Early off at work for the next totally bonkers short railway trip. Today exceptionally starting from Bern. Destination: Another capital with great bridges.
Message from @larstransportworld :
«What is the hashtag?!?»
— #AllIncluxive !
Diversion via the old Hauenstein mountain line between Olten and Sissach!
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Short connection in Basel SBB to the TER200. Corail again!
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Arrival in Strasbourg at the other end of the line. Some serious nez cassé and RRR action going on here in the evening peek. I see a mini TourDesCassés coming - but not today. Our next train is on platform 30, which is - obviously - nowhere near platforms 31-33.
#PlatformNumberMadness
#AllIncluxive
I would have bet that the 6-car Régiolis wouldn't fit in the short bay platform 30. But it did. Enough capacity on this fast TER to Metz. With 5 stops in 1.5 hrs, this is another one of these InterRegio-TER.
#AllIncluxive
Not much time to admire the stunning station building of Metz, but as usual, we have to get a quick look from outside. Then back to the platform, where our next train already waited. Appropriately, it is a CFL 2NNG. Inside, they look just like the SNCF version - with the small difference that they are in much better condition and sparkling clean.
#AllIncluxive
Made good use of the short stop in France to acquire Cantal cheese and a baguette.
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Arrival in Luxembourg, today's destination. Off to the hotel, as tomorrow will start early...!
#AllIncluxive
Moien!
Good morning from Luxembourg central station. It's ungodly early and time to start the main part of #AllIncluxive. You guessed it: The aim is to travel on all commercially operated CFL lines in Luxembourg. Let's go!
It's a clear sign that you're in a railway country, when all the shops in the station are open at 6 in the morning. However, I can't see any need to buy a cactus at this time of the day. Better go for Croissant and coffee.
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#AllIncluxive
Arrival in Esch-sur-Alzette and short transfer on the bus. It's very convenient that we don't need to care about a bus ticket, as all public transport is free in Luxembourg. Our bus will depart from bay A1, but from which of the three?
#AllIncluxive
Z2!
First destination this morning is the short branch line from Noertzange to Rumelange, which only operates in the morning and evening Mon-Fri. The two minute connection from bus to train is only doable by running. And of course, the train waits at the far end of the platform.
#AllIncluxive
A short Z2 ride to the north. Only a few passengers in the train.
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Arrival in Noertzange. It starts to rain. There is no (!) immediate connection to Luxembourg, even if this is probably the only reason why this branch line exists...
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Arrival and short connection in Bettembourg, railway node for southern Luxembourg. The new road bridge is still not finished.
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The next branch line, the next Z2. This time, we're on the easternmost of the three branch lines. It has been extended from Dudelange-Usine to Volmerange-les-Mines in France in the early 2000s. Z2 also means #FensterAuf.
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Arrival in Volmerange-les-Mines . The basic station is situated in an industrial area outside of town. With its P+R car park, it serves as a bridgehead from France to Luxembourg. There is also a bus stop with a few departures a day. Of course, it is not called "gare" but "douane". There's a train every 30mins. From a tariff perspective, the station still counts as Luxembourg.
#AllIncluxive #CrossRail
I wonder, with what they'll replace the small Z2 units on all these short branch lines in the South. All other trainsets they have, are a lot bigger.
#AllIncluxive
Back to Dudelange , the biggest town on this short branch line. It is served by four stations with short distances in between, true light-rail style.
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9 o'clock. Time for a second breakfast, which is why we head into the small town. It's not really beach weather, even if there is one! Then we take another of the very frequent and free busses with the fantastic destination Avenue du Rock'n'Roll!
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The bus rolls but doesn't really rock, so we disembark in Esch-sur-Alzette for something that rocks more: Another Z2, another branch line!
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With #FensterAuf through industrial wasteland, under the disused railway viaduct and across the border to Audun-le-Tiche . Another branch line which terminates just across the border.
#AllIncluxive #CrossBorderRail
Same as in Volmerange: A P+R car park; the station probably mainly exists to reduce car traffic into Luxembourg. Which doesn't seem to work so bad, the car park is full. The line used to continue in a 360° curve over the old viaduct into France. Today, it's a CFL only station with CFL tariff.
#AllIncluxive
Back to Esch-sur-Alzette. All three southern branches done, 4 border crossings so far.
Next: To the West with another Bombardier Traxx double decker train.
#AlIncluxive
The stopping service to Petange is insanely slow, but eventually we arrived. Line 60 done.
Three CFL train generations to be seen here. I'm not a fan of the livery on the newest addition to the fleet, the Alstom Coradia Stream HC. Too much visual noise, to many hard colour contrasts.
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We're getting a bit nervous as the last border crossing was already nearly an hour ago. But the next train fortunately takes us to Athus .
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No onwards connection with SNCB for this train, so we head back to Rodange . The line crosses the intermodal terminal, which strangely is situated in a sharp curve.
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Nearly an hour to kill at Rodange, as the cross border services only run in the morning peak, at noon and in the evening peak. The Rodange station has been recently modernised, a lot of grey dominates the place. But still far away from level boarding for most of the double decker carriages. An SNCB hauled freight passes.
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The type of our next train already shows: It's going to France again next. A short hop across the border to Longwy . This is a true cross border line with an SNCF connection onwards in form of an AGC trainset.
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Being a "true" railway border means we need a ticket. The CFL ticket machine only sells tickets towards France, but not back. 6 EUR for two persons. The
SNCF TER machine in Longwy can sell both directions. And the ticket is much cheaper: 3.20 EUR for two persons.
#AllIncluxive #CrossBorderRail
Short stroll into town to look for some food. It's obvious that this part of France has seen better times long ago.
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Back to "SNCF Voyageurs", erm, I mean: the station. In the meantime, another CFL train and another AGC arrived. As in many towns, Longwy got a new station square.
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Aaaand back to Luxembour again. We're at 8 border crossings today now. And for once, it's now a bit a longer ride back to Luxembourg to tick off line 70.
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Luxembourg station. Getting another cross border ticket (this time, the machine is able to sell aller-retour) and grabbing something to eat and onto the next train. It's by far the most comfortable one today: SNCB I11 coaches hauled by a class 1300. The 20 mins to Arlon are barely enough to eat lunch.
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Arrival in Arlon with it's impressive station building. I export my Luxemburg trash, the packaging of my salad, to a Belgian bin.
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