[Pics+Videos] My Train Travels from Central Europe

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Texan Eagle

Conductor
Joined
Aug 25, 2011
Messages
1,705
I was recently in Central Europe and ended up traveling on 8 long-distance trains across 5 countries-

1. ICE from Frankfurt to Leipzig (Germany)

2. IC from Leipzig to Dresden (Germany)

3. EuroCity from Dresden to Prague (Germany-Czech)

4. Cesky Drahy express from Prague to Ceske Budejovice (Czech)

5. Cesky Drahy local passenger from Ceske Budejovice to Cesky Krumlov (Czech)

6. OEBB Railjet from Linz to Vienna (Austria)

7. OEBB/ZSSK regional shuttle from Vienna to Bratislava (Slovakia)

8. Cesky Drahy EuroCity from Bratislava to Budapest (Hungary)

Here is a Flickr album with pics and videos from all these journeys- https://flic.kr/s/aHsm5zbqHd

In addition, I also traveled by trams in 3 cities (Prague, Bratislava, Budapest), metros in 2 cities (Prague and Budapest) and funicular railways in 2 cities (Prague and Budapest).

Two things really stood out to me compared to US train travels-

1) The punctuality. None of the trains I took were more than 15 minutes late. I even made a 9 minute connection between two long distance trains in Leipzig

2) The sheer number of trains. Apart from long distance ones, every station is teeming with hundreds of trains of all shapes and sizes scuttling across on small and medium routes. At major stations, a two column wide giant schedule board cannot even accommodate one hour worth of departures!
 
Interesting trip! I have not had chance to watch all the video's yet... I visited Cesky Krumlov myself a few years back, a rather "fairytale" medieval feel to the place, I thought.

Wondering which funicular you rode in Budapest, and did you try the tram network? I recognise the old metro trains from there. :D

Your trip has reminded me that I could visit interesting places by rail, without need to travel to the other side of the world by air first!

Thanks for posting.

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Wondering which funicular you rode in Budapest, and did you try the tram network? I recognise the old metro trains from there. :D

Your trip has reminded me that I could visit interesting places by rail, without need to travel to the other side of the world by air first!
The Budapest Castle Hill Funicular. It is pretty short and is priced rather expensive (6 Euro roundtrip for a 30 second trip up and back) but I did not want to climb up to the castle, so funicular it is.

I did try the tram network in Budapest, and also in Bratislava and Prague. Loved the older Soviet (?) looking trams in all the cities. The new modern ones in all 3 cities feel very out of place amid the old city architectures.

I *loved* that I could travel across countries by rail without having to plan too much in advance (unlike in the US where Amtrak runs one train a day on routes and costs a bomb at times). I planned my itinerary on purpose to maximize train rides, so instead of flying into Prague, I just took a (relatively) short hop across the pond to Frankfurt, and from there on it was all trains until it was time to leave the continent!
 
Ok on the funicular. I too loved the older style trams.

Did you try the Budapest "Childrens Railway"? An astonishingly well run service staffed by children, from booking clerks to ticket collectors. Adults drive the train, and are on hand to supervise.

IMG_09231-810x605.jpg


http://www.gyermekvasut.hu/english_eng/

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