Raczki from there (20km), and tomorrow Raczki to Suwałki and back onto the planned route

It’s hard to say if this is PKP IC being bad at handling disruption, but today and yesterday, and on my first #CrossBorderRail 2 years ago when I was delayed 5 hours, it seems that when things go wrong no one knows what is happening, and no one thinks to announce anything

Yesterday and today friendly passengers translated for me, but the info even they had in Polish told us little

Białystok station renovations almost done. It’s a neat job, I like it.

Ok, I’m glad there *is* a daily Warszawa - Vilnius connection

But honestly it’s quite painful

We were +50 into Białystok, and now they’ve taken more than 20 mins for the locomotive change (and 31 min is timetabled!)

A further 27 min is timetabled for the direction change in Suwałki. 35 min for the train switch in Mockava

This isn’t businesslike

Grodno 🇧🇾

Borders, geopolitics and railways, eh? So near and yet so far

Ah. There’s the transshipment terminal. Some broad gauge wagons for petrochemicals and coal in the distance. Sokółka 🇵🇱

Augustów

Pierogi in town. Then 20km to Raczki and that’s all for today

It’s pretty empty and grey here. But the road is quiet and flat, so it’s easy cycling

An e-Horse? 🤔

(Is this what would have happened if FDP had controlled agriculture policy instead of transport?)

Raczki

And the B&B is an old manor house with bike infrastructure funded by the EU 🎉