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Same fate as for the ex NS/CFF TEE rakes that were sold to Ontario Northland.

Or simply because railway stations are usually found in or near city centres, with lots of activities around them, while airports are usually located far away and in the middle of nowhere (you know, space for runways, parkings, and all that). Homeless people usually live from the leftovers they...

In Belgium you can have formations consisting of - motorized éléments : - - M7 power cars - - HLE 19 locomotives - - HLE 13 locomotives - Driving cars : - - M6 driving trailers - - M7 driving trailers - - I11 driving trailers - intermediate cars : - any M6, or M7 car. Probably also I10 and I11...

Waterloo to Central Brussels is twice hourly, if I'm not mistaken.

This happened daily in Liège Guillemins 40 years ago. International trains with portions coming from Paris and Oostende were merged together to continue towards Aachen and further. Each portion stopped at a different track first and then one of the two portions was moved to the other track to be...

Yes I have done that too. From Köln all the way to Athens and back. With my then girlfriend who later became my wife. And promised ”never again”... That was in 1980. Last time I went to Greece by train was in 2015 via Bulgaria, when that border point was still active for passengers. I...

If nothing changes at the last minute, the next two weeks should be the last ones for belgian M4 cars and series 21 and 27 locomotives. Not yet 100 % sure but probability is very high.

I have indeed been caught. It does not let you chose. And picks the most expensive ticket available on the card first. So, will have to purchase that 4 zones ticket again, just before I need it. Porto métro is not expensive, so the loss is minimal, but it is a pity that this is not explained...

We, wife and I, are in Porto for a few days. Mostly walking but using the metro once or twice a day. Wife will also use the metro for her return to the airport (I won't because I'll return to Brussels by train). The metro uses a zonal fare system, you pre-load the tickets you need on a smartcard...

At that time there was still a bogie change installation in Hendaye. It worked exactly the same was as the one that still exists - but unused today - in Brest-Litovsk.

There used to be a Moscow - Madrid direct carriage. Not only a lot of border crossings but also it changed bogies twice on its way... There also used to be a Moscow - Tehran direct carriage. Only one border crossing at the time it ran. But count how many there would be if that carriage was...

Somebody mentioned examples at the russian/khazak border. There were dozen examples of that, scattered everywhere on the ex Soviet territory. Republic boundaries in USSR were mainly administrative divisions, no special papers or authorizations were needed to cross them. Railway lines were built...

As far as l know the replacement of GSM-R, FRMCS, has a provision for that.

The problem for railfans is that the variety is shrinking dramatically. Traxx and vectrons everywhere. Only variety comes from the liveries. Most pre-2000 series getting extinct at an alarming rate. You still find a few "broken nose" locos in France, and the more recent models that Alstom failed...

In good part because they keep their physical plant and rolling stock in immaculate condition. Never saw a railway network where maintenance was taken as seriously as over there.

In Belgium, I think the only station that once had platforms on each side of the tracks is Gent Sint Pieters. And I say "had" because the station is undergoing a major transformation today, where those additional platforms will disappear. I think only 4 tracks - out of 12 - still have them...

As a side question, anyone around knows how 4G/5G signal reception in automobiles work today ? I remember very well old mobile phones (think Nokia 3310 and the like) having a special connector for the car kit that would link to an outside antenna. No such connector anymore on any smartphone...

One of the reasons is that the design of most current units is just bland and unattractive. Units that had an attractive design were in fact loved by railfans. Think SBB RAEe, NS/SBB RAm, DB E403, DB VT08 and VT11.5, NS hondekop, SNCF turbotrains, FS ETR300, etc. Today's units design make them...

Stations with switchable tracks are not very numerous and now tend to disappear. Geneva is gone, Quevy (Belgian-French border on Paris to Brussels) is gone too, Luxembourg also, Aachen will go in the next few years. Remains Jeumont (French-Belgian border on Paris-Liege) but I'm not sure it's...

Recent signalling systems allow to make that fully automatic. With older hardware, the switch is always under the control of the driver. He will first encounter a panel that tells him to drop the pantograph. If he doesn't, his pantograph will short the active catenary to the neutral section...