rail

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‘Real concerns’

Rail buffs and historians getting up early on Sunday to see first new railway station to open for 100 years

Railway historians and fanatics will flock to a town in Essex at 7am on Sunday morning to see the first new train station on the Eastern main line for 100 years.

Beaulieu Park is the first station to open on this part of the UK network since the 1920s. And rail chiefs are expecting a huge amount of interest from trainspotters and rail buffs alike.

They are particularly pleased because the £175m station is opening four months early. The first train will pull in at 7.20am on Sunday.

And already some excited passengers have bought their tickets for the Colchester to London Liverpool St train to be part of history when it stops at the new station.

Andy Cross, 47, said: “I just want to be part of history. It will be great arriving at the first station on the Eastern mainline in such a long time. I’m sure there will be lots of photographers at Beaulieu Park to capture the moment.”

The station is part of a new super green initiative project near Chelmsford. Martin Beable, Greater Anglia’s Managing Director, said: “We are really looking forward to the opening of Beaulieu Park station, the first new station on the Great Eastern Main Line in over 100 years.

“Beaulieu Park station will benefit from a regular and reliable service of up to four trains per hour during peak times and two trains per hour during off peak periods, making rail travel simple and convenient for passengers.”

Councillor Louise McKinlay, Deputy Leader at Essex County Council, said: “Essex is pioneering the type of infrastructure-supported growth that’s on the national agenda, being bold and ambitious in our commitment to future-proofing the county and putting investment where it’s most needed.

“The new Beaulieu Park station is testament to this, and the role it will play in transforming travel in this part of Chelmsford and surrounding areas will have a positive impact for years to come.

“The progress being made to build the station is remarkable and I want to thank everyone involved for their hard work to get the project to this stage. I’m very much looking forward to the station opening.”

The new station is set to transform travel north of Chelmsford as it will eases pressure on the existing busy Chelmsford train station and reduces car journeys into the city centre.

The station is planned to be a significant addition to the Beaulieu and Channels neighbourhoods in the north of the city, which form the first phases of the new Chelmsford Garden Community.

4,350 homes already have planning permission as part of the Garden Community. This includes 1,989 new homes which have already been built, along with the Beaulieu Square Neighbourhood Centre providing local shops, community and health services.

This is in addition to the Beaulieu Park School – the first all-through primary and secondary school in Essex.

Beaulieu Park Station will provide easier and quicker access to jobs, helping the economic development of the area and encouraging further investment.

Beable added: “We expect the new station to be a very attractive and popular option for travellers from that part of Essex.”

The people queueing for the Eurostar at London St Pancras station, rushing in from the rain in hoodies, look noticeably less enthusiastic than the usual holiday crowds. But then, we aren’t heading to the usual hot, heady holiday destinations of Spain or the south of France, but boarding a train to north-east Europe. For me, it will be a journey of more than 1,000 miles – via Amsterdam, Berlin and Warsaw to Vilnius – visiting some of the coolest capitals in the north. At least in terms of temperature.

As England sweltered this summer, and Spain reached a hellish 46C, it made sense to head away from the heat on what is now fashionably being called a “coolcation”. I left in August, with a suitcase full of jumpers.

There is something irresistibly romantic about long train trips, watching the geography unfold outside the window. I leave London for Amsterdam on the Eurostar, eating a pain au chocolat as we speed through rural French flatlands and glide past red-roofed Belgian farmhouses, and then the distinctive, tall art nouveau buildings of the Netherlands. In Amsterdam, I switch trains to the Deutsche Bahn, grabbing a packet of Stroopwafel and jumping on board alongside cool Dutch kids with asymmetric hair. I know we have entered Germany when I spot a VW factory, and the graffiti becomes better – and more profuse.

As for my coolcation, it feels burning hot when I arrive in Berlin, emerging from the glass and steel Hauptbahnhof into a summer evening where hipsters on deckchairs are drinking cocktails at Capital Beach on the Spree River.

The next morning, I stroll through the lush Tiergarten past men in black leathers chugging in the Biergarten; through the shadowy blocks of the Holocaust memorial; under the intimidating Brandenburg Gate. I’m heading to Alexanderplatz – where teenagers congregate under the TV tower – and I’m ruminating on how eastern European cities have a harsher aesthetic than those in the soft south. The remnants of the Soviet era echo in the hardness of the culture, in the brutalist architecture I’m passing, and then suddenly as pounding techno surrounds me. Marching down Unter Den Linden, I find myself caught in a procession of floats surrounded by people wearing all black, looking like they’re heading to Berghain nightclub.

My next train, from Berlin to Warsaw, is the IC Intercity link. It’s a Polish train, on which the carriages are split into comfortable six-person compartments. In one of these I sit opposite a boy with a mohawk eating paprika crisps, and I watch the city turn to pine forests of pale thin trees.

Train journeys mimic cruises – you hop on and off in different cities (ideal for my ADHD) and, in between, lounge around eating too much. It’s a five-hour journey from Berlin to Warsaw, and when gazing at farmland becomes monotonous, the restaurant carriage offers distraction. I order Kotlet schabowy (€10.50), and a delicious plate of breaded pork chop, cucumber salad and floury boiled potatoes appears, which I eat surrounded by men with blond buzzcuts drinking Żywiec beers.

It’s startling to emerge from the bunker of Warsaw Central station to a horizon of glass skyscrapers reflecting the deep red sky.

The next day, I discover Warsaw – a captivating juxtaposition of history and modernity. In the Old Town, I eat pierogi beside Marie Curie’s house, then explore cobbled streets with bright rows of coloured medieval buildings, which were bombed during the second world war but have been so faithfully reconstructed they have earned Unesco status. Their Disneyland-esque quality is only lessened by the artillery pockmarks.

Elsewhere, austere Soviet buildings have morphed into hipster cafes with oak counters and earthenware cups. BarStudio, below the Stalin-era Palace of Culture and Science – now reclaimed as a tourist attraction with an observation deck – runs silent-disco nights and serves matcha crepes from a menu decorated ironically with communist-era cartoons.

Taking a train is far easier than flying – there’s no negotiating airport security or check-in – and soon I become dangerously casual, running and hopping onboard with a picnic of local foods.

We roll out of Warsaw and I sit munching Kopernik iced gingerbread biscuits as we pass endless farmland, the occasional dilapidated dacha, factories and small towns of Identikit modern houses in grids. Today’s journey to Vilnius will take nine hours, so it’s a relief when at Mockava, on the Lithuanian border, we are ejected on to a remote platform in a sunny forest. I stand sweltering in 26C heat, wondering why I packed so many jumpers.

The black, double-height Lithuanian train is open-plan, modern, slick and packed full of heaving bike racks, but the dining options are disappointingly limited. I eat a sad toasted-cheese sandwich as we glide through more farmland and forests.

Vilnius, although the most eastern city I’m travelling to, feels the most western in style. Its baroque buildings – including cathedrals that survived the Soviets and have earned it Unesco status – blend into art nouveau architecture. Even former communist blocks here are painted in soft pastels, and wide boulevards (a USSR endeavour) open up a lush city. Elsewhere, meandering cobbled streets offer up cafes and pretty boutiques.

The further east you go, the cheaper things get: coffees that cost €5 in Berlin and €3 in Warsaw are €2 here. But the enthusiasm for capitalism is evident in the number of luxury Lithuanian boutiques and western brands such as H&M and Mango, and a growing tech industry: Vinted is based here. Užupis, the bohemian quarter – where art exhibitions and Banksy-style graffiti adorn the streets – has its own logo: a blue hand with a hole in the middle. My guide says it shows that money falls through in an enticement to spend, spend, spend, but Užupis’s own tourism minister, Kestas Lukoskinas, has said: “The main thing is we have nothing to hide in our hands.”

Still, the heart and backbone of Vilnius is creative, a scene both historic and constantly reinvented. On Literatų gatvė (Literature Street) in Vilnius Old Town, individual wall plaques celebrate writers associated with the city, including Adam Mickiewicz, who lived on the street, Joseph Brodsky and Romain Gary.

The Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, where tickets start at a very reasonable £15, is matched as a cultural attraction by Lukiškės Prison 2.0 – a Soviet jail shut in 2019 and now reinvented as a creative space, with cells turned into studios and stages hosting trendy bands such as Aurora and Fontaines DC. At Mo Museum, a modern Lithuanian art gallery established by scientists and philanthropists Danguolė and Viktoras Butkus – and one of the first large-scale private collections of its kind since independence – the current exhibition, GamePlay, explores the creative impact of video games.

Although I try classic Lithuanian cuisine – cepelinai (stodgy potato dumplings filled with ground meat), and pink soup (borscht with kefir) – I’m excited to find a burgeoning Michelin restaurant scene. At Ertlio Namas, a nine-course tasting menu is an affordable €70, with traditional dishes reinterpreted with modern spin: salted ide fish with jelly, bread soup with beer-braised beef, and buckwheat babka come as delicious exquisite morsels.

Vilnius repeats Soviet motifs now familiar on my journey: brutalist architecture; cool young people in all black and boots; and the compulsory revamped TV tower, where you can climb to the 67th floor and take a horrifyingly scary walk on a handrail-free ledge, attached only by a rope.

The journey home feels faster; the west softer, even though the train is delayed by five hours (so much for German efficiency). I wander Amsterdam hazily, the harsh and uniform brutalism replaced by the uniquely elegant canal houses and oily Van Goghs – yet I’m surprised, among the clatter and chaos, to miss the calm, clean order of the eastern European cities. I arrive back from my hot coolcation, in England – where it is raining.

The trip was provided by Go Vilnius and the Polish National Tourist . In Berlin, Hotel Zoo has doubles from £110 a nigh. . Rail journey: London-Amsterdam-London on Eurostar €339; Amsterdam-Berlin on NS International €108.99; Berlin-Warsaw on Deutsche Bahn €53.99; Warsaw-Vilnius-Warsaw LTG Link Train €50; Warsaw- Amsterdam Deutsche Bahn €165.49

SACRAMENTO — Some witty person long ago gave us this immortal line: “No man’s life, liberty or property are safe while the legislature is in session.”

Humorist Will Rogers usually is credited — wrongly. Mark Twain, too, falsely.

The real author was Gideon J. Tucker, a former newspaper editor who founded the New York Daily News. He later became a state legislator and judge, and he crafted the comment in an 1866 court opinion.

Anyway, Californians are safe from further legislative harm for now. State lawmakers have gone home for the year after passing 917 bills. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed 794 (87%) and vetoed 123 (13%).

I’m not aware of any person’s life being jeopardized. Well, maybe after the lawmakers and governor cut back Medi-Cal healthcare for undocumented immigrants to save money.

One could argue — and many interests did — that what the Legislature did to increase housing availability made some existing residential neighborhoods less safe from congestion and possible declining property values.

But kudos to the lawmakers and governor for enacting major housing legislation that should have been passed years ago.

Public pressure generated by unaffordable costs — both for homebuyers and renters — spurred the politicians into significant action to remove regulatory barriers and encourage much more development. The goal is to close the gap between short supply and high demand.

But legislative passage was achieved over stiff opposition from some cities — especially Los Angeles — that objected to loss of local control.

“It’s a touchy issue that affects zoning and is always going to be controversial,” says state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who finessed through a bill that will allow construction of residential high-rises up to nine stories near transit hubs such as light-rail and bus stations. The measure overrides local zoning ordinances.

Wiener had been trying unsuccessfully for eight years to get similar legislation passed. Finally, a fire was lit under legislators by their constituents.

“The public understands we’ve screwed ourselves by making it so hard to build homes,” Wiener says.

But to win support, he had to accept tons of exceptions. For example, the bill will affect only counties with at least 15 passenger rail stations. There are eight: Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda and Sacramento.

“Over time it will have a big effect, but it’s going to be gradual,” Wiener says.

Dan Dunmoyer, who heads the California Building Industry Assn., calls it “a positive step in the right direction.”

Yes, and that direction is up rather than sideways. California could accommodate a cherished ranch-house lifestyle when the population was only a third or half the nearly 40 million people it is today. But sprawling horizontally has become impossibly pricey for too many and also resulted in long smog-spewing commutes and risky encroachment into wildfire country.

Dozens of housing bills were passed and signed this year, ranging from minutia to major.

The Legislature continued to peck away at the much-abused California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Opponents of projects have used the act to block construction for reasons other than environmental protection. Local NIMBYs — ”Not in my backyard” — have resisted neighborhood growth. Businesses have tried to avoid competition. Unions have practiced “greenmail” by threatening lawsuits unless developers signed labor agreements.

Another Wiener bill narrowed CEQA requirements for commercial housing construction. It also exempted from CEQA a bunch of nonresidental projects, including health clinics, manufacturing facilities and child-care centers.

A bill by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) exempted most urban infill housing projects from CEQA.

You can’t argue that the Legislature wasn’t productive this year. But you can spar over whether some of the production was a mistake. Some bills were both good and bad. That’s the nature of compromise in a functioning democracy.

One example: The state’s complex cap-and-trade program was extended beyond 2030 to 2045. That’s probably a good thing. It’s funded by businesses buying permits to emit greenhouse gases and pays for lots of clean energy projects.

But a questionable major piece of that legislation — demanded by Newsom — was a 20-year, $1-billion annual commitment of cap-and-trade money for California’s disappointing bullet train project.

The project was sold to voters in 2008 as a high-speed rail line connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco. It’s $100 billion over budget and far behind its promised 2020 completion. No tracks have even been laid. The new infusion of cap-and-trade money will merely pay for the initial 171-mile section between Merced and Bakersfield, which the state vows to open by 2033. Hot darn!

Newsom muscled through the bill at the last moment. The Legislature should have taken more time to study the project’s future.

One gutsy thing Democratic legislators and the governor did — given that “oil,” among the left, has become the new hated pejorative sidekick of “tobacco” — was to permit production of 2,000 more wells annually in oil-rich Kern County.

It was part of a compromise: Drilling in federal offshore waters was made more difficult by tightening pipeline regulations.

Credit the persistent Sen. Shannon Grove, a conservative Republican from Bakersfield who is adept at working across the aisle.

“Kern County knows how to produce energy,” she told colleagues during the Senate floor debate, citing not only oil but wind, solar and battery storage. “We are the experts. We are not the enemy.”

But what mostly motivated Newsom and legislators was the threat of even higher gas prices as two large California oil refineries prepare to shut down. Most Democrats agreed that the politically smart move was to allow more oil production, even as the state attempts to transcend entirely to clean energy.

Let’s not forget the most important bill the Legislature annually passes: the state budget. This year’s totaled $325 billion and allegedly covered a $15-billion deficit through borrowing, a few cuts and numerous gimmicks.

Nonpartisan Legislative Analyst Gabriel Petek last week projected deficit spending of up to $25 billion annually for the next three years.

In California, no state bank account is safe when the Legislature is in session.

What else you should be reading

The must-read: Sen. Scott Wiener to run for congressional seat held by Rep. Nancy Pelosi
California vs. Trump: Federal troops in San Francisco? Locals, leaders scoff at Trump’s plan
The L.A. Times Special: One of O.C.’s loudest pro-immigrant politicians is one of the unlikeliest

Until next week,
George Skelton

—
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Sometimes, you just want to be able to arrive in a place with the least amount of hassle and instantly switch off and relax. Wouldn’t it be nice not to have to think about potential traffic snarl-ups en route or missing connections? Just jump on a direct train and arrive fresh.

That’s what these brilliantly accessible boltholes in the UK deliver – they’re all within easy reach of a train station and with everything you might need for a stress-free break on the doorstep.

A wild swimming cabin in Essex

Ffion Francis and Ollie Speck quit their jobs in London to renovate a 15th-century former hunting lodge near the village of Thorpe-Le-Soken in north-east Essex. Alongside bringing the house back to life, the couple have built two cabins. The latest addition, The Lakeside Lodge, sits on the edge of a natural swimming pond surrounded by reeds and trees. From London, it’s a direct train (under 90 minutes) from Liverpool Street or Stratford, then a 20-minute walk down a quiet country lane.

The aim is to rest and reset, and there’s a host of pros to help: yoga and breathwork teachers, sound healing, reiki and reflexology (from £55). Simpler still is a cold plunge in the pond, followed by a session in the sauna pod, or a warm soak in the hut’s outdoor cast-iron bath. An English breakfast hamper with bacon and sausages from the local butcher and eggs from their rescue hens can be dropped off (£25 for two), and on chilly evenings snuggle down in bed to watch classic films on the projector.
Sleeps 2 (and a dog for an extra £20) from £210 a night, coolstays.com

An arty seaside hideout in Cornwall

With sweeping views out to St Michael’s Mount, it’s hard to believe that the (now) beautifully decorated, glass-fronted Little Pembroke was once a rundown garage. The cabin’s mezzanine bedroom is the spot to hole up and take in the seascape these days – there’s even an easel and art supplies, should inspiration strike (the big house, Pembroke Lodge, was home in the 1800s to Walter Langley, pioneer of the Newlyn art school).

Alighting in Penzance from the Night Riviera Sleeper from London to a morning blast of sea air is the loveliest way to arrive, even better followed by a dip in the Jubilee Pool (seasonal opening, check website), but the station is also served by direct trains from Cardiff, Bristol, Birmingham, Leeds and even Edinburgh. It’s a 10-minute taxi to Little Pembroke, or there’s a bus that stops just down the road.

The cabin is tucked peacefully between Newlyn and Mousehole, and there’s gallery hopping and coastal walks to be had. Pick up a Beryl (the Cornish equivalent of a Lime bike) around Newlyn or Penzance to whizz off further afield. A welcome hamper includes Trink milk, local butter, sourdough bread (breakfast sorted) and it’s only a short stroll to Sunday lunch by the fire at historic maritime pub The Tolcarne Inn, or Mackerel Sky for lemon sole katsu and crab nachos.
Sleeps 2 (plus a baby and/or dog) from £230 a night, littlepembroke.com

Sand and castles in Northumberland

Anyone who has travelled on the East Coast Main Line will have glimpsed Northumberland’s spectacular coastline when the train curves towards the North Sea, giving those on the east side of the carriages a front-row seat. But rather than speeding on through, hop off at the village of Alnmouth (3½ to four hours from London, one from Edinburgh, two from Leeds) with its pastel houses and seabirds wading in the Aln estuary.

Overlooking the golf course to the sandy beach, two-bedroom Marine House Cottage is only a five-minute taxi from the station (or a mile’s walk; swing by Scott’s deli for supplies). Outside there’s a raised terrace that looks out to sea, while the window seat in the main bedroom is the spot for wave-watching and book-reading.

Bikes (standard or e-bikes) can be delivered to the house, and from there the traffic-free Aln Valley cycleway runs over to Alnwick (kids will love the Harry Potter-inspired broomstick training sessions at the castle) or pedal south to Warkworth Castle on the Coast and Castles route. North of England and southern Scotland cottage specialists Crabtree and Crabtree also have a little black book of extra services, from private chefs to spa treatments at home.
Sleeps 4 from £765 for seven nights, crabtreeandcrabtree.com

Funky country house spa in Berkshire

Hotel spa breaks can be unrelaxingly expensive or busy hen party conveyor belts, but not so The Retreat at Elcot Park, part of funky, affordable hotel group the Signet Collection. In the countryside between Hungerford and Newbury, it’s a direct train from London Paddington to Kintbury, two miles away (pre-book a taxi).

There’s little need to leave, with hefty breakfasts and two restaurants, and the hotel has recently pumped up its wellness focus, adding outdoor cold plunge tubs, wood-fired hot tubs and a tented yoga studio to its Himalayan salt sauna, hydrotherapy pool and aroma steam room inside the spa (full use of the spa facilities is included in room rates; massages and treatments from £105).

Outside there’s a heated pool, tennis court and 6.4 hectares (16 acres) of grounds. Borrow some boots from the welly wall for autumn rambles through nearby woodlands, along the Kennet and Avon Canal or nearby vineyard Winding Wood. Dogs and kids are welcome; there are family bunk rooms, with home-baked cookies and snack pantries to raid for a midnight feast.
Doubles from £120 B&B, retreatelcotpark.com

Sustainable bothy near Stirling

With 400 hectares of semi-ancient woodland, heather-covered heath and wet meadows, the Brucefield Estate feels like deeply remote Scotland, although it’s actually less than an hour from Glasgow (direct train to Alloa, then a 12-minute taxi) and half an hour longer from Edinburgh (including a change at Stirling).

Squirrelled away in the woods are three sustainably built bothies, named after Scots terms for animals found there: Tod (fox), Brock (badger) and Mertrick (pine marten). Inside, the mezzanine bed has a duvet made from plastic bottles, and the sleek, all-Scottish design includes Amy Britton tweeds, SkyeSkyns sheepskins and organic Siabann body products.

The biologist-run estate has a 10-year plan to protect and enhance biodiversity, which visitors can learn about on a history and wildlife tour (£40pp). There’s oodles to do: cycling on gravel tracks, outdoor yoga sessions (from £65pp), walks through neighbouring Devilla Forest (look out for red squirrels) or through birch trees to a picnic set up in the woods (from £65 for two). After a day’s exploring, nearby Polly’s Pantry delivers hampers, or chef Douglas MacNair can pre-prepare a feast of local produce to cook over the bothy’s firepit (£75 for two).
Mertrick sleeps 2 from £145 a night, kiphideaways.com

New budget hotel in the Lake District

Compared with most rural regions, the Lake District is brilliantly accessible by public transport. Oxenholme, on the West Coast Main Line, is less than three hours from London, under two from Glasgow and just over an hour from Manchester, with plentiful local rail and bus routes from there. It’s 20 minutes by train from Oxenholme to Windermere, and just a two-minute walk to The Penn, a new room-only (no reception, no restaurant) hotel concept in a 19th-century stone house in the heart of the town.

Check-in by keypad keeps prices down; the smallest doubles are snug, but roomier ones with rolltop baths are only around £30 a night more. From cosy crashpads to a suite with an extra bed for a child, each is done out in earthy colours with jazzily tiled bathrooms. There’s a Nespresso machine, kettle and mini-Smeg fridge filled with soft drinks in bedrooms, but it’s only an amble to Homeground Cafe or Toast for breakfast, followed by the lake shore for a swim, or up Orrest Head (Wainwright’s first Lakeland hike). To venture deeper into the Lakes, Total Adventure Bike Hire is a couple of doors down from The Penn, or take the scenic 555 bus, which connects through Ambleside and Grasmere to Keswick.
Doubles from £102 room-only, the-penn.com

When James Joyce first travelled from Dublin to Trieste in 1904, he went via Paris, Zurich and Ljubljana. Zurich, because he mistakenly believed a job to be awaiting him there, and Ljubljana because – groggy after the night train – he thought they’d pulled into Trieste. By the time he twigged, the train had departed and, without ready cash, Joyce and his partner Nora Barnacle had to spend a night on the tiles.

Preferring to travel by train, when I received the invite to be writer-in-residence at the James Joyce summer school in Trieste, I wondered if I might follow Joyce’s route. But repair work on Austria’s Tauern Tunnel prevented me from taking the exact route. Besides, today’s TGV tears through France at nearly 200mph, in comparison to the 25-60mph speeds at which Joyce would have navigated Switzerland and Austria. A night on the town in Milan is just as good for the muse.

Along the route from London to Trieste (and then by bus to Ljubljana), I considered the lineage of writers who traversed Europe in this way 100 years ago and how different their aesthetic, physical and emotional experiences must have been. And, importantly, what they would have seen. What we see from trains – and how we see it – reflects a century of profound social, economic and environmental transformation. Trains represent progress as much as they ever have, but – today – a different sort of progress.

My journey got off to an eventful start when the Eurostar announced delays due to cable theft near Lille. Around 600 metres of copper cable were stolen overnight from the high-speed line. A testament to the proficiency of France’s railway workers, we arrived roughly on time in Gare du Nord, Paris. A station where Joyce penned a letter to his brother, observing: “I hate the bustle but the station has its own strange poetry, the sound of footsteps, the distant whistle of the steam engines, and the sudden clanging of the signal bell.” For those sounds of steam whistling, coal shovelling, bells clanging, currencies exchanging and porters calling, today we have digital chimes, polylingual announcements, and beeping ticket barriers. Across the city, fake bird sounds chirp throughout Gare de Lyon, intending to induce calm, but instead making people search overhead for the poor trapped birds.

Instead of the illustrated posters of the belle epoque, emblazoning the walls of the metro from Gare du Nord today are climate change equations from Liam Gillick’s artwork The Logical Basis, commissioned for the COP21 climate conference held in Paris in 2015. Honouring the climate models of Nobel prize-winning physicist Syukuro Manabe, Gillick’s work has been criticised for not explaining the equations, and so keeping the simple, crucial facts of climate change at a remove from the general public.

It still seems to be the case that we don’t understand our own impact on the climate crisis. Electrified trains allow us to travel with a fraction of the carbon footprint of air travel. I still fly but try to find alternatives when I can. Less mental and moral gymnastics are required when travelling by land or sea – especially while temperatures break all records. So trains are simply more relaxing … except financially.

Virginia Woolf, who travelled solo from London to Turkey by train when she was 24, wrote that “a traveller, even though he is half asleep, knows, looking out of the train window, that he must look now, for he will never see that town, or that mule-cart, or that woman at work in the fields, again”. Never mind that woman, to see any person working in the fields from a train window these days is unlikely. Instead of vibrant country villages (and the explosion of cities taking place in the early 20th century), we have urban sprawl and suburbanisation that would have been unimaginable in Woolf’s time. Instead of the diverse cereal and crop production of a century ago, today’s fertilised pastures of animal agriculture and vast tracts of land used to grow animal feed dominate European landscapes. The consequences of that are everywhere, from the overall temperature (France is 1.9C warmer than it was in 1900) and weather pattern changes, to soil degradation, polluted air and waterways, and biodiversity loss. But to know how radically the landscape has changed in just a few decades is to know to what degree it can change again.

In the early 20th century, rail passengers would have witnessed the hydroelectric revolution, as water power in the Alps was being developed extensively. The construction of dams and reservoirs fundamentally altered alpine hydrology, creating the artificial lakes, dams, power lines and industrial infrastructure we’re used to today. One undoubtedly positive change in the past 100 years has been a significant effort towards reforestation. And while those forests are generally commercial – with about 80% classified as “forest available for wood supply” – natural forests and meadows are almost instantly possible with a shift towards a plant-rich diet, as just one example. And pastures might be replaced with solar or wind farms. Perhaps there’s something helpful in seeing where our energy comes from, so that we understand its impact. Writers took great courage in the hydroelectric revolution: it allowed them to reach the Alps by train. It represented progress, modernity and independence, as did the electric trains themselves.

For a period, rail became militarised, and trains were rerouted for troop movements and deportations, with civilians facing extreme delays, rationing and danger. Joyce fled his home in Trieste (then part of the Austro-Hungarian empire) during the first world war, as he was considered an enemy alien. At Feldkirch station in Austria, he narrowly escaped arrest. (His brother had already been separately arrested, in Trieste, and was detained until the end of the war.) He later told his biographer that “at Feldkirch station,” he “felt the fate of Ulysses was decided”. During the second world war, many writers and artists were among those who used Europe’s rail network to flee the Nazis.

When sniffer dogs boarded the TGV on the French-Italian border, and police demanded to see my passport and to know which bags were mine and the reason for my travel, I replied: “The James Joyce Summer School,” propping up my Books Upstairs tote bag and nodding at Ulysses on my tray table, which surely cast me as a bad spy. Before the first world war, passports and visas were rarely required within western Europe. After the war, this changed, and border stops were far longer and more frequent, to allow for paper checks.

But if Joyce carried a passport in 1904, it would have been a British one, with him being classified as a British subject. I was surprised to discover that Joyce repeatedly rejected the opportunity to obtain an Irish passport, post-independence. I knew from reading his work that he spurned narrow nationalism, embracing a cosmopolitan and diverse European modernism. But to reject an Irish passport was to limit his practical freedoms. Samuel Beckett’s Irish passport allowed him to stay in France and take part in resistance activities. Spending the vast majority of their lives on the continent, they both strongly identified as European. Europeanness is surely defined – even today – more by train travel than by anything else.

Despite Frantz Fanon brilliantly immortalising a racist incident on a train in France in his book Black Skin, White Masks, rail travel in Europe has been a sanctuary from racial prejudice for many, like Jamaican-American writer Claude McKay and poet Langston Hughes. Hughes wrote of the freedom from segregation and ostracisation on Soviet Union trains in particular: “No Jim Crow on the trains of the Soviet Union”. He travelled to south central Asia on the Moscow-Tashkent express, a journey which Russia’s war on Ukraine prevents today – largely cutting off the entire eastern world from Europeans who don’t fly.

Trains have been for many artists a mode of escape as well as a means of belonging. They are communal and sustainable, and they cannot but make us more considerate. Post-Covid, there is something consoling in the quiet companionship of trains. Well, not always quiet, but writers spend so long alone in caves (with our characters), it does us good to remember that real people exist, with all their tuna sandwiches and taking off of shoes.

Class segregation is less stark today than in the 20th century’s first-, second- and third-class carriages. Today’s first and second classes are largely differentiated by seat size, phone-charging facilities, and the occasional cufflink. In place of Edwardian plush velvet upholstery and decadent dining cars, today we enjoy scratchy, synthetic, easy-to-clean interiors, and minimalist dining cars full of Dutch teenagers. Writers – barring those with patrons or trust funds – can generally be found in the cheap seats.

The enlivening, philosophical aspects of train travel carry on into the 21st century: observing life and landscape; partaking in a sustainable infrastructure; witnessing the endless novelty, education and privilege that it affords; making one think, as Joyce put it, “of all the worlds moving simultaneously”. Air travel has undoubtedly facilitated untold progress, but progress is subjective and contextual. It always involves an untold or suppressed story. Slow travel allows us to think in the longer term. It could serve us well to better see where we have come from and where we are going.

Caoilinn Hughes’s latest novel is The Alternatives, published by Oneworld (£9.99). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply

You may dash for your morning commuter train, but you won’t want to rush for the sleeper to Vienna. The Nightjet train to the Austrian capital is the most illustrious departure of the day from Amsterdam. There is an art to conducting the perfect departure and the perfect arrival, the bookends of a thrilling overnight journey.

There are four major hubs for sleeper services across western and central Europe: Amsterdam, Berlin, Vienna and Zurich. Then there are secondary nodes at Budapest, Brussels, Milan, Munich, Paris and Prague. Most of the region’s night trains start or end in one of these 10 cities. Whatever your departure point, savour the moment by going for an aperitif and a relaxed dinner before boarding. And upon arrival, don’t just dash on – linger over a coffee and let the morning, and the city, develop around you.

Amsterdam Centraal

For ÖBB Nightjets to Basel, Innsbruck, Munich, Vienna and Zurich; and European Sleeper to Berlin, Dresden and Prague

Don’t miss the excellent Grand Café Restaurant 1e Klas in the former first-class waiting room (entrance via platform 2B). It opens at 9.30am, so the perfect spot for breakfast after decanting from a Nightjet (or an early-morning Eurostar from London), and stays open till late evening, so also ideal for pre-departure supper. It serves fairly priced Dutch staples in a space that oozes retro flair. The Guardian, no less, has called it one of the “finest station eateries in Europe”.

An alternative pre-departure option for drinks and dinner is Bistro Berlage in the undercroft of the former Beurs (stock exchange), seven minutes walk from the station.

This can be a frustrating station, with fierce ticket barriers guarding platform access (luggage lockers in the east wing from €10 per day). It gets another black mark for the lack of showers for passengers arriving on overnight trains, but a big plus for being at the very heart of the city it serves – its enchanted canal network is right outside the station.

Just head south from the station to hit the main sights. If, like me, you prefer to cut away from the crowds, then leave the station on the north side and hop on the F4 ferry for a free 15-minute ride to the NSDM Wharf, an old shipyard that is now a creative and cultural hub with many alt-vibe cafes.

Berlin Hauptbahnhof

For ÖBB Nightjets to Basel, Graz, Paris, Vienna and Zurich; SJ/RDC or Snälltåget to Stockholm; MÁV Euronight to Bratislava, Prague and Budapest; European Sleeper to Amsterdam and Brussels; and, from later this year, PKPIC night sleepers to Chelm and Przemyśl in eastern Poland

A multi-level essay in glass with a striking vaulted roof, the station is on five levels, with level 0 in the middle and trains departing/arriving on levels -2 and +2 – all utterly confusing for a first-timer. The station isn’t the most relaxing spot to linger, but for the exalted few, Deutsche Bahn’s premium (first-class) lounge is an oasis of calm.

For an extraordinary breakfast in a stunning setting, book a table at Käfer on the roof terrace of the Reichstag (900 metres from station, open daily from 9am). For a posh pre-departure dinner, Paris-Moskau at Alt-Moabit 141 (open from 6pm) is a traditional Berlin restaurant in a half-timbered building just 400 metres away.

With time on your hands, catch the vibe of the German capital by wandering along the banks of the River Spree, passing the Reichstag en route to the Brandenburg Gate.

Leave luggage at the DB Gepäck lockers (levels -1 and +1, from €2 for two hours or €4 a day). Shower for a fee at the “rail and fresh” facility on level 0.

Vienna Hauptbahnhof

For ÖBB Nightjets to Amsterdam, Berlin, Bregenz, Brussels, Cologne, Dresden, Hamburg, Hanover, Milan, Paris, Venice and Zurich (also until late September, additionally with ÖBB Nightjets to Florence, Rome and Verona); for Euronight to Kraków, Stuttgart and Warsaw; and other operators to Bucharest, Braşov, Kyiv and Lviv, plus summer-season overnight trains to Rijeka and Split

Fully opened 10 years ago, Vienna’s Hauptbahnhof rates as one of Europe’s most efficient transport hubs and boasts a greater range of destinations than any other station in Europe.

For a relaxed breakfast, skip the fast-food options in the station and head for Café Goldegg, with its elegant wood panelling and art nouveau style (on corner of Goldeggasse and Argentinierstrasse). Ask nicely and they’ll even knock you up a full English.

For evening eats, I recently followed the advice of Mark Smith, the legendary Man in Seat 61, and tried the excellent Ringsmuth at Johannitergasse 1 (closed Sun and Mon), a traditional Viennese restaurant with schnitzel galore as well as fish and veggie options.

Vienna Hauptbahnhof is south of the city centre. Three stops north on the U1 metro is Stephansplatz, where you can cleanse your soul at the lovely St Stephens Cathedral. Or go two stops south on the U1 to Reumannplatz to cleanse the body in art deco elegance at the wonderful Amelienbad indoor pool – a triumph of progressive socialist design. A visit will help make up for the lack of showers at the railway station for those arriving on night trains (but there are luggage lockers aplenty, from €2).

Zurich Hauptbahnhof

For ÖBB Nightjets to Amsterdam, Berlin, Bremen, Cologne, Graz, Hamburg and Vienna; and Euronight to Budapest, Dresden, Ljubljana, Prague and Zagreb

Zurich’s main station is a place for grand arrivals – check out the colourful flying angel pivoting over the concourse. Then freshen up with a shower (mezzanine level, €12). And now it’s time for breakfast …

My go-to spot is Roots on Lintheschergasse, just two minutes from the platforms. Power porridge and avocado toast go down a treat after a night on the rails, as do all sorts of shakes and juices. For pre-departure supper, try Maru, a little oasis of Japan on level 2 of the shopping complex under the station serving matcha and “Japanese comfort food”.

I love Zurich for its small-town feel. Having arrived on a night train and lingered over breakfast, I usually wander down pedestrianised Bahnhofstrasse and make for St Peterhofstatt, a haven of calm in the historic heart of the city.

London

Paddington station for the GWR Night Riviera for 11 destinations in Cornwall; Euston station for Caledonian Sleeper trains to 40-plus stations in Scotland

Let’s not forget London. The last direct night sleeper service to the continent stopped 45 years ago (that was the Night Ferry to Brussels and Paris, which for a spell even conveyed a through sleeping car to Switzerland) but you can slip between crisp, clean sheets in sleepers departing the UK capital for the Cornish coast or Scottish Highlands.

Arriving passengers can benefit from posh arrival lounges with free showers at both Paddington and Euston, although the facilities at the latter are only for those who booked en suite accommodation on the train.

Passengers departing Euston should board early and head straight to the Club Car (seats are limited) for dinner for a taste of Scotland and a wee dram as they head north. Those departing from Paddington to Cornwall should take a chilled bottle of champagne to enjoy in the GWR lounge (the former royal waiting room) on Platform 1.

Nicky Gardner is co-author of Europe by Rail: The Definitive Guide. The 18th edition is available from the Guardian Bookshop for £20.99 (additional postage charges may apply)

Snug, I stretched in the darkness, waking as the thump of wheels slowed to the tempo of a heartbeat. I could sense that the train was approaching our destination, so shuffled down the berth, easing up the blind to find a ruby necklace of brake lights running parallel with the tracks.

It had rained overnight and the road was slick, the sky a midnight blue, a D-shaped moon fading in the corner. Dawn was minutes away, and I could just make out the jumble of houses on hills, lights flicking on as though fireflies lay between their folds.

I stepped into the corridor as the train curved around a lake that gleamed like a pool of pink metal as first light fell upon its surface. Around me, passengers were now zipping up bags, brushing their teeth and locking berths into place, pausing to look out of the windows as a pair of minarets rose into view like sharpened pencils. Istanbul’s skyline was coming into focus.

Five days earlier, I’d set off from London St Pancras hoping to retrace the original route of the Orient Express via Paris, Vienna and Bucharest, with the final leg passing through Sofia. Journeying 2,450 miles by rail, I now felt a deep satisfaction as the doors banged open and the sound of the second call to prayer greeted me on the platform. But I felt something else too: a rekindling of my love affair with night trains.

It all began in 2010, when I spent four months riding around on the trains of Indian Railways. At first the rail network represented little more than a mode of transport, a means to an end. But I soon realised that the trains possessed spirit and personality, each a character in its own right. As much as I enjoyed journeys by day – hot chai in one hand, fresh samosa in the other – and constant commotion around me, I relished the nights. It was after dark when I would find peace in the cool of the open doorway, talking to hawkers and ticket inspectors, making notes on the day gone by. As others slept, life beyond the carriage continued and I stayed awake to bear witness to it: a pack of pye-dogs being fed down an alley; bored drivers playing cards on car bonnets; the twentysomething winking at me from the back of her boyfriend’s moped as they careered towards the beach. Each moment felt like a gift, and while I hadn’t realised it at the time, I was already immersed in slow travel.

Three years ago, I made that jaunt from London to Istanbul, which involved three sleeper services: a shabby old Nightjet from Paris to Vienna; the surprisingly smart Dacia from Vienna to Bucharest; and the severely delayed Sofia-Istanbul Express. Three extraordinary journeys with wildly differing compartments, companions and scenery. Still, the madness of sharing with strangers, drinking whisky at 10am and trying to sleep to trance music was enough to spark an adventure that would take me from Palermo to Peru as I documented the resurgence in night trains.

Only a decade before, such journeys were fizzling out in Europe, the rise of budget airlines and high-speed rail leading to a cull of sleeper services. But who knew the world was going to shut down? After lockdown, rail travel began making its way back on to travellers’ radars. With climate change undeniable, people were keen to control their carbon footprints by exploring closer to home. Private companies, such as the Belgian–Dutch co-operative European Sleeper, popped up with plans to launch new sleepers across Europe, and existing operators – including Sweden’s Snälltåget and Austria’s Nightjet – wanted to extend routes, encouraged by campaign groups such as Back-on-Track and Oui au train de Nuit!.

With a bucket list of trains in hand, some of which were yet to start running, I set off to discover whether sleeper trains still held an allure – and who was using them. It didn’t take long to find out as I swept up the wintry backbone of Sweden on the Norrland night train to Narvik, surrounded by a cohort of school teachers from Stockholm on a skiing weekend to Kiruna in Swedish Lapland. In the din of a neon-lit dining car they offered me creamed cod’s roe on crispbread while explaining where I could chase the northern lights. They told me they regularly used the sleeper for weekends away, in both summer and winter, preferring the overnight ride to frantic queues at the airport – and the fraught disposal of liquids, they added, shaking bottles of wine in my face.

During the period of the midnight sun in Norway, I met Ludwig, a chief mate for the coastguard who commuted all the way to Tromsø at the northern tip of the country in a refusal to contribute to climate change. He had travelled the route more than 20 times and recounted his encounters with elderly women and happy drunks who shared their moonshine, presenting him with cured deer hearts in return for companionship. And on the Santa Claus Express in Finland, I tucked into smoky reindeer stew with my children, surrendering to the journey’s festive charms as snow fell around us, the train sweeping quietly up the country to the depths of Finnish Lapland, where the sun never rose and the howl of huskies carried across the treetops.

I found passengers travelling solely for the thrill of riding on a night train: on the Good Night Train from Brussels to Berlin, pouring out wine and beer; young families spread out and enjoying the space on the Intercity Notte from Rome to Palermo; and honeymooning couples loving the thrill of the Intercités de Nuit between Paris and Nice.

Of course, despite the romance of it all, I soon accepted the reality of being slung around as I slept, brakes wailing as the trains jerked to a halt in the small hours. Carriages were sometimes too hot or too cold, blankets too thin, pillows too flat, and companions just too damn loud. I’d sometimes wake with a headache, dreading the border crossings where I’d have to haul my bags or sleep with my passport in hand to make checks faster and more efficient. But all was forgiven during those moments of pure magic, when I’d nudge up the blind, eager to see where we were. Would the sun be firing streaks into the sky? Would the moon be hanging on? I’d sit in my blanket, coffee in hand, watching as farmers fed their flocks and children caught my eye from bedroom windows, a friendly wave never failing to make my day.

Even when we were delayed, no one seemed to mind – my fellow passengers shrugging, pottering around and enjoying the extra time to read, chat or snooze. Because time was what these night trains were giving us. Time to reconnect with friends as we moved through the darkness, with nothing but our own reflections in the window to distract us as we drifted into a state of confession, or opened up to family as though locked in a therapist’s room for the night. I had time for myself too, time to slow down and shut off, watching as the world whipped by my window and my thoughts calmed to a kind of meditation.

Since I began my journeys, new routes have opened, old routes have returned and the feeling is one of hope that night trains will stand the test of time. I don’t know what the future holds for them, but I know that when I board a night train and shift up to the window as we set off beneath the moonlight, it feels like coming home.

Monisha Rajesh’s new book, Moonlight Express: Around the World by Night Train (Bloomsbury, £22), is published 28 August. To support the Guardian, order your copy for £19.80 at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply

Winning tip: glorious north Wales circuit

Starting from the border town of Shrewsbury, a spectacular multiday circuit of north Wales is possible: take the Cambrian Coast line through Aberystwyth, Barmouth, Porthmadog, then the gorgeous Ffestiniog Railway to Blaenau, where you can link back to Llandudno on the coast, and return to Shrewsbury (change at Llandudno Junction). There’s no shortage of accommodation, allowing you to stop and explore without rigid planning. The Cambrian coast and the seaside towns are a largely unexplored jewel outside summer.
Dave Thomas

First-class trip to Romania

From Cluj we travelled through the snow-capped Carpathian mountains, stopping off to admire the historic Transylvanian cities of Sibiu and Brașov, before arriving at Bucharest’s chaotic Gara de Nord. The last leg of our journey took us eastwards to Constanța on the Black Sea. We arrived the day its stunning art nouveau casino was reopened after being rescued from dereliction. Romanian trains may not be the most luxurious or speedy, but with most of our journeys costing from £10 to £20 in first class, they are certainly value for money. Charmingly, at each station our train was greeted by a besuited stationmaster/mistress waving a flag to signal the train’s departure.
Brian Dutton

A day trip adventure around Edinburgh

For a delightful day trip I recommend taking the Scotrail service from Edinburgh to Cardenden, which takes just under an hour. Enjoy the view of Murrayfield with Edinburgh Zoo on the hill to the north. Soon you’ll see the Forth Bridge girders loom at Dalmeny before you fly over the Forth. Take in the stunning view east towards the Bass Rock, and look west past bridges towards Stirling and the Grampian mountains beyond. The ancient capital of Dunfermline is next, as you enter Fife. To the north of Cardenden you will see the peaks of the Lomond Hills regional park. An alternative route is to change at Inverkeithing on return and take a train up the Fife coast to Kirkcaldy, from where it’s a 50-minute ride back to Edinburgh. An unforgettable railway foray and respite from touristy Edinburgh.
Nigel Archdale

Taking it slowly from Stockport to Andalucía

We travelled from our home station of Stockport to Cádiz in southern Spain, stopping at London, Paris, Lyon, Barcelona and Seville en route. Not only was this a climate-conscious decision, but also a way to see more of Europe and to help us to relax and slow down. We took a river cruise in Paris, then the next day enjoyed lunch in Lyon where the local market place gave us a taste of the city. We next sped off to Barcelona, staying in the trendy neighbourhood of El Poblenou. From there we took in a panoramic view of the city from the castle of Montjuïc, followed by the bustling beach. Back on the train, our pace slowed again as we set out for Seville with its sweltering beauty and incredible history. Our final stop was Cádiz, where we saw the best sunset and sunrise. We wouldn’t be able to afford first class on a plane, but we could by rail. For example, Barcelona to Seville was under £60! We sipped wine as the beautiful landscape passed by, in a comfortable seat, with wifi and charging facilities, knowing there would be no wait for luggage at the other end.
Rebecca

Rome to Sicily via train and ferry

Hop on the sleeper train in Rome, or perhaps Naples, and wake the next morning in Sicily. There’s no bridge (yet) so the train is loaded on to a ferry for the crossing, while you are sound asleep in one of the functional little compartments. You can go direct all the way to Palermo or – if you prefer – to beautiful Syracuse in the south-east of the island.
Polly

Belgrade to Stari Bar by day and by night

We took the night train in a sleeper berth from Belgrade (after a few days exploring this cool, arty city) and were delighted by the old-school, velvety cabins with corridors and big open windows. We woke up to Montenegro and Albania’s stunning Lake Skadar. After a few days exploring the lake, Stari Bar and Montenegro’s beautiful coastline we headed back up to Belgrade by day – the mountainous scenery on this 11-hour journey is absolutely spectacular, and all for the round trip cost of €50. We used Man at Seat 61 to learn about the route.
Jenny

Interrail to Morocco via the gardens of Córdoba

In March 2025 we travelled to Morocco via train and ferry from the UK. Travelling on an Interrail ticket through Europe, we made two three-night stops on our way to the port in southern Spain, and two two-night stops on our return journey. On the outward journey we stopped in Girona and Córdoba, both of which have picturesque old towns. In Córdoba we visited eight stunning courtyard gardens as well as the Palace of Viana and the Mezquita, surely one of the most astonishing buildings in the world. On the return leg we stopped in Málaga and Montpelier, both characterful places. We would have missed out on these four wonderful destinations if we had flown directly to Marrakech.
Louise

Anywhere in Belgium for €8.50

Last year, my wife and I explored Belgium by rail. We stayed in a self-catering apartment just a few hundred yards from Antwerp station, a fantastic cathedral to the railways containing several pink granite columns and panels, polished in our home town of Aberdeen. In Belgium over-65s can buy a day return to anywhere in the country for just €8.50! We visited several towns and cities, none involving lengthy journeys. On our travels we discovered the Unesco-listed begijnhoven of Flanders. These were medieval communities for widows or unmarried women, many now beautifully restored.
Jim Fiddes

Beach, mountains and gastronomy in France

My wife and I have travelled around a lot of Europe but our best trip for simplicity is a triangle of France: Eurostar to Paris, then the TGV to Toulouse for saucisse and architectural and historical delights; next, the slow train to Bayonne, gazing at the Pyrenees as the train trundles past Lourdes and on to the French Basque coast; before taking the TGV back up to Paris. City, gastronomy, mountains and beach all in one.
George

Laid-back vibes on the line to Ljubljana

Our trip began with the sway of a boat gliding into Venice. After days getting blissfully lost in quiet alleys and forgotten courtyards, we boarded the train from Santa Lucia station, speeding across the shimmering lagoon to Trieste. In a sunlit square, we savoured chocolate gelato, the Mediterranean sparkling nearby. Next, Ljubljana welcomed us with its laid-back vibes. We sipped cocktails in jars by the river, surrounded by art and colour. Finally, a graffiti-covered train carried us to Lake Bled, where we hiked and swam beneath the majestic Julian Alps, ending our journey in a cosy pod under stars and amid fireflies.
Alex

A bipartisan congressional committee is investigating whether California’s High-Speed Rail Authority knowingly misrepresented ridership projections and financial outlooks, as alleged by the Trump administration, to secure federal funding.

In a letter sent to Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Tuesday, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform chair James Comer (R-KY) requested a staff briefing and all communications and records about federal funding for the high-speed rail project and any analysis over the train’s viability.

“The Authority’s apparent repeated use of misleading ridership projections, despite longstanding warnings from experts, raises serious questions about whether funds were allocated under false pretenses,” Comer wrote.

Comer’s letter copied Congressman Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee who has also voiced skepticism about the project. Garcia, whose districts represent communities in Southern California, was not immediately available for comment.

An authority spokesperson called the House committee’s investigation “another baseless attempt to manufacture controversy around America’s largest and most complex infrastructure project,” and added that the project’s chief executive Ian Choudri previously addressed the claims and called them “cherrypicked and out-of-date, and therefore misleading.”

Last month, the Trump administration pulled $4 billion in federal funding from the project meant for construction in the Central Valley. After a months-long review, prompted by calls from Republican lawmakers, the administration found “no viable path” forward for the fast train, which is billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule. The administration also questioned whether the authority’s projected ridership counts were intentionally misrepresented.

California leaders called the move “illegal” and sued the Trump administration for declaratory and injunctive relief. Gov. Gavin Newsom said it was “a political stunt” and a “heartless attack on the Central Valley.”

The bullet train was proposed decades ago as a way to connect Los Angeles and San Francisco in less than three hours by 2020. While the entire line has cleared environmental reviews, no stretch of the route has been completed. Construction has been limited to the Central Valley, where authority leaders have said a segment between Merced and Bakersfield will open by 2033. The project is also about $100 billion over its original budget of $33 billion.

Even before the White House pulled federal funding, authority leaders and advisers repeatedly raised concerns over the project’s long-term financial sustainability.

Roughly $13 billion has been spent so far — the bulk of which was supplied by the state, which has proposed $1 billion per year towards the project. But Choudri, who started at the authority last year, has said the project needs to find new sources of funding and has turned focus toward establishing public-private partnerships to supplement costs.

Ridership across Metro’s transit system plunged in June after federal immigration authorities conducted dramatic raids across Los Angeles County, sowing fear among many rail and bus riders.

Last month, the transit agency’s passenger numbers on buses continued to dip, although the reasons are not fully clear.

Ridership on rail crept up roughly 6.5% in July after a decrease of more than 3.7 million boardings across the rail and bus system the month before. Bus ridership accounted for the bulk of the June hit, with a ridership drop of more than 3.1 million from May. In July, bus boardings continued to decrease slightly by nearly 2%.

While it’s possible that concerns over safety have persisted as immigration raids continued to play out in the Los Angeles region, a drop in bus ridership from June to July in years past has not been uncommon, according to Metro data. A review of the number of boardings from 2018 shows routine dips in bus ridership during the summer months.

The agency said “there is a seasonal pattern to ridership and historically bus ridership is lower in July than June when schools and colleges are not in regular session and people are more likely to take time off from work.”

June saw a roughly 13.5% decline from the month before — the lowest June on record since 2022, when boardings had begun to climb again after the pandemic.

The reduction in passengers was not felt along every rail line and bus route. Metro chief executive Stephanie Wiggins noted during a board of directors meeting last month that the K Line saw a 140% surge in weekday ridership in June and a roughly 200% increase in weekend ridership after the opening of the LAX/Metro Transit Center.

Metro has struggled with ridership in recent years, first when the pandemic shuttered transit and then when a spate of violence on rail and buses shook trust in the system. Those numbers started to rebound this year and before June’s drop, had reached 90% of pre-pandemic counts.

But financial challenges have continued. Metro, which recently approved a $9.4 billion budget, faces a deficit of more than $2.3 billion through 2030. And federal funding for its major Olympics and Paralympics transportation plan to lease thousands of buses remains in flux. Maintaining ridership growth is critical for the the agency.

More than 60% of Metro bus riders and roughly 50% of its rail riders are Latino, according to a 2023 Metro survey. The decline in June’s ridership was due in part to growing concerns that transit riders would be swept up in immigration raids. Those fears were magnified when a widely shared video showed several residents apprehended at a bus stop in Pasadena.

Three of the men who were arrested at the stop by federal agents are plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Trump administration. They spoke earlier this month at a news conference in favor of the 9th U.S. Court of Appeals decision to uphold a temporary restraining order against the immigration stops and arrests.

Pedro Vasquez Perdomo, a day laborer, said he was taken by unidentified men while waiting at the bus stop to go to work like he did every day. He said that he was placed in a small space without access to a bathroom or adequate food, water and medicine. Vasquez Perdomo said the experience “changed my life forever” and called for “justice.”

Closures at stations during the raids and D Line construction beneath Wilshire Boulevard also affected June’s numbers, according to Metro officials.

Rail travel has been growing in popularity over the past few years, and it is increasingly being seen as not just a means of transport, but an integral part of a holiday – like going on a grand tour. Flexible tickets and the resurgence of night trains mean that travellers can plot an itinerary that takes in any number of cities and countries on one trip. We’d like to hear about your best rail journey in the UK or Europe.

The best tip of the week, chosen by Tom Hall of Lonely Planet wins a £200 voucher to stay at a Coolstays property – the company has more than 3,000 worldwide. The best tips will appear in the Guardian Travel section and website.

Keep your tip to about 100 words

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Toasted ham baguettes in hand, we cheered as the new-generation Nightjet drew into Vienna Hauptbahnhof. It was a little before 7pm, and as the carriages hummed past I felt a rush of joy, like celebrity trainspotter Francis Bourgeois, but without the GoPro on my forehead. For more than three years I’ve been documenting the renaissance of sleeper trains, and I’d wondered if I might one day tire of them. But the thrill seems only to intensify each time I embark on another nocturnal adventure, this time with my two daughters – aged eight and five – who were already arguing over the top berth. The first four carriages were designated for travellers to the Italian port city of La Spezia, the other seven carrying on to Roma Tiburtina, where we would alight at 10am. Once in Rome we had 24 hours to eat classic carbonara, dark chocolate gelato, and bike around the Villa Borghese before taking a train to Florence.

Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) has played the lead role in resuscitating Europe’s night trains. Towards the end of 2016, ÖBB launched its Nightjet network on 14 routes, using old rolling stock it bought from Deutsche Bahn. Then, to the delight of train nerds like me, it launched a brand-new fleet at the end of 2023, and now operates 20 routes across Europe. We were now on board this high-spec service, which smelled of freshly unpacked furniture, the carpets soft underfoot, the lighting adjustable to disco hues of neon blue and punk pink.

We were booked into a couchette carriage, which mostly comprisesd mini cabins designed for solo travellers preferring privacy. Placing shoes and small bags in lockers, passengers can open a metal door with a keycard and crawl into their single berth, drawing the door closed around them, and not have to look at another human until morning. Last year I had trialled the mini cabins from Vienna to Hamburg alongside a tall friend who had likened the experience to sleeping inside a bread bin, though I hadn’t found it as claustrophobic as I’d feared, just a bit hard, chilly, and with a pillow as flat as a postage stamp. So I was curious to see how the carriage’s four-person private compartments, for families and groups, would differ.

Normally happy to share with strangers, I’d booked a whole compartment for the three of us: more to protect other hapless travellers from my children, who were now swinging off the berths like members of Cirque du Soleil, their sweaty socks strewn under the seats. With raised sides, the upper berths were safe for the girls to sleep in without rolling out, and I set about tucking in their sheets while they settled down to finish their baguettes. There is no dining car on the Nightjet, so we’d bought food from the station, which was now moving backwards as the train sailed out of the Austrian capital in silence, smoothly curving south-west.

Two days earlier we’d arrived in Vienna by train from London, via Paris, and had checked into the Superbude Wien Prater, a curious hotel that appeared part art-installation, part hostel, with gen Zs slouched around worn leather sofas on MacBooks. With four-bed family cabins overlooking the Prater amusement park, it was a great location from which to explore the city, then finish the evening with a terrifying rollercoaster and a spicy Bitzinger wurst. A friend had described Vienna to me as a grand and beautiful “retirement village”, but, on the contrary, its green spaces, playgrounds and museums made it an easy stop for 48 hours with kids.

Hopping off the Nightjet from Paris, we’d gone straight to my favourite restaurant, Edelgreisslerei Opocensky – an unassuming nook serving homely dishes such as stuffed gnocchi, and goulash with dumplings – before whiling away an afternoon at the Children’s Museum at Schönbrunn Palace.

Dressing up like young Habsburgs, the girls had swanned around in wigs and musty gowns, laying tables for banquets and begging not to leave – a far cry from our usual museum experiences. Before boarding this train we’d had one last run around the interactive Technical Museum, where the human-sized hamster wheels, peg games and slides had so worn out the children that my five-year-old was asleep as the train plunged into the Semmering mountain pass.

It was still light as we swept around the Alps, my eight-year-old kneeling at the window and asking where local people shopped, so few and far between were signs of human life. Horses grazed in paddocks, cows nuzzled, and the occasional hamlet emerged from round a bend as though the chalets were shaken like dice and tossed into the slopes. In the blue-grey twilight we watched streams gleam like strips of metal, and spotted a single stag poised at the edge of a wood, before the train made a long stop at the Styrian city of Leoben, at which point we turned in.

Like the mini cabins, the compartment was still too cold, the pillow still too flat, but the berths were wider and the huge window a blessing compared with the single berths’ portholes – this one allowed for wistful gazing.

Shoving a rolled-up jumper under my head, I fell asleep, waking at 7am to rumpled clouds and a golden flare on the horizon. Most night trains terminate soon after passengers have woken up, but this one was perfect, allowing us to enjoy a leisurely breakfast of hot chocolate and jam rolls while watching the Tuscan dawn breaking into song, and Umbrian lakes and cornfields running parallel before we finally drew into Rome – on time.

When travelling alone I relish arriving with the entire day at my disposal, but with children it’s hard work waiting until 3pm to check in to accommodation, so I default to staying at a Hoxton hotel if one is available. Its Flexy Time policy allows guests to choose what time they check in and out for free, and by 11am we had checked in, showered and set off to toss coins in the Trevi fountain, finding thick whorls of eggy carbonara at nearby trattoria Maccheroni, and gelato at Don Nino. To avoid the crowds and heat, we waited until 6pm to hire an electric pedal car from Bici Pincio at the Villa Borghese and drove around the landscaped, leafy grounds, relishing the quietness of the evening ride. Excited about the next adventure in Florence, the girls had only one complaint: that they couldn’t ride there on the night train.

Monisha Rajesh is the author of Moonlight Express: Around the World by Night Train (Bloomsbury, £22), published on 28 August and available on pre-order at guardianbookshop.com

Omio provided travel in a four-person private compartment in a couchette carriage from Vienna to Rome (from £357). Accommodation was provided by Superbude Wien Prater in Vienna (doubles from €89 room-only); and The Hoxton in Rome (doubles from €189 room-only)

US president blasts long-delayed project to link Los Angeles and San Francisco as a ‘boondoggle’ and a ‘train to nowhere’.

United States President Donald Trump has pulled the plug on $4bn in funding for a long-delayed high-speed rail line in California, blasting the project as a “boondoggle” and a “train to nowhere”.

Trump said in a social media post on Wednesday that he had “freed” taxpayers from the “disastrously overpriced” proposed railway linking Los Angeles and San Francisco, which has been plagued by delays and cost overruns.

“This boondoggle, led by the incompetent Governor of California, Gavin Newscum, has cost Taxpayers Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we have received NOTHING in return except Cost Overruns,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, using a nickname he commonly deploys to mock the state’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom.

“The Railroad we were promised still does not exist, and never will.”

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy accused Democrats of wasting taxpayers’ money and said federal money was not a “blank cheque”.

“It’s time for this boondoggle to die,” Duffy said in a statement.

Newsom slammed the Trump administration’s move as illegal and said the state would put “all options on the table” to oppose the funding cut.

“Trump wants to hand China the future and abandon the Central Valley. We won’t let him,” Newsom said in a statement.

The 1,249km (776-mile) rail line, which was approved by California voters in a 2008 plebiscite, was initially envisaged for completion in 2020 at a cost of $33bn.

The project’s estimated cost has since ballooned to $89bn to $128bn, with services not expected to begin until 2033 at the earliest.

The US currently does not have a high-speed rail service, but a 354km (220-mile) high-speed link between Los Angeles and Las Vegas is scheduled to begin operations in 2028.

‘Centuries ago people used to say, ‘In three days the Piešťany water will either heal you or kill you.’” My guide Igor Paulech is showing me around Spa Island – a hot-spring haven in the middle of the Váh River that runs through Piešťany, Slovakia’s most prestigious spa town. Just an hour north of Bratislava by train, the town and its spa-populated island are packed with grand art nouveau and art deco buildings.

There’s a faint aroma of sulphur in the air as Igor paces ahead, past peacocks and ponds full of lilies, imparting his home town’s history. The hot water that springs from beneath the island sandbank has created what we’re all here for: a blueish medicinal mud that’s rich in hydrogen sulphide and sulphur.

Slovakia is gaining an international reputation for its affordable and high-quality spa treatments. I’m here to visit three of its leading spa towns, travelling entirely by rail. The journey from London is straightforward and took less than 24 hours thanks to the new European Sleeper route that leaves Brussels for Prague three nights a week, and a direct train from Prague to Piešťany.

On checking in at the Thermia Palace, the history of this grand 113-year-old hotel and neighbouring Irma Health Spa is immediately apparent. Photographs of maharajas, politicians and singers who have visited are on display, and a painting donated by Alfonse Mucha, the Czech artist whose work defined the art nouveau style, hangs in the hotel’s dining room. His daughter came here regularly for the balneotherapy (mineral-water hydrotherapy), and there is a small museum on Spa Island dedicated to his work.

I’m assigned to Dr Alena Korenčíková, who immediately notices I have hypermobility and draws up a personalised programme that includes visits to the thermal bath, filled with sulphuric mineral water, and the hot-mud pool. I’m also prescribed daily CO2 injections. Known as carboxytherapy, this treatment is meant to help muscle recovery and tissue regeneration; my rock-hard shoulders feel noticeably looser afterwards. And finally, I’m prescribed a mud-pack treatment, which is recommended for reducing swelling and inflammation, and nourishing the joints. When I explain that I’m going to Trenčianske Teplice and hope to continue mud treatment there, Dr Alena says: “They have peat, it’s not the same as ours.” Time to fine-tune my mud knowledge.

As I submerge myself in the warm cloudy water, my toes squish into the mineral mud that is pumped directly from the mud kitchen (where it’s treated) into the vast circular pool. The building is as thrilling as the bathing. The 19th-century dome above the pool is the spa’s stunning centrepiece, with stained glass art deco skylight windows sitting high up on the art nouveau walls decorated with tiles, floral motifs and cherubs. Piešťany is just as much about architecture as about bathing, it seems.

Local architect Eva Rohoňová cements this theory the following day, when she shows me around the extraordinary House of Arts, a colossal piece of 1970s brutalism that houses the town’s concert hall and cultural centre. “It’s far too big a capacity for just people from Piešťany,” she says. “The Czechoslovakian government built it here as the town was full of international visitors. It was to demonstrate the culture.” She has been giving tours of otherwise inaccessible interior spaces to locals over the years, but anyone can arrange one through the Visit Piešťany website.

After three mud-packed days, I take a train north to Trenčianske Teplice just outside Trenčín, one of next year’s European Capitals of Culture. I’m instantly taken by the picturesque spa town with its mix of baby pink and peachy orange 19th-century guesthouses and angular 1960s concrete hotels. Daniel Oriešek from the tourist board shows me around. I point out the steady stream of visitors carrying walking poles. “It’s not the Tatras, but people come here for hiking,” he says, alluding to Slovakia’s West Carpathian range which forms a scenic backdrop to the town.

They also come to bathe at the Sina hammam, an ornate Turkish bathhouse that looks as though it could have been teleported here from Istanbul. It was in fact built in 1888 and designed by František Schmoranz Jr, an Austrian architect of Czech origin who had spent several years living in Egypt and was a leading expert on Islamic architecture and decorative arts.

I’m ushered in and shown to the pool, where an unexpected delight greets me: a huge socialist-era mural that covers one entire wall. I soak in the water and copy the locals, who splash their faces with water from the source in the middle of the pool. Afterwards, my skin looks and feels fantastic and, with an entry price of just £12.50, I’m already plotting my next visit as I exit the building.

The next day I catch a train to Žilina, a city in the north of the country, where I disembark to hop on a bus for Rajecké Teplice. It’s a village compared with Piešťany and only has the one spa, Aphrodite, but that spa is truly unlike anywhere else I’ve been. Lovingly maximalist, with Roman-style columns, mosaics and gold decor that glimmers in the crisp spring sunshine, this is the Vegas of spa resorts. “When you are lying on a sunbed on a hot summer day and take a cold dip in the pool, it’s like you’re not in Slovakia,” says staff member Radka Capkova. “Everyone knows Slovakia has lots of spas, but it’s usually older people who want to go. But our spa is so famous that we get younger people here taking photos.”

It’s a huge complex of 11 saunas, three restaurants, an outdoor swimming pool and Nature Land, where bathing is naked after 5pm. I feel far too British for this, but wearing a bikini to a sauna is a firm no in central Europe, so I collect a sauna sheet and tuck it around myself like a sarong. Capkova encourages me to attend one of their “sauna ritual” events (or Aufguss) and get over the nudity: “No one stares or looks,” he says.

I go to the hottest ritual, where the sauna master swirls around like a figure skater, splashing orange, lemongrass and yuzu water over the hot coals as pop songs blast out and everyone claps along – the camaraderie is so infectious that I quickly forget everyone is naked.

“My great-great-grandmother, my great-aunt, my mother, everyone worked here at some point,” Capkova tells me. Rajecké Teplice is the smallest of the spa towns I’ve been to, but it has a big community impact. Spas are just in the blood in Slovakia. “But in the UK you don’t go to the spa?” It’s a question I get asked a lot throughout this week. “We’re working on it,” I always reply.

The trip was provided by Visit Piešťany, Trenčianske Teplice Regional Tourism, Spa Aphrodite and Byway Travel (byway.travel). A bespoke 10-day tour of Slovakia costs from £2,012pp, including transport and some accommodation

The planning of main rail routes through the Alps was shaped by national ambition and rivalries. The opening of Austria’s Semmering railway in 1854, the Mont Cenis route (also known as Fréjus) between France and Italy in 1871 and Switzerland’s Gotthard tunnel in 1882 defined the broad contours of Alpine railway geography in the late 19th century. But Habsburg planners were keen to secure better links with Adriatic ports, so in 1901 they sketched out a bold plan for the Neue Alpenbahnen (new Alpine railways), of which Austria’s Tauern railway was the most important. It opened in 1909. When it closed for rebuilding in November 2024, it was a sharp reminder of how much passengers and freight rely on a handful of key Alpine rail routes. Lose one key Alpine link and the effects of that closure are felt across Europe.

The last couple of years have been tough for Alpine rail operators. Landslides, floods and derailment have played havoc on the lines. So three cheers for the more recent good news stories. The important Mont Cenis route reopened this spring, having been shut after a landslide in August 2023 (though there was a wobble last week when another landslide briefly interrupted services). That closure necessitated the cancellation of all high-speed trains between France and Italy. These links have now been restored, allowing travellers this summer to speed from Paris to Turin in just 5hrs 40mins, or from Lyon to Milan in under five hours.

New services on classic railways

Other major Alpine routes welcomed new long-distance trains this summer. On the Brenner route from Austria into Italy, a new seasonal Railjet service now runs from Munich right through to the Adriatic port of Ancona. Since late June, the famous Semmering railway has seen new direct trains from Warsaw to Rijeka which slip by dead of night through the Austrian Alps – 20 hours from the Polish capital to the Croatian coast. Last month also saw the celebrated Gotthard route hosting a new daytime train from Zürich to Pisa, an eight-hour journey that takes in not merely the Alps but also some glorious Ligurian coastal scenery along the way.

But the best is yet to come. The Tauern railway will reopen on 14 July. The return of this major rail axis through the Austrian Alps has had a transformative effect on European rail timetables, as many key trans-Alpine train services are restored. Overnight services from Stuttgart and Salzburg to Venice, suspended since last year with the Tauern closure, return from 14 July. So does the Nightjet from Munich to Rome.

It is remarkable how the loss of one key rail link can reshape European geography. During the Tauern closure, journeys from Switzerland and southern Germany to Slovenia have been slower. Within Austria, Salzburg and Carinthia will be happily reconnected with the reopening of the railway. Trains will again glide from Salzburg to the lovely Carinthian city of Villach in just 2hrs 32mins, from where there are good onward connections to Slovenia and Italy.

The Tauern railway is an old-style main line carrying a mixture of freight and passenger services. It was never designed for high speed and the scenery is too good to rush. So the fact that even the fastest trains average under 50mph is a blessing.

Salzburg to Villach

The debut southbound passenger train through the restored Tauern tunnel is an Intercity scheduled to leave Salzburg at 06.12 on 14 July. And here’s hoping for good (but not too hot) weather on that Monday, as the Tauern railway is at its best on a sunny summer morning. The railway cuts up the Salzach valley from Salzburg, the scenery initially revealing little of the drama that lies ahead. It is only beyond Schwarzach that the hills close in and the railway presses south, with the great wall of the Tauern Alps ahead. The last stop before the Tauern tunnel is Bad Gastein, a remarkable Habsburg-era spa town with belle epoque charm. It is a great spot to break the journey and enjoy the mountain air, or the town’s radon-rich spa tradition.

Continuing beyond Bad Gastein, the railway plunges into the Tauern tunnel. This is one of the shortest of the great Alpine rail tunnels and there is just seven minutes of darkness before the train emerges into Carinthian sunshine, with the landscape now hinting at a more southern demeanour. I love this stretch, as the railway drops down towards the Möll valley, following the latter down towards the River Drau, which is crossed just after stopping at Spittal. After bridging the Drau, sit on the right for great views of the river, as the railway parallels it downstream to Villach.

Here the Drau is just in its infancy; but further down its long course it becomes the Drava and flows east to join the Danube, on the border between Croatia and Serbia. It is a river which has shaped European history, just as the Tauern railway has shaped travel patterns through the Alps.

Björn Bender, CEO of Rail Europe, captures the huge sense of relief across the wider European rail industry when he says: “The Tauern tunnel reopening is so important, as it’s a key route for trains from Bavaria to Slovenia. It is also used by travellers heading through the Alps to north-east Italy. The Austrian province of Carinthia becomes so much more accessible again. And the Tauern reopening on 14 July is just the prelude of more good things to come. In December the new Koralm tunnel opens, cutting journey times between Vienna and Klagenfurt, the provincial capital of Carinthia.”

Tickets from Salzburg to Villach via the Tauern railway cost from £9 one way (increasing to £13.50 or £18 once £9 tickets are sold out) from Rail Europe. This is a discounted Sparschiene ticket, which needs to be booked in advance.

Nicky Gardner is co-author of Europe by Rail: The Definitive Guide (18th edition, Hidden Europe, £20.99) available from the Guardian Bookshop

Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel is expected to open in late 2025. Described as the most significant overhaul of the city’s transport network since the City Loop opened in the 1980s, the tunnel has been taking shape beneath the city for the past eight years – with the bill ballooning to $14bn. With an eye on the 2026 state election, the long-serving Victorian Labor government – with its soaring debt of nearly $200bn – is banking on the project to turn its fortunes around. Guardian Australia’s Victoria state correspondent, Benita Kolovos, gets a look at the city’s newest train stations

June 17 (UPI) — British Steel announced Tuesday that it has landed a new contract with the Network Rail railway company worth more than a half-billion dollars.

In a press release, British Steel’s Commercial Director for Rail Craig Harvey said, “The contract is a ringing endorsement of UK workers and British industry, underpinning the vital role we play in ensuring millions of passengers and freight operators enjoy safe, enjoyable, and timely journeys on Britain’s railways.”

The deal made between the two companies is a five-year arrangement valued at approximately $677 million that will have the steel company create about 7.7 to 8.8 tons of rail every year. Additionally, the contact can be extended for another three years.

British Steel is the only manufacturer of rail in the United Kingdom.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander posted to X Tuesday that she had met with representatives of British Steel to finalize the contract, and that “this deal truly transforms the outlook for British Steel and its dedicated workforce in Scunthorpe.”

The English town of Scunthorpe is a British Steel site that has reportedly supplied Network Rail with track for more than 20 years, and in the last decade alone they have manufactured over 1.1 million tons of rail for Network Rail.

The factory there had been scheduled to close its blast furnaces earlier this year but was saved when the government used emergency powers to keep it open for now.

“After taking urgent action to step in and save these historic blast furnaces from closure, we’ve now helped secure their long-term future by backing British Steel with meaningful government contracts, protecting thousands of skilled manufacturing jobs in the process,” said Alexander.

U.K. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said Tuesday in the release that “This is great news for British Steel and a vote of confidence in the U.K.’s expertise in steelmaking, which will support thousands of skilled jobs for years to come.”

In the spring of 1990, the chief executive’s office at British Rail received an urgent telephone call from the area manager at Newcastle upon Tyne saying there was a one-armed Scotsman wandering around the main signal box claiming to be BR’s new chairman and wanting to know how everything worked. Was it all right to tell him?

The man was Bob Reid, who had recently moved from Shell, where he was the UK chairman, and was now on the brink of a difficult five-year stint at BR that would end in a privatisation about which he had serious misgivings. His foray into the signal box, matched by an excursion into the drivers’ restroom at Waterloo, was typical of the man. Determined, impulsive and impatient to get things moving, he had a liking for human contact and an easy manner, regardless of rank.

The offer to take over BR had come in 1990. Reid, who has died aged 91, was not the first choice; rumour had it that 20 people had already turned it down. But he saw it as an opportunity to apply his skills to an inward-looking public sector organisation that had long been a concern to government and which faced major challenges with the forthcoming Channel tunnel rail link. Reid could not wait to get started, but he dismayed some of his new colleagues with a bullish joke that he was used to much bigger projects than those he faced at BR.

When he took over, the railways were improving, although the level of government subsidy remained controversial. Under his predecessor, a veteran railwayman confusingly also called Sir Robert Reid, steady improvements had been made, helped by a benign economic environment. The business had been reorganised into sectors, which proved a success, but the recession of the early 1990s now hit railway finances and Bob Reid failed to get government backing for BR’s proposed investments.

He left the running of the railway largely to his chief executive, John Welsby, and concentrated on projects such as the Channel tunnel, which the government had made a priority. BR favoured a route through south London that provided alternative options and would be linked to expensive new facilities. But the government, with Michael Heseltine promoting the regeneration of the Docklands area, opted for an east London route. Reid took the rebuff badly and some felt he might resign, but he remarked in an outburst that he immediately regretted: “When you are in the middle of a pantomime, you want to stay with it.”

When BR famously blamed “leaves on the line” and “the wrong kind of snow” for various delays, and when he failed to get his investment plans through, his lack of success began to invite questions about his competence in dealing with government. It was not helped when the transport minister, Malcolm Rifkind, described him as being “on a learning curve”.

Within the railways, Reid’s lack of appetite for detailed knowledge grated, and managers were reluctant to discuss problems for fear of receiving a diktat. But they respected his strong emphasis on safety, including his insistence that track maintenance supervisors must brief their gangs on safety every morning.

Reid’s difficulties multiplied when John Major’s new government decided to privatise the railways. That scenario had not been part of Reid’s original brief, and he was publicly critical of the detail. He forecast accurately that the complex division of the system would multiply bureaucracy, that profits would not be sufficiently reinvested, and that safety could be compromised. Some in BR hoped he would challenge the plan by resigning. But he argued that “managing large undertakings through the medium of government is a recipe for all sorts of problems. Even though I would have done it differently, getting BR into the private sector is the main thing.”

By 1995, at the end of his term, Reid could point to better financial performance (with expectations of a £400m-a-year profit for BR), an improvement in industrial relations that had seen just two days lost to strikes over his whole period in office, and improved productivity. But he had lost the strategic battles.

The son of Elizabeth (nee Paul), and William Reid, he was born in Cupar, Fife, where his life was transformed by a terrible accident when he was nine. Working in his father’s butcher’s shop one evening, he attempted to unstick a mincing machine and lost his right hand. He described the incident as “catastrophic” but insisted it only sharpened his desire to be part of the action. He learned to write with his left hand within a fortnight and became a formidable golfer with a handicap of four. “Making things happen is a state of mind,” he would say later. “The joy of leadership lies as much in overcoming setbacks as enjoying the rewards of success.”

Reid demonstrated his leadership during a career with Shell that he started in 1956 as a management trainee after studying politics, economics and history at St Andrews. He represented the university at golf and met his future wife, Joan Oram, there – they married in 1958. He also forged significant friendships with two aspiring politicians, Bob Horton, later chairman of BP and National Rail, and John MacGregor, who was appointed transport secretary while Reid was running BR.

His Shell career, largely focused on the “downstream” processing and marketing of oil, took him to Malaysia, Nigeria, Kenya and then back to Nigeria as managing director from 1970-74, before a similar job in Thailand and a posting in Australia as director of downstream oil. In 1983 he was brought back to London as coordinator for supply and marketing, becoming chairman and chief executive of Shell UK in 1985.

Reid, nicknamed “the one-armed bandit”, was admired for his energy and enthusiasm but never reached the committee of managing directors, as board level was known at Shell. His skills in dealing with people were deployed in what was largely a representational role, although it included responsibility for UK refining and the important North Sea operations. His experience of determinedly camping in the outer offices of Nigerian ministers when they refused to see him was judged to have helped him with the UK government.

Reid’s five years as chairman reinforced his reputation for energy, unstuffiness and charisma. He crusaded for proper management training (in the absence then of business schools), establishing the Foundation for Management Education and chairing the British Institute of Management (1988-90). With his sympathy for the arts (particularly music and opera) and a keen eye for public relations, he took Shell’s sponsorship in a new direction with backing for Bafta. At a time when Shell’s continuing activity in South Africa was under attack, Reid argued that the company could be part of change, and provided liberally managed employment that helped it to be seen in a different light.

He was knighted in 1990. On leaving BR he became chairman of the retail giant Sears Holdings, and later deputy governor of the Bank of Scotland. He was the first chancellor of Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen. Other chairmanships included London Electricity, Avis Europe and the International Petroleum Exchange.

Joan died in 2017. Reid is survived by their sons, Douglas, Paul and Michael.

South Western Railway (SWR) has been renationalised, making it the first train company to transfer to public ownership under Labour.

The first nationalised service will leave at 05:36 from Woking to Surbiton though it will be partially covered by a rail replacement bus service.

The government has hailed the move as a “new dawn for rail” but it held back from promising lower fares, focusing more on plans to improve services and use profits to reinvest in infrastructure.

Unions have expressed concerns over outsourcing to private companies, while the opposition Conservatives said Labour must “deliver on their promises”.

SWR trains are now the responsibility of DfT (Department for Transport) Operator and will be integrated into Great British Railways (GBR), which will oversee all railway infrastructure.

GBR will not officially exist until MPs vote to create it, which looks set to be in the autumn.

On a visit to a train depot in Bournemouth earlier, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander described the nationalisation of SWR as a “real watershed moment”.

Asked whether prices would go down for passengers, she told the BBC she could not promise lower fares, but assured passengers they would get “great value for money”.

Alexander is expected to travel on the first fully rail-operated route from London Waterloo to Shepperton in Surrey at 06:14.

It will be the first service with the new GBR livery. The words “Great British Railways” and “coming soon” are painted in white against a royal blue background decorated with part of a union flag.

Two more rail firms, C2C and Greater Anglia, will be brought into public ownership later this year.

Four major operators have already been brought under public ownership under previous Conservative governments – East Coast Mainline, TransPennine, Northern and South Eastern (LNER).

Seven more companies will be renationalised by 2027 as each of their contracts end – or sooner if their performance is judged to be unacceptable.

These are:

• West Midlands Trains
• East Midlands Railway
• Avanti West Coast
• CrossCountry
• Chiltern Railways
• Govia Thameslink Railway
• Great Western

Current government plans are to renationalise nearly all passenger rail services across England, Wales and Scotland by 2030, proposals which have been attacked the Conservatives.

Shadow Transport Secretary Gareth Bacon said: “Labour have talked up the benefits of renationalisation for years and they will now have to deliver on their promises of lower ticket prices, an end to all disruption and strikes and better onboard services. The alternative is that, as usual, British taxpayers have to foot the bill for Labour.”

The RMT Union welcomed SWR’s nationalisation but said it was concerned about outsourcing to private firms.

RMT General Secretary Eddie Dempsey said: “Public ownership of South Western Railway is a major step forward and is a clear rejection of the failed privatisation model.

“But the job is incomplete when our contracted-out members remain outsourced and not reaping the benefits of nationalisation.”

The government said it could not promise fares would be cheaper despite significant cost savings through renationalisation but any additional money would be invested in making services better.

Whitehall sources have told the BBC ministers hope to find ways to cut the cost of rail travel but it is impossible to make promises before GBR is formally established and services renationalised.