Welcome to today's thread - #CrossBorderRail 2026 Tour Day 18 - 14 Apr - Budapest - Praha - Ústí nad Labem - Heidenau - Dresden - Berlin

[jon@gruene.social]

Břeclav

It’s only just after 9am and it’s my third country today already

[rail@social.flufftech.net]

@jon do you have any personal record of countries visited within 24h? For me it's 4

France - Belgium - Germany - Poland

[jon@gruene.social]

@rail Today alone I will do Hungary - Slovakia - Czechia - Germany

I don't know what my record is but I would bet it is higher than 4

[rail@social.flufftech.net]

@jon makes sense. I don't do travel for a living ^^

[jon@gruene.social]

The WiFi on this train is so intermittent it’s not possible to do any work. Documenting the last couple of days is going to have to wait.

Oh and the Brno - Praha route is interesting so I’ll just watch the world go by

[cycling_on_rails@mastodon.social]

@rail @jon Maybe a further question is how many countries can you cross with a single train? The Zurich-Zagreb night train visits 5! Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Slovenia & Croatia.

(Granted it doesn't stop in Liechtenstein - although just before and after in Buchs and Feldkirch.)

#CrossBorderRail #RailFacts

[jon@gruene.social]

@cycling_on_rails @rail Optima tops it with 6: Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria

[cycling_on_rails@mastodon.social]

@jon @rail Although not within 24h

[jon@gruene.social]

@cycling_on_rails @rail What route does Zürich - Zagreb do between Innsbruck and Salzburg? Might be Deutsches Eck, so Germany too

[cycling_on_rails@mastodon.social]

@jon @rail It doesn't pass by Salzburg but goes straight to Graz via Schwarzach, like the EC Transalpin. So no Germany.

[jon@gruene.social]

@cycling_on_rails @rail it most definitely doesn’t go to Graz normally. It did last year when there were Tauernbahn works. This is tonight’s route but there are two possible options Wörgl - Schwarzach so we can’t conclude.

I’m on it on 21st April so we’ll see

[ingalovinde@embracing.space]

@rail @jon even without that, it's easy to do more even in a single day, not 24 hours.

E.g. a completely ordinary journey from Innsbruck to Amsterdam via Zurich and Paris takes only 12 hours (7:47-19:50 or 9:47-21:50) with two changes, and visits 6 countries (Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Netherlands).

Even without changes: there are at least several direct daytime trains (let alone night trains) that visit four countries (e.g. Berlin to Budapest taking 11 hours, or München to Zagreb taking 9).

[partim@social.tchncs.de]

@jon @cycling_on_rails @rail The Austrian open data shows it as going across the mountains via Zell.

[konsonantenboy@mastodon.online]

@jon The landscapes on the way to Pardubice are beautiful, enjoy!

[jon@gruene.social]

@konsonantenboy right, exactly! Close to Praha now, but I have Elbe routes to come next.

[jon@gruene.social]

#CrossBorderRail 2026 Spring Tour Train 68 of 115
RJ 176
12:31 Praha hl. n. - Usti nad Labem hl. n. 13:41
ČD

Train type: Siemens Vectron locomotive, 9 ComfortJet carriages
️ (3kV dc)
:
🦽: (lift on platform)
🛜:
️:
🧳: (very high steps at Praha hl.n.)
🧽:
Interrail: (accepted)

[jon@gruene.social]

RJ 176
12:31 Praha hl. n. - Usti nad Labem hl. n. 13:41

Distance: 112.4km
Average speed: 96km/h

2 stops:
Praha-Holesovice
Usti nad Labem hl.n.

This train, mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2026-spring-tour_1361108#10/50.371744/14.254761

#CrossBorderRail

[jon@gruene.social]

Let’s do some #CrossBorderRail

#CrossBorderRail 2026 Spring Tour Bike 17 of 25
Ústí nad Labem hl. n. - Chlumec and back

Distance: 24.8km
Est. duration: 1:40

This bike route, mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2026-spring-tour_1361108#14/50.679981/13.985167

[orangerkater@troet.cafe]

@jon uh, there are two RJ176 🤯

[jon@gruene.social]

So it rained. And now there’s no rail replacement bus ‍️