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I have made a variant in my schedule that eliminates "low cost" companies. 30/10/2025 Porto Campanha 10:45 IC 720 to Lisboa Appolonia Change at Entroncamento 12:58 - 13:36 for R 485 to Bajadoz Change at Bajadoz 17:26 - 17:48 for A 295 to Madrid Atocha 22:18 Overnight - 31/10/2025 Madrid...

OK point taken. There are many alternatives indeed. So let's ditch Ouigo. What about Iryo ? Valid alternative or not ? There is one 11:22 - 14:14 that might be good...

Reviving this old topic because things are changed/getting more precise. We had to change the dates of our trip for family reasons. And it will be one week only, with 2 more days to spare for a train trip, only for the returning leg. I abandoned the idea to do it by classical train. It's...

Lots of dwell time (padding) has been added to the schedule of line 124 because of the works that are currently taking place, which are sometimes causing unexpected delays. By the way, 7 km of quadrupled track come in service end of next month. The line is a bit curvy, so high speeds are not...

Never been to Moldavia, but in Brest Litovsk, where similar operations take place, all couplers are changed. Which is normal : How would they do if one carriage was defective and had to be removed from the train otherwise ? Cars are lifted separately and do not remain attached while the bogies...

Antwerpen Centraal has 4 levels, 3 of them with trains. There are 6 end tracks on the highest floor, 4 end tracks just below, and finally 4 through tracks at the lowest level. the end tracks all lead to the south, the through tracks link the south access with a tunnel underneath Antwerp city...

If historical networks can be mentioned, then it's worth noting that the once mighty SNCV network in Belgium (5000 km!) shared tracks, sometimes over 3 rail sections, with urban networks in Antwerp, Gent, Brussels, Charleroi, and Liège...

Platforms in Bruxelles Midi look old but are perfectly functional. They are at the correct height, are wide enough to accommodate the volume of passengers, long enough to accommodate 12 car trains, have all lifts and escalators, and passenger information systems. The problem is purely aesthetic...

This is changing. 130 cars type M7 are currently being delivered. They have one door with level boarding and space for cycles. One of them should be included in most M7 car formations.

Original Antwerp PCC trams are disappearing rapidly too, and even more so in Brussels. Only the last series (7900, the 3 car formations) still has a guaranteed future.

Probable explanation : ETCS. Release speed is 30 km/h if the next signal is not opened. And at major stations, most trains have a few minutes of buffer time, so the exit signal is not opened yet...

No more PCC trams in Ghent I’m afraid. There were some transferred to Antwerp but they stopped running there too.

We had our trip carefully planned with a local travel agency, who provided a car and a chauffeur-guide. All our train trips were reserved well in advance. It think it's worth doing if you want to avoid that kind of adventure. Did not encounter any of this. We had a guide, but he did not travel...

Some pictures as requested

I have been there in 2019, my last trip before the pandemic, and have done 3 train trips : - Colombo to Anuradhapura - Kandy to Ella - Galle to Colombo I felt a bit unsecure when, on the last trip, we rode on the wrong main for quite some time, in order to overtake a few locals, with apparently...

Ouigo train classique Paris - Brussels is jointly operated by SNCB and SNCF. SNCB stock only, because SNCF does not have anything suitable to operate it, but drivers and guards from both companies. And bookable from both companies too. SNCB trains from Tournai and Courtrai to Lille are branded...

Did I really say cm2 ? My bad. mm2 of course. 4 wires, 2 contact wires in pure electrolytic copper and two stranded bronze messenger wires, about 150 mm2 copper equivalent section each. Here is picture of a short section of contact wire used in Belgium (a bit thinner as we use 3kV) near a pen...

Then there are those 15 ex SNCB I6Bc cars that have been sold to ??? a few years ago for refurbishment in Eastern Europe and have never re-appeared yet...

Yes I should have said Most often impossible. A good example is France of course. Using 1500V in the south - with catenary of 600 cm2 of copper-equivalent section in some places, to support the required currents - because over there they started electrifying early, when no other solution was...

There are specific cases where it makes sense, technically or financially. Not many. One example is the Belgian line from Namur to Luxembourg, initially wired at 3 kV, and currently being rewired for 25 kV. The southern part is done, the northern part is in the works and should be ready in 2 to...