#fossrail — Public Fediverse posts

The :pkpic: vagon-lits was a pleasant ride yestetday, sadly I have finally been Deutsche Bahned in 🇩🇪 Muenchen and missed my :cff: :kb_ec: EuroCity to 🇨🇭 Zurich. Instead, I took the opportunity of the :db: :de_ice: Tz "München" with the 🏳️‍🌈 pride stripe via 🇩🇪 Karlsruhe.

Finally, a good old :db: class 628 brought me across the border back to 🇫🇷 Alsace where I was greeted by the beautiful new :sncf: 🤝🏽 :db: Régiolis transfrontaliers sleeping there.

Finally home.

17 days of travels, 12 countries, 16.600 km on rails and 200 hours onboard of trains to travel from 🇹🇭 Bangkok to 🇫🇷 Alsace !

Thanks for reading 💙💛 !

🚂🇹🇭🇱🇦🇨🇳🇷🇺🇪🇪🇱🇻🇱🇹🇵🇱🇨🇿🇦🇹🇩🇪🇫🇷

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#FOSSRail #CrossBorderRail #TeamNightTrain

Last miles back home : During day 16 of my journey, I made it to my last :kb_liege: night train for a while.

The day began in 🇱🇹 Vilnius with an :ltg: Pesa 730 ML ride on the international link to 🇱🇹 Mockava, where there's the break of gauge between Soviet track gauge and standard gauge. The transfer is a no-brainer, the :pkpic: IC 145 "Wigry" was already waiting for us and after an illegal and annoying border check, we made our 4 h journey onboard of the comfortable, modern :pkpic: voyage wagons to 🇵🇱 Warszawa Centralnia on time.

I spent a relaxing day in the city enjoying the outstanding Polish cuisine culture and visiting the hacker space before continuing my journey from 🇵🇱 Warszawa Wschodina in the evening.

I was pleased to salute the :uz: 068Л "Kyiv-Express" on its overnight trip to Ukraine's capital with its golden roofs and defiant beauty 💙💛.

I meanwhile boarded the :pkpic: :kb_en: 40407 "Chopin" :kb_kurswagen: through-carriages on their 15 h journey from 🇵🇱 Warszawa via 🇨🇿 Ostrava and 🇦🇹 Wien to 🇩🇪 Muenchen. After three exhausting days rushing from 🇷🇺 Sankt-Peterburg via the Baltic's to 🇵🇱 Warszawa I granted me a luxury wrap up of my travels : I could catch a single sleeper compartment with a shower - a good opportunity on a long-running sleeper train with enough time in the morning.

The :pkpic: vagon-lits are amongst the best sleeper rolling stock available in western Europe. Of course, due to the loading gauge constraints and the fundamental lack of understanding how to design suitable night train wagons here in EU (I absolutely don't get this, just look at what amazing night trains they have east of EU borders even with respect to western loading gauge), they can in no way compete with Soviet-style long hauling trains. Nevertheless, they are comfortable, clean, have somewhat comfortable beds, a private bathroom and even a DVD player 🤓 !

I'm completely exhausted from the speed run of the last days and need to catch up with my strive for sleep, dreaming myself 1000 km westbound before tackling the last miles back home tomorrow.

Good night 😴.

🚂🇹🇭🇱🇦🇨🇳🇷🇺🇪🇪🇱🇻🇱🇹🇵🇱🇨🇿🇦🇹🇩🇪

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#FOSSRail #CrossBorderRail #TeamNightTrain

I will write more about the day tomorrow morning.

For now I'm just happy to be back in 🇪🇺 Europe.

Oh, and a friendly :omya_pkp_ic: for charging me 300 (!!!) EUR for a sleeper reservation from 🇵🇱 Warszawa to 🇩🇪 Muenchen.

#FOSSRail #TeamNightTrain #CrossBorderRail

After one more night onboard of the :rzd: 071Е, I reached 🇷🇺 Sankt-Peterburg Ladozhskiy around noon. Leaving my comfortable :rzd: first class single SV compartment behind, I'm preparing for the final leg in Russia : Tonight, the :rzd: dieziel' (or is it an elektrichka when it's bi-mode ?) П 6661 will hopefully bring me from 🇷🇺 Sankt-Peterburg Baltiyskiy to 🇷🇺 Ivangorod-Narvarskiy right at the border to 🇪🇪 Narva.

Since the suburban train will depart in the evening, I'll have half a day to spend in 🇷🇺 Sankt-Peterburg. The agenda is obvious : After some lunch, I will head over to the :rzd: Museum of the Russian Railways right next to the Baltiyskiy railway station 🚂 !

So far, day 14 of my journey !

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#FOSSRail #TeamNightTrain

After spending the evening in 🇷🇺 Ekaterinburg with the amazing Children's Railway, I boarded one of the two actually occupied SV compartments of the :rzd: 071Е "Diemidovskii Ekspriess" brining me to 🇷🇺 Sankt-Peterburg during its 40 hour journey. Sadly, this is my last sleeper train for a while since the journey down the baltic's will be entirely seated due to the lack of night trains.

After the exhausting afternoon in the city with its chaotic tram lines, I slept like a baby and started my day as usual : with an amazing :rzd: @diningcar breakfast.

The chef served me fresh oatmeal porridge along with Asian-fusion rice noodle salad with steamed vegetables, juice and a bun. I rounded this up with oat milk cocoa and fresh fruits from my groceries and at the end had the meal of my life 🥰. While I initially was sceptical about the combination of porridge and rice noodles, the chef de cuisine could fully convince me : It was a truly perfect match for an amazing start in my day 😋 !

My train is meanwhile following the last miles of the Transsibirskaya Magistral north of 🇷🇺 Nizhny Novgorod so that I'm now notably reached Moskva Time Zone +3 🎉 !

I will enjoy some rest with good food today - and plan the final few days of my trip which is mostly reserving seats :omya_reservierungspflicht:, booking my :kb_en: EuroNight home and looking for hotels in the baltic's.

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#FOSSRail #TeamNightTrain #EaterAndSleeper

I slept like a baby onboard of my :rzd: Ammendorf SV wagon 🥰. While sleeping, I made it from Siberia to Ural Federal District so I guess I'm back in Europe now ?

In any case, the border to 🇪🇺 EU seems within reachable distance and while I absolutely enjoy my travels onboard of comfortable :rzd: night trains, I'm also looking forwards to taking my :pride_fluo: Régiolis back home in a couple of days.

For now, I got my breakfast from the @diningcar : Freshly cooked coconut porridge, vegetable salad, orange juice and the mandatory tea 🍵.

Good morning Fedi 🌄 !

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#FOSSRail #TeamNightTrain #SleeperAndEater

Ammendorf first class SV sleeper wagon, coal heated and with the most floofy interior possible. Tell me about any better railway carriage 🥰🥰🥰 ?

#FOSSRail #TeamNightTrain

I was said good-bye by the conductor with a German "Auf wiedersehen" when leaving the train in 🇷🇺 Novosibirsk. Even though I have a one hour transfer here, my connecting train already arrived after 10 more minutes.

The :rzd: 115И on its journey from 🇷🇺 Tomsk to 🇷🇺 Adler will bring me up to 🇷🇺 Ekaterinburg within the next 21 hours. My journey across Siberia thereby ends tomorrow since the starting from Tyumen Oblast, I'll be in the Ural Federal District.

Considering how this train will travel through 🇷🇺 Rossosh, 🇷🇺 Millerovo, 🇷🇺 Shakty and 🇷🇺 Rostov right at the border of Russian-occupied 🇺🇦 Luhansk, 🇺🇦 Donetsk and 🇺🇦 Crimea with its terminus 🇷🇺 Adler right at the border of Russian-occupied 🇬🇪 Abkhazia (where you notably are not allowed to takes horses across the border when coming from Russia) riding sometimes just five kilometers next to the border I'm feeling apprehensive and drowning. This train is not just a link from Siberia to the Russian black sea beaches but also a military supply backbone transporting soldiers to their fateful and mostly deathly duty in Russia's war against freedom and liberty. The sole positive side on this is how Russia can no longer recruit as many soldiers as killed, wounded or taken captive while attacking Ukrainian defense. While this is a good sign for world freedom I don't even dare to imagine what durable pain this causes to both conflict parties tearing apart families and friendships with no return. May their bereaves find solace in peace and fraternity 🖤.

Once again, my travel report is no tourism suggestion. May you take this inscrutable sorrow as a warning to avoid Russia's hazardous dictatorship at any cost. It is not safe to be here. For no one.

I know, writing these things in public is recklessly dangerous while I'm still in this country but I cannot be silent. I cannot travel home through Russia without showing to ugly sneer of this cruel machinery found between the lines everywhere since I crossed the Sino-Russian border.

I meanwhile occupied (cynic pun intended) my comfortable :rzd: 1st class single sleeper SV compartment and wait for the departure of my train to get my long awaited dinner served. Enjoying my luxury life while the soldiers designated dead in a couple of days take their rest in the Platzkarty carriages just a few meters away from me.

Sorry, I think I need to vomit 🕯️ ...

Stand with Ukraine, fight for freedom and sleep tight 😴.

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#FOSSRail #TeamNightTrain #SleeperAndEater #SlavaUkraini #RussiaIsATerroristState

After round about 30 hours of travel time, I could finally convince myself to leave the cozy SV compartment and walk around the train to visit the :rzd: @diningcar .

Despite some language barrier, I could be explained how they're out of the regular vegetarian options. I could nevertheless somehow clarify how I'm looking for vegan food and was provided with tasty fried potatoes and a fresh vegetable salad after a while 😋.

Only my order for Çay somehow got lost 🤔.

Anyway, my lunch was delicious and I'm looking forwards to enjoying my dinner onboard of the :rzd: 115Н later today.

Enjoy your meal and stay strong 🥰.

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#FOSSRail #TeamNightTrain #SleeperAndEater

:rzd: trains sometimes are a pure dog and pony show : One minute, the conductor comes collecting the used dishes of my dinner, five minutes later someone from the bistro knocks asking whether I'd like to order any drink. Shortly later, the customer satisfaction officer asks whether I enjoy my journey or have any complaints. No five minutes later someone with a vacuum cleaner opens the door and immediately starts cleaning the floor without saying a word.

And poor me just wants to go sleep 😴.

But to be fair, the clean and carefully maintained :rzd: trains are an amazing counterpart to the dirty, crappy and broken :cr: trains I crossed China with. Notably all rolling stock here is much older than the Chinese trains I used - but still the Russian trains feel much more modern and less left behind. The way *how* you handle things once again shows more impact than the *initial* quality of things.

#FOSSRail #TeamNightTrain

Enjoying a delicious meal onboard the :rzd: 009Н on its 6-days route from 🇷🇺 Vladivostok to 🇷🇺 Moskva on my leg from 🇷🇺 Irkutsk to 🇷🇺 Novosibirsk.

The :rzd: @diningcar served a tasty sweet vegetable risotto along with a salad plate. I'm proud of my Russian skills sufficient to explain the conductor how I'd like to have the vegetarian menu but without cheese.

Despite the cold Siberian winter outside and the cruel war Russia is fighting against us, my stay onboard feels appallingly homely and cozy. With the facade of accommodative staff, comfortable trains and friendly people one could almost forget how the :rzd: are the backbone of military logistics in the disgusting Russian invasion to Ukraine, with soldiers traveling to their horrifying duty at the front line on every train.

Again, here a reminder to not copy what I'm doing. Russia is no safe place for travelers. It's no state of law where you can rely on your safety if you behave according to the set of laws. Russia is a licentious dictatorship no one is safe in. Stay away from here. Really. You might get a railway nostalgic and normalizing impression of Russia when you read my travel report but please be sure : There are things I leave out, occasions I do not dare to publicly speak about. Russia is an evil place and even the most careful travelers won't be able to protect themselves from the repression mechanisms and the hazardous authorities prevailing here.

With this said, it's slowly getting dark outside and after my delicious meal, I'll go to bed soon.

Stay strong and sleep tight 😴.

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#FOSSRail #TeamNightTrain #SleeperAndEater #RussiaIsATerroristState

After one more night in 🇷🇺 Irkutsk, I'm finally back on tracks. I boarded the :rzd: 009Н train where I got a comfortable 1st class single SV compartment for the next 1½ days before changing in 🇷🇺 Novosibirsk.

While waiting at the station, my initially considered 🇲🇳 UBTZ 🤝🏽 :rzd: 305И ended at the opposite platform after it's 19 hours journey from 🇲🇳 Ulaanbaatar.

Additionally, some :kb_kurswagen: through-carriages from the :rzd: 069ь were shunted even though I did not understand to which other train.

Notably, the last two carriages of my train are the :kb_kurswagen: through-carriages from 🇷🇺 Yatusk coming from the legendary Amur-Yatusk Mainline following the Lena river up to 🇷🇺 Nizhny Bestyakh where passengers can cross the frozen river in winter, take a boat in summer or need to fly onwards during spring and autumn.

The :rzd: 009Н/010Н is the cheaper transsib long-distance train, rated worse by the passengers (yes, rating trains *really* is a thing in Russia 🤷🏽). While apparently most travelers prefer the modern carriages running on the :rzd: 001Э/002Э "Rossiia" train pair, I'm personally a huge fan of the mid-generation carriages used on my train pair.

Anyway, time to relax and wait for the included @diningcar food to be served 🥰.

Good night 😴 !

🌈✊🏽

#FOSSRail #TeamNightTrain #SleeperAndEater

After 12 hours, I arrived in 🇷🇺 Chita-2 the next morning where I got a transfer to the Trans-Siberian-Railway on the famous :rzd: 001Э "Росси́я" composed of 20 modern :rzd: carriages on it's 6 day journey from Valadyvoshock to Moskva bringing me to my next destination, 🇷🇺 Irlutsk next to Lake Baikal, the world's biggest freshwater reserve with a surface slightly larger than Belgium.

After 33 hours in a Kupe with stinky food, loud music and lots of beer consumed I'm happy to have some rest in a hotel after I arrived here at 3 a.m. local time.

So far, so good. So far day 8 (or already day 9 considering the time of the night ???) of my journey. My mission for tomorrow remains unchanged : I still need to find a place to exchange my remaining 5.200 RMB to Russian rubles.

Good night everyone 😴.

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#FOSSRail #TeamNightTrain

After 1.5 days of forced break, I'm finally back on track. Leaving the adorable railway station I spent the last full day in behind, I'm boarding the :rzd: 393ь train from 🇷🇺 Zabaikalsk to 🇷🇺 Chita-2 where we will arrive around 8 a.m. after 12 hours of travel time.

The train is composed of old, comfortable Ammendorf carriages with the sweet smell of slight smoke from the coal heating - by far my favorite night train rolling stock 🥰.

I'm sharing my Kupe with an elderly woman also traveling to 🇷🇺 Chita (I mean, where else would you want to go in Transbaikal ?) and I guess I will have a relaxed night with sweet dreams of democracy and Ukrainian victory 💙💛.

Sleep tight, Fedi 😴.

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#FOSSRail #TeamNightTrain

The advantage of staying in the Komnata Otdika : You can watch all the cute :rzd: trains right from your window 🥰🥰🥰 !

My mission for today was to exchange enough Chinese yuan to Russian ruble that I can rebook all my trains - that's a complicated mission since Russian regulation officially does not permit to exchange more than 40.000 ruble (400 EUR) of foreign currencies per day.

Despite trying several places, I could indeed only exchange 40.000 ruble sice apart from one Bank, they all could not process passports written in Latin scripts.

I hoped I could just rebook my :rzd: online ticket but I learned it's only possible to refund them to the original payment card. Sad, since that was a foreign credit card which obviously doesn't work in the enemy's country thanks to the solidary sanction regime.

After all, the kind employee at the :rzd: Kassa gave her best to help me. She was so kind and friendly, she really made my day. And damn, my Russian is getting really much better here. I actually understood everything she said apart from the fast numbers.

After all, I could afford all preliminary tickets up to 🇷🇺 Sankt-Peterburg by booking two days in 2nd class Kupe. Once I'm able to exchange more money I'll consider rebooking the tickets - after all the travel stress I'm not so keen to spending 52 hours in a compartment with crying children.

So far so good. Now I need to rebook my hotel and move some appointments. Fingers crossed 🤞🏽.

So far, day 7 of my journey : I did not make any travel progress but lots of paperwork.

Oh, and after I haven't eaten anything yesterday and today, I *finally* bought some food.

Having all tickets up to the border in my wallet, I'm looking forwards to be back in a democratic country 😵‍💫.

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#FOSSRail #TeamNightTrain

Goodbye 🇨🇳 China, hello 🇷🇺 Russia !

The Bank of China told me it'd take two more hours to exchange currency so I had to leave without. Idk, I always thought currency conversation was strictly regulated in Europe but in China this seems to be an even more restricted business.

I arrived at the station 25 minutes before the departure of my :cr: 🤝🏽 :rzd: 353Ь train hopefully bringing me to 🇷🇺 Irkutsk.

I say "hopefully" because I don't have a ticket. My cross-border ticket is literally just for the 25 minutes ride between 🇨🇳 Manzhouli and 🇷🇺 Zabaikalsk whereas there hopefully is an electronic reservation for the rest of the journey stored with my passport number. Fingers crossed 🤞🏽.

In any case, it stays interesting - may the journey behind the enemy's line go safe 😇.

🌈✊🏽

#FOSSRail #CrossBorderRail #TeamNightTrain

From 🇨🇳 Beijing on, I took the :cr: Kuaisu train to 🇨🇳 Qiqihaer in the far north east.

I was lucky to get one of the rare first class Superior Soft Sleeper compartments available on few selected trains. While the rolling stock was of chattery Chinese quality you know from anything produced at CRRC, I had a surprisingly relaxing night and was only woken up by the conductor at 10.30 a.m., 20 minutes before arriving at my destination.

In 🇨🇳 Qiqihaer, I had a layover of 1.5 hours. Enough to find some vegan ramen in the departure hall's little store.

From here on, my next :cr: Kuaisu train will get me northbound to 🇨🇳 Manzhouli, the town at the tripoint between 🇨🇳 China, 🇲🇳 Mongolia and 🇷🇺 Russia.

I booked a couchette in a second class Soft Sleeper compartment which is supposed to host 4 passengers. Opening the door, I was in fact not really surprised to find 7 passengers already using the compartment : 5 adults and 2 children.

My roommates shuffled free a little spot in the corner of a couchette so that I could join the party : I can now enjoy 10 hours of smelling food, Douyin tunes, crying babies and parents trying to lift the children's mood by ratteling instant ramen packages 🎉 !

I love traveling by train 🥰 !

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#FOSSRail #TeamNightTrain

Good morning Fedi 🌄 !

I had an excellent night and my :srt: sleeper arrived in 🇹🇭 Nong Khai on time.

Despite amenities on the train, I was too sleepy and my bed was too cuddly to motivate myself to have a shower before arriving.

The morning arrival of the :srt: Special Express 25 in the morning always is a spectacle : All passenger leave and jointly walk to the ticket office, queue up and all request the same, a connecting ticket to 🇱🇦 Vientianne. The queue dissolves quickly, not even 10 minutes after the arrival all passengers were issued their connecting ticket for the :srt: Rapid 133.

Why all of this ? I have no clue. The ticket office in Bangkok could also issue the tickets and you can buy them online. Maybe all the Lao people are fond of paper tickets as much as I am 🤓 ? Who knows 🤪. Anyways, I now obtained my connecting ticket and will hopefully also be able to purchase a ticket for my :lcr: train once arriving in 🇱🇦 Vientianne later.

Now I have two hours in 🇹🇭 Nong Khai waiting for my connecting train. The station is very comfortable, with a minimart, toilets, even showers and some little cafés.

My train was meanwhile shunted over to platform 2 where it's waiting for its departure back to 🇹🇭 Bangkok in the evening.

While there are minibuses and tuck-tucks to 🇱🇦 Vientianne every few minutes which would allow me to take an earlier :lcr: LCR train to 🇨🇳 Kunming, my inner purism wants me to wait for two hours to actually travel every little bit possible by rail.

At least I will spend the two hours looking for some breakfast !

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#FOSSRail #TeamNightTrain #CrossBorderRail #Thailand #Laos

My first train : The comfortable :srt: Special Express 25 will bring me over night to 🇹🇭 Nong Khai, the border town of 🇱🇦 Vientianne.

The train consists of 13 carriages, sleeper wagons of different classes and a @diningcar .

While there is a direct :srt: train from 🇹🇭 Bangkok across the border to 🇱🇦 Vientianne, this train only consists of a couple of old carriages of third class and couchette spots ready for the scrapyard. Instead, the transfer in 🇹🇭 Nong Khai is an excellent opportunity to grab some breakfast before crossing the border into 🇱🇦 Laos.

Sweet dreams everyone 😴 !

🌈✊🏽

#FOSSRail #TeamNightTrain #CrossBorderRail #SleeperAndEater

Today, my railway journey from 🇹🇭 Bangkok back to 🇫🇷 Alsace finally begins.

Marking the start of my trip, I visited the Hua Lamphong railway station. The beautiful building with a huge departure hall, flowers and fountains is sadly only served by :srt: commuter trains and the :bangkok_mrt: subway in present times since the mainline operations were completely moved to the new Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal in 2016.

Nevertheless, the railway station nowadays hosting a museum with beautiful old Thai trains serves as an excellent location to start my trip : I will spend the next two weeks all on trains : Sleeper trains, high-speed trains and adorable regional trains will hopefully safely guide me for 17.000 km on rails spanning from Thailand via China, Siberia and the Ural to Europe.

Follow #FOSSRail or this account to travel along with me in this thread !

🌈✊🏽

#CrossBorderRail #TeamNightTrain

Today it's getting serious again : In a couple of hours I'll be leaving 🇹🇭 #Bangkok by :srt: night train to start my 15 days journey bringing me back to 🇫🇷 #Alsace traveling 100 % by train 🚂.

🚂🇹🇭🇱🇦🇨🇳🇷🇺🇪🇪🇱🇻🇱🇹🇵🇱🇨🇿🇦🇹🇩🇪🇱🇮🇨🇭🇫🇷

#FOSSRail #CrossBorderRail #TeamNightTrain

:cr: sleeper booking noises ...

I got :

- One New Soft Sleeper, a high-speed train with berths inside
- One Superior Soft Sleeper, a classic train with private sleeper compartments
- One Soft Sleeper, the regular sleeper carriages

Thereby all Chinese trains covered (apart from the :lcr: one but I'll just buy the ticket at the counter).

Looks like #FOSSRail homebound will slowly work out 🎉 !

Be prepared for an exciting travel report for traveling from 🇹🇭 Bangkok to 🇫🇷 Alsace by using trains only 🚂 !

#TeamNightTrain

Arriving in Kaisiadorys, #FOSSRail day two ends. 900 km further east and five countries crossed so far, I'm prepared to get up early tomorrow morning in order to catch the Baltic express connection bringing me across Latvia to the Estonian-Russian border.

#WhatsMissing : a night train Berlin/Praha/Krakow - Warszawa - Kaunas - Riga - Tallinn 🙄.

Good night !

#FOSSRail #CrossBorderRail #Lithuania #Baltics #RailBaltica