Right then.
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@jon It's not a great walk in from the Petrovaradin train station to Novi Sad across either of the Danube bridges. I did it once via each bridge coming and going. Takes you through some questionable neighborhoods with lots of very heavy gang graffiti. Would have taken a taxi on the inbound journey, but the driver wanted 20 bucks for the about 4 km journey. Highway robbery.
@jon Would have taken a taxi from town back to the train station on the day I left, but couldn't seem to flag one down and so just gave up and hoofed it. Carrying a 75l pack frame and a separate reinforced grocery bag for food. Not fun to be walking that far in the hot sun on bad pavement and sometimes just flat out dirt.
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@pvdrijst I have been here in 2019, 2024 and now, and the level of traffic has always been hellish. Cycling in the north in 2024 - to the border with Montenegro - was fine in comparison!
@jon I cycles from Macedonia (sorry Greece) along the coast to Montenegro, and traffic never was a problem even in Dürres.
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Overall I have the impression that Albania is building this railway so as they can show to the EU and other international partners that they are "modern" and a token effort is being made against road congestion
It's rather similar to their bike lanes. "Look we have bike lanes!"
No one can reasonably use the bike lanes, and not many will be able to use the train, but that's not the point
The point is to have these things, for credibility
College of Europe Tirana
Obviously nowhere at all to park a bike
️
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College of Europe Tirana
Obviously nowhere at all to park a bike
️@jon This selfie of yours is giving me a little flashback, thanks for that! 🤩 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfihDS0OCwg
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College of Europe Tirana
Obviously nowhere at all to park a bike
️I decided I needed some Europa
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I decided I needed some Europa
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
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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
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
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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
@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.
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@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.
@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.
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@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.
@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.
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@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.
@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.
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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
@jon Loved the chaos of it the long weekend I was there a couple of years ago
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@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.
@Infoseepage to Subotica too. Šid and Valjevo also passable. The rest is falling apart indeed.
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@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.
@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.
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@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.
@jon I've been in North Macedonia about a week and before that most of three months in Serbia.
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@jon I've been in North Macedonia about a week and before that most of three months in Serbia.
@Infoseepage then sorry you’re off. There’s nothing about their trains that stops fast acceleration. (This stuff is my job)
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@Infoseepage then sorry you’re off. There’s nothing about their trains that stops fast acceleration. (This stuff is my job)
@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.
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@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.
@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.
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@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.
@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.
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@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.
@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.
