The train apparently isn’t cancelled, it is just missing all its carriages.

Nach 30 Minuten geht es dann weiter — aber nur bis Ringsted, denn ab dort fällt der Zug aus, das Problem ist zu kritisch. Ein Ersatzzug ist wohl unterwegs, vermutlich mit IC-Wagen. #BebrarydReloaded

Why is the first Perpignan - Paris of the day at 7am? That's TOO LATE. FFS. Early trains are useful, damn it. #LongestTrainEU #CrossBorderRail

(Note all of this not for me, but for someone who might come along to film #LongestTrainEU) #CrossBorderRail

You can get from Berlin to Helsinki reliably by train and ferry in 2 days and 1 night (Berlin - Warszawa - Vilnius, night there, Vilnius - Tallinn - Helsinki)

But you cannot sensibly get from Lagos to Berlin in the same time, despite, oh, about 2000km of high speed infra to use

You *might* just do it with buses Lagos - Sevilla, and Barcelona - Perpignan, and the rest with trains, and a night in Perpignan

#LongestTrainEU #CrossBorderRail

A semaphore! And a cute draisine. In Moskosel.

AAAGGGHHAHHAGAGHAHAGAHHAGHAH

Look how many EFFING BUSES there are between Barcelona and Perpignan

WHERE THERE IS A HIGH SPEED EFFING TRAIN LINE WITH 4 TRAINS A DAY EACH WAY ON THE BORDER SECTION

#LongestTrainEU #CrossBorderRail

This is why Spain and France (and especially the border between them) make me so hopping mad. How you can spend billions and billions on new infra, and STILL not get to your destination when your trip is something a fraction more complex than Sevilla - Barcelona or Lyon - Lille

I can forgive Romania being crap

I cannot forgive France or Spain being crap

#LongestTrainEU #CrossBorderRail

FFS Spain is such a pile of abject shit when it comes to rail timetables

Sure, the trains are fast *if and when they go*, but nothing connects properly

#LongestTrainEU #CrossBorderRail

Good morning Fedi friends.

Is anybody curious about how the #WSocial experiment is going?

You know, the private, for profit "European answer to X" endorsed by the European Commission, which is a fork of Bluesky and has quietly gone closed-source before its beta launch (à la #TruthSocial)?

I've got numbers for you!

Nearly two months in, W Social has almost the same number of accounts as #Eurosky... You know, the European fork of Bluesky that does NOT require government IDs to post.

W Social: 23.5k accounts
Eurosky: 24.8k accounts

In order to post on W Social you need to provide your government ID and go through a 13-step verification process. So far 4.5k accounts are verified but only 2036 (as of this morning) have ever published a single post or reply.

There is a handy website - https://pdsls.dev - that allows you to monitor the "firehose" of any ATproto-powered PDS.

Inspired by @pallenberg and his awesome videos (example: https://mu.social/profile/palle.eurosky.social/post/3mskkqrrc522l) I have been comparing the live activities of the two networks.

The difference is SHOCKING.

W Social is largely a zombie, dormant network, with a high number of accounts that do not interact. Eurosky by contrast shows very lively activity.

The screenshot I grabbed yesterday shows a side-by-side comparison of their firehose over a 27 minute period.

W Social had a total of 240 events (follows, likes, posts...) whereas Eurosky registered 7596 events in the same time interval.

A couple of days ago I downloaded their PDS and saw that 67,8% of their accounts have 0 follows, 0 followers and 0 posts. That's what I mean when I call it a "zombie network."

W Social's CEO says they plan to start monetizing by introducing ads in 2027.

WITH THESE NUMBERS?!?

Sure Jan.

I love how with the transparency of open data you can't really use the standard playbook of CEO hype and hubris. Because we can all see their numbers. And they are BAAAAD.

I have been feeling very strong second hand embarrassment for the European Commission and especially Ursula von der Leyen - who went so far as to publicize the W launch in between G7 meetings in June. I wonder how they feel about it... and if they are even aware of how badly the network is doing right now.

I suspect the network can be on life support for a year or two but things aren't looking good.

Thought you should know!

For my series of articles about W Social, check out: https://blog.elenarossini.com/tag/w-social/ I may have another one coming in the fall...

All’s normal back in Ravières 😀

Bundesregierung stellt klar: "Wir haben gerade so viel mit Dürre, Niedrigwasser und Waldbränden zu tun, da können wir uns nicht auch noch ums Klima kümmern!"

https://www.der-postillon.com/2026/08/keine-zeit-fuers-klima.html

I am now testing #LongestTrainEU #CrossBorderRail routes on some portals like Railfinder

But this also gets interesting

Take this part

Railfinder leans so heavily towards direct trains it leaves you with a *very tight* connection in Hamburg

But change in Lund and Copenhagen in addition, and everything is much safer...

So I *think* I have an answer?

Kemijärvi - Lagos is 18 trains

To do this with normal railway websites (i.e. DB, SJ etc.) you would need 12 bookings, and there would be 9 changes where you would lose passenger rights (the other you can just take the next train)

Ticket costs

Seat 2nd class
€586.93

1st class and sleeper ÖBB, shared sleeper SJ
€1016.31

2nd class, shared sleeper SJ, mini comp ÖBB
€726.23

#LongestTrainEU #CrossBorderRail

LOL 😂

These anomalies

Offenburg-Strasbourg

If you get a French operated train, it has 1st and 2nd class. But SNCF Connect will only sell you a 2nd class ticket, for €13,40

If you get a German operated train, it has only 2nd class seats. But DB will sell you a 1st class ticket (for €19,20) or a 2nd class ticket (for €13,20, so 20 cent cheaper)

So if you want #CrossBorderRail deluxe 1st class hope you get a French train and use a German ticket!

#LongestTrainEU

Way to go DSB 🤣

On your *national* website you have Hamburg ZOB listed, and that's the Zentralomnibusbahnhof (bus station) (pic 1, 2)

To get a train to Hamburg Hbf, the main station, you need to use the DSB International website (pic 3) https://www.dsb.dk/en/international/

But to Flensburg - which is in Germany - *is* on the national site. Totally makes sense (pic 4)

#LongestTrainEU #CrossBorderRail

We’ve also just been warned our dogs have to be muzzled

One presumes dog owners know this and they don’t need to tell 800 non dog transporters that?

And I’ve crossed back into France

Where for the first time in a month on this trip, small pieces of paper with a name on them have powers to prevent terrorism

lol another one 😀

1st class lounge, Strasbourg

I’m allowed in here with Interrail

Entitled dude, French this time, pushes past - thinking I’m a confused backpacker (I have a huge back pack today)

He’s sent away and I’m allowed through

Just had to tell an entitled German dude speaking loudly on his phone to get out of the Ruhebereich (Quiet Zone) 1st Class on the ICE

He wasn't amused

But yes, I can be a German stickler for the rules as well, sir 😀