'rail' - tagged features

One phenomenon Network Europe looked into during 2007 was “Yugonostalgia.” When Yugoslavia fell apart in the 1990’s the Balkans experienced Europe’s bloodiest wars since the end of the Second World War. While relations are still strained between the six independent republics that were created, “Yugonostalgia” has been visible from Ljubljana, to Sarajevo and Belgrade. It’s a cultural and psychological phenomenon – nostalgia for the former Yugoslavia, its customs, traditions and its former leader Marshall Josip Broz Tito ... who, as it turns out was a train enthusiast. Seeing a golden opportunity, The Serbian Rail Company dusted down and wheeled out Tito’s luxurious private train. In the past, it only carried VIP’s and heads of state – but times have changed and Deutsche Welle’s Barbara Gruber simply queued with a few tourists to get on board the Blue Train. 

Europe may be united but its rail network is somewhat fragmented. But that may be about to change. The public transport world has been excited by the launch of Railteam – an alliance of Europe’s seven biggest train operators who have clubbed together to offer services they say will challenge low-cost airlines. They say they’re going to cut journey times in half and bring fares down too. But there’s some hard selling to do before many travellers are seduced by, or even know about, a railway alternative to flying. 

Brussels infamous bureaucracy is under the spotlight again. Critics have long accused MEPs of having big expense accounts and travel budgets they don’t need. But now there are fresh calls for the travelling circus of the European Parliament, which moves from Brussels to Strasbourg every month, to be stopped. But people have tried and failed to get rid of the Strasbourg connection before. 

Twenty five years ago Yugoslavia was a model of nation-state stability. Yugoslavia kept the Balkans in one peaceful piece for over 70 years. It was a feat attributed to the skills of the country’s benevolent communist dictator, Marshall Tito. Now, Mr Tito’s favourite thing was his private, Blue train. After his death it was packed away in mothballs and hasn’t been seen much since. But now after the bloody wars of the 1990’s and the break-up of the country the former Yugoslav states are riding a wave of nostalgia, known now as Tito-mania. What a great time thought the Serbian Rail company, to dust off and wheel out the Blue train. 

At the cutting edge of train technology are the trains that go almost as fast as aeroplanes. In France you can take the high-speed TGV, from one big town to the next in less than half the time it takes in a car. The trouble is that in much of the country if you want to go somewhere smaller your options are limited. It’s an issue some provincial citizens have been protesting about bitterly. 

It’s possibly the slowest train in Europe… In Romania, crawling up through the wilderness of Maramures in the north of the country, is the Mocanitza train. In Romanian Mocanitza means a female inhabitant of the mountainous regions of Transylvania. Iulian Muresan from Radio Romania International reports. 

Our weekly postcard and this week comes from a Dutch railway station where Michel Walraven from Radio Netherlands Worldwide came up against a train conductor with attitude. 

One of the biggest contributors to polluting Europe's Alps are heavy vehicles carrying freight between northern and southern Europe. For many years alpine communities have campaigned to have the freight moved by rail instead of by road. In Switzerland voters even approved this policy in a nationwide referendum. Now, construction of the world's longest rail tunnel is likely to change the face of the Alps. 

The high-speed train network in Europe is expanding, but there's still no connection between France and Spain. Progress is especially slow in and around Barcelona, where controversy still dogs the project. According to the current plans, high speed trains will run underneath the Sagrada Familia, Gaudí's famous and still unfinished cathedral. And the famous project could be under threat. Both the current architects and neighborhood residents are deeply worried. For Radio Netherlands Worldwide correspondent Christoph Schmidt has more. 

For the first time Europeans might get some genuine free-market choice, when buying an international train ticket. Competition is being introduced in Europe's rail transport sector, after Wednesday's decision at the European Parliament to approve proposals to liberalize the market. But will there be genuine choice, and how do Europe's rail passengers feel about foreign trains rolling along home tracks? 

After last month’s failed bomb attacks on two German trains, German police identified both men with the help of video footage from closed ciruit TV cameras, or CCTV. The two men were caught on video cameras dragging their suitcases containing the bombs through Cologne's central station. The release of the images has prompted a flurry of calls by German politicians for increased video surveillance. For one, Deutsche Bahn, the German railway operator, has announced that it will significantly beef up video surveillance in many of Germany’s train stations.