Right then.

Reply to Right then. on Wed, 29 Apr 2026 10:44:46 GMT

maikek@fedifreu.de — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 10:44:46 GMT

@jon No, no, no!!! Each and every former railway should be converted to a bike path!

Reply to Right then. on Wed, 29 Apr 2026 10:42:21 GMT

govinda_hari@hostux.social — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 10:42:21 GMT

@jon
It looks like it's browsing the rubbish instead of eating the grass.

Reply to Right then. on Wed, 29 Apr 2026 09:57:24 GMT

jon@gruene.social — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 09:57:24 GMT

I’m happy to confirm the airport bus is inefficient. This provides an opportunity for the future railway

Reply to Right then. on Wed, 29 Apr 2026 09:51:53 GMT

jon@gruene.social — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 09:51:53 GMT

So I’m off to the airport

Don’t worry. I’m not flying anywhere. I’m checking the state of the railway

Reply to Right then. on Wed, 29 Apr 2026 04:24:28 GMT

ajinkyapdahale@mstdn.social — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 04:24:28 GMT

@vermeer @jon yes, the cows part. But also the half completed towers part.

Trains are fairly good here, even with the regular delays and a host of issues due to cost constraints. Hopefully the going stays in a positive direction.

I think the electrification is well over 95%, but then our main source of electricity is coal. Leaves possibility for other sources, of course.

Reply to Right then. on Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:25:31 GMT

jon@gruene.social — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:25:31 GMT

@Infoseepage at least since pre Covid it’s been like this. Years since there was a Skopje - Niš passenger train. For two decades maintenance has been terrible. Now the only option is close, rebuild and re-open.

Reply to Right then. on Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:22:19 GMT

infoseepage@mastodon.social — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:22:19 GMT

@jon I downloaded a Serbian railway map from the official operator before I left for my visit and a fair number of the branch lines are listed as freight only and a some of the main passenger lines are currently closed and being rebuilt. Not sure how long that has been the case. Had to take the bus across the border, because the train doesn't run down from Nis to Vranje and across the border atm.

Reply to Right then. on Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:20:05 GMT

infoseepage@mastodon.social — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:20:05 GMT

@jon I think they do have a direct service, but it still takes in excess of 5 hours, so it is just a slow, slow service. On the day I was taking it, it left later and arrived later, basically following along behind the non-express service.

Reply to Right then. on Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:19:46 GMT

jon@gruene.social — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:19:46 GMT

@Infoseepage the track is absolutely knackered. I’ve taken that line. The train shown is Swiss designed, Polish built, max 4 years old and can do 160km/h.

Reply to Right then. on Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:17:55 GMT

infoseepage@mastodon.social — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:17:55 GMT

@jon This was the train to from Belgrade Center to Nis. Maybe it's not ultimately the equipment that is limiting, but the need to keep a low speed due to the crossings and frequent stops. Train took over 6 hours to make the journey. A car could do it in 2.5 hours.

Reply to Right then. on Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:15:22 GMT

jon@gruene.social — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:15:22 GMT

@Infoseepage then sorry you’re off. There’s nothing about their trains that stops fast acceleration. (This stuff is my job)

Reply to Right then. on Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:12:35 GMT

infoseepage@mastodon.social — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:12:35 GMT

@jon I've been in North Macedonia about a week and before that most of three months in Serbia.

Reply to Right then. on Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:11:24 GMT

jon@gruene.social — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:11:24 GMT

@Infoseepage when were you there? The 4 car Stadler EMUs they use have masses of power - they’re not accelerating well because of the infra, not the train itself.

Reply to Right then. on Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:09:55 GMT

jon@gruene.social — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:09:55 GMT

@Infoseepage to Subotica too. Šid and Valjevo also passable. The rest is falling apart indeed.

Reply to Right then. on Tue, 28 Apr 2026 19:25:46 GMT

bix@chaos.social — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 19:25:46 GMT

@jon Loved the chaos of it the long weekend I was there a couple of years ago

Reply to Right then. on Tue, 28 Apr 2026 18:59:20 GMT

infoseepage@mastodon.social — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 18:59:20 GMT

@jon Most of the routes would probably be much better serviced by the sorts of single car trains that are common on a lot of rural French routes. They stop quickly. They accelerate quickly and they're much cheaper to operate than the sorts of big trains I saw in Serbia.

Reply to Right then. on Tue, 28 Apr 2026 18:56:14 GMT

infoseepage@mastodon.social — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 18:56:14 GMT

@jon Another major issue with most Serbian rail routes, is that the rail lines are not in protected corridors and the the automated crossing guards where they exist cannot be counted upon, so the trains have to keep to a relatively low speed in order to be able to slow down and blare their horns at every crossing. They're also running much bigger trains than they actually need compared to the number of passengers I typically saw.

Reply to Right then. on Tue, 28 Apr 2026 18:54:10 GMT

infoseepage@mastodon.social — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 18:54:10 GMT

@jon All that said, I took the train a lot because I prefer the ride quality, seating and ability to maintain positive eyes on my bags the whole time. Serbian buses can be quite bad and I was on a couple routes where people were left to stand in the aisles of coach buses. I think the longest ride I took was from Belgrade to Niš, which took a little over 6 hours. It's the opposite of an express, and stops briefly at every little village platform along the whole route.

Reply to Right then. on Tue, 28 Apr 2026 18:50:37 GMT

infoseepage@mastodon.social — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 18:50:37 GMT

@jon I took the train a lot during my 3 months in Serbia and it's a interesting experience, with most actual stations derelict and offering no services. I think there is only a handful of the stations that I visited where the towns took any pride in their old station and kept them freshly plastered and painted. Throughout from Belgrade up to Novi Sad is one of the few routes that are up to what I consider European standards.

Reply to Right then. on Tue, 28 Apr 2026 18:44:40 GMT

jon@gruene.social — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 18:44:40 GMT

Parking, Albanian style

Most of the cars parked in this street are for sale (labels in windows)

So that means everyone double parks, alongside the for sale cars ‍️

And then goes to the cafe

Reply to Right then. on Tue, 28 Apr 2026 14:54:43 GMT

jon@gruene.social — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 14:54:43 GMT

The problem with these Albanian railway plans: nothing being built here is qualitatively going to be good enough to get people out of cars

Beograd - Novi Sad, Tallinn - Tartu, even Vilnius - Kaunas all ARE

These Albanian plans are only good enough to rival buses

Reply to Right then. on Tue, 28 Apr 2026 13:52:26 GMT

jon@gruene.social — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 13:52:26 GMT

I decided I needed some Europa

Reply to Right then. on Tue, 28 Apr 2026 13:46:20 GMT

jensjot@mas.to — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 13:46:20 GMT

@jon This selfie of yours is giving me a little flashback, thanks for that! 🤩 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfihDS0OCwg

Reply to Right then. on Tue, 28 Apr 2026 13:36:47 GMT

jon@gruene.social — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 13:36:47 GMT

College of Europe Tirana

Obviously nowhere at all to park a bike ‍️