I’m off on the rails again!

#CrossBorderRail Extra Day 09 coming up today - Berlin Südkreuz to Nuits-sous-Ravières - and checking a bunch of borders around Basel on the way

And - unusually - I have a regular bike with me, not the Birdy

Here’s today’s intro
https://urbanists.video/w/iDAB3Jd4jYiPucXbpxn6F2

This is the bike for today

It goes in ICEs, no problem, if you reserve

But pretty much no TGVs take bikes. So from Basel to Nuits-sous-Ravières later it’s only regional trains for me… with 4 changes between Basel and Nuits 😳

So how does this simple reserve a bike on a ICE work?

Today my ticket is Interrail

So I ONLY need a bike reservation. You can do this in the app Next DB Navigator

iOS https://apps.apple.com/de/app/next-db-navigator/id1351202913?l=en

Android https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.deutschebahn.app.android

At the moment this isn’t possible in the regular DB Navigator

And AFAIK the only other ways to do this - bike reservation without the ticket as well - is at a ticket office or on the phone.

Eventually I’m pretty sure this will be possible in regular DB Navigator too, but it isn’t yet.

This is what the bike compartment in a ICE4 looks like

Some rather thoughtless person has put a bike in a case in the aisle to the right here, when they could have made everyone’s life easier stowing it to the left

Fog on the fields - south of Berlin

Another complete failure of the Interrail App this morning

It needs an internet connection to activate a travel day. Turn on mobile data. I add my trips, activate them

In the train there’s a ticket check… and my trips have disappeared. Mobile data off, add trips and it’s ok again. But the app is totally lousy

#CrossBorderRail Extra Days Train 73

ICE 571
05:11 Berlin Südkreuz - Mannheim Hbf 09:56
DB Fernverkehr

Distance: 587 km
Average speed: 124 km/h

Train type: ICE4 long version
⚡️
🚲: ✅ (needs reservation)
🦽: ✅ (on board lift)
🛜: ✅
🍽️: ✅
🧳: 🙂 (good racks)
🧽: 🙂 (spotless)

And I’m back in Mainhattan. Haven’t been here since… Sunday!

Onwards today though - in this ICE as far as Mannheim

✅ Perfect ICE trip from Berlin - calm and on-time to Mannheim (even the Riedbahn didn’t let me down)
✅ Combination of Interrail and BahnBonus works to get you into DB Lounges 🙂
✅ Got some excellent news on funding for #CrossBorderRail projects this autumn

Today is going pretty well so far! 🙂

Next: ICE to Basel, then 🚲 to a bunch of borders, then onwards into France

So this is what's coming up at lunchtime today

5 #CrossBorderRail lines I have not yet visited, all to the north of Basel - and I am cycling to all of them

Zoomable map here https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-summer-2023-extra-days_919882#13/47.5894/7.6113

Here's the detail of the bike route: https://www.komoot.de/tour/1142940148

These are the borders, in the order I will visit them

Former 1000mm Basel tramway - Riehen 🇨🇭 - Lörrach 🇩🇪

This explains the history: https://www.g-st.ch/trambasel/bvb_blt/htmlsite/hst_riehengrenze.html

Could the tram be extended to Lörrach once more?

Lörrach-Stetten 🇩🇪 - Riehen bei Basel 🇨🇭

There are regional services here, and the occasional night train going to the Lörrach Autoreisezugterminal - but I see no real additional potential here as the line ends in Zell im Wiesental

1000mm Basel Tramway - Weil am Rhein 🇩🇪 - Basel 🇨🇭

The international route was opened in 2014

Palmrain 🇩🇪 - Huningue 🇫🇷

There used to be a railway bridge here until 1937 https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmrainbr%C3%BCcke - so re-activating this one is not going to happen!

1000mm Basel Tramway - Saint Louis 🇫🇷 - Basel 🇨🇭

The tram was extended across the border to France in 2017

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strassenbahn_Basel#Burgfelden_Grenze_%E2%80%93_Saint-Louis

There won’t be much - if any - drone photography today though. The proximity of the EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg restricts where I can fly (although Riehen-Lörrach will work - but is there anything worth photographing?)

Passing the home territory of @ummels & @sunildvr No stop today though… onwards to Basel!

#CrossBorderRail Extra Days Train 74

ICE 103
10:35 Mannheim Hbf - Basel Bad Bf 12:36
DB Fernverkehr

Distance: 249 km
Average speed: 124 km/h

Train type: ICE4 long version
⚡️
🚲: ✅ (needs reservation)
🦽: ✅ (on board lift)
🛜: ❓ (supposed to be, but so slow it’s unuseable)
🍽️: ✅
🧳: 🙂 (good racks)
🧽: 🙂

Ok. Here we go.