Mike Wooldridge
@mikewooldridge.bsky.social
Working with technology at https://raileasy.co.uk & volunteer moderator at RailUK. Personal account, all views my own. Also on Mastodon @mikewooldridge@infosec.exchange
www.b-europe.com/EN/Booking/P... - even with SNCB I struggle to find through tickets, at least not on the SNCB/ES sites. Also, my own experiences with connections assistance has not been good (see my follow up reply - I did ultimately catch the train up but ES were happy to not offer any assistance)
Tickets for European Sleeper night trains | SNCB International
www.b-europe.com
December 10, 2025 at 10:13 PM
www.b-europe.com/EN/Booking/P... - even with SNCB I struggle to find through tickets, at least not on the SNCB/ES sites. Also, my own experiences with connections assistance has not been good (see my follow up reply - I did ultimately catch the train up but ES were happy to not offer any assistance)
(OBB is on my mind from the ski trains last year where I was flat out refused a change/refund from ES after an OBB train was delayed missing the connection - appreciate that’s not currently relevant!)
December 10, 2025 at 10:03 PM
(OBB is on my mind from the ski trains last year where I was flat out refused a change/refund from ES after an OBB train was delayed missing the connection - appreciate that’s not currently relevant!)
(Apologies for replying to an all-German thread in English!)
It makes no sense and is a major flaw with ES too who seem to see themselves as in isolation as much as they can get away with. They could do so much more with eg onward travel on NS/OBB, connections info etc. but they live in a bubble.
It makes no sense and is a major flaw with ES too who seem to see themselves as in isolation as much as they can get away with. They could do so much more with eg onward travel on NS/OBB, connections info etc. but they live in a bubble.
December 10, 2025 at 9:54 PM
(Apologies for replying to an all-German thread in English!)
It makes no sense and is a major flaw with ES too who seem to see themselves as in isolation as much as they can get away with. They could do so much more with eg onward travel on NS/OBB, connections info etc. but they live in a bubble.
It makes no sense and is a major flaw with ES too who seem to see themselves as in isolation as much as they can get away with. They could do so much more with eg onward travel on NS/OBB, connections info etc. but they live in a bubble.
That’s….not terrible. You see, unlike the actual train design that is simple, stylish and gets the message across. Bin off the train design and get the agency for the digital comms to redo that too, with budget for time to look at what other iconic liveries look like.
December 10, 2025 at 11:10 AM
That’s….not terrible. You see, unlike the actual train design that is simple, stylish and gets the message across. Bin off the train design and get the agency for the digital comms to redo that too, with budget for time to look at what other iconic liveries look like.
One word - France. Whilst on paper they have to accommodate them, SNCF are actively hostile to making open access work across its infrastructure essentially.
December 10, 2025 at 10:42 AM
One word - France. Whilst on paper they have to accommodate them, SNCF are actively hostile to making open access work across its infrastructure essentially.
Tacit admission that Spain is too difficult right now I wonder?
December 10, 2025 at 7:26 AM
Tacit admission that Spain is too difficult right now I wonder?
Good ol' Deputy Speaker! (Am aware they *have* to vote that way rather than having any real free choice, but still good news.... well at this stage, if it was any sort of meaningful final Commons vote they'd have had to vote with the status quo!)
December 9, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Good ol' Deputy Speaker! (Am aware they *have* to vote that way rather than having any real free choice, but still good news.... well at this stage, if it was any sort of meaningful final Commons vote they'd have had to vote with the status quo!)
I could literally write an essay on this (maybe one day I will…) - but you’ve hit the nail on the head here. My utopia would be another couple of percentage points on fuel duty (with equivalent tax breaks for commercial vehicles where modal shift is impractical) as a large part of the funding model.
December 3, 2025 at 8:11 AM
I could literally write an essay on this (maybe one day I will…) - but you’ve hit the nail on the head here. My utopia would be another couple of percentage points on fuel duty (with equivalent tax breaks for commercial vehicles where modal shift is impractical) as a large part of the funding model.
Looking forward to it!
November 16, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Looking forward to it!
Dropped the additional drink/snack service between Brussels and Amsterdam too! Starting to wonder if the light meal service in Plus will survive 2026 at all, wouldn't be surprised if it dropped to snacks/drinks only....
October 18, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Dropped the additional drink/snack service between Brussels and Amsterdam too! Starting to wonder if the light meal service in Plus will survive 2026 at all, wouldn't be surprised if it dropped to snacks/drinks only....
Very much this! That said, I don’t think all hope is lost. According to @rvdborgt.bsky.social (who is also usually great on European railway matters!) it’s RDC SJ don’t want to renew with (presumably too expensive w/o subsidy), they still haven’t made a final decision re the train running at all.
October 10, 2025 at 7:25 AM
Very much this! That said, I don’t think all hope is lost. According to @rvdborgt.bsky.social (who is also usually great on European railway matters!) it’s RDC SJ don’t want to renew with (presumably too expensive w/o subsidy), they still haven’t made a final decision re the train running at all.
Geez, there are some communities at real risk of being essentially cut off in practical terms from the rest of the country with this news... hopefully the shutdown impasse gets resolved before then but (certainly from the news we're getting in the UK about progress!) I'm not amazingly hopeful...
October 6, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Geez, there are some communities at real risk of being essentially cut off in practical terms from the rest of the country with this news... hopefully the shutdown impasse gets resolved before then but (certainly from the news we're getting in the UK about progress!) I'm not amazingly hopeful...
Then one day you want, say, £100 in cash and the ATM happily dispenses the lot in £5 notes.
October 4, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Then one day you want, say, £100 in cash and the ATM happily dispenses the lot in £5 notes.
I like it here, and the *quality* of discussion is definitely better - but I find myself still interacting more on X for infosec as a large subset either haven't moved or I simply am not aware they're here! Finding people here can be trickier, I don't find the user search as good.
October 4, 2025 at 1:05 PM
I like it here, and the *quality* of discussion is definitely better - but I find myself still interacting more on X for infosec as a large subset either haven't moved or I simply am not aware they're here! Finding people here can be trickier, I don't find the user search as good.
Outrageous indeed! Quite a few mid-teenage-years school nights were spent in front of Sky One (RIP) watching The Simpsons followed by Futurama...
October 1, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Outrageous indeed! Quite a few mid-teenage-years school nights were spent in front of Sky One (RIP) watching The Simpsons followed by Futurama...
(Sorry, appreciate I’m not Danny and he may well be referring to something else, but that fits nicely into his comment!)
October 1, 2025 at 4:18 PM
(Sorry, appreciate I’m not Danny and he may well be referring to something else, but that fits nicely into his comment!)
www.ft.com/content/d101...
A lot of my issue with how UKGov is handling CyberSec issues (OSA aside which is just a flawed piece of legislation generally) in a wider sense - and this is a great example - comes down to transparency. Let’s hear the ‘why’ and that allows proper debate.
A lot of my issue with how UKGov is handling CyberSec issues (OSA aside which is just a flawed piece of legislation generally) in a wider sense - and this is a great example - comes down to transparency. Let’s hear the ‘why’ and that allows proper debate.
UK makes new attempt to access Apple cloud data
Order issued in September comes after Trump administration said London had backed down in fight over encryption
www.ft.com
October 1, 2025 at 4:16 PM
www.ft.com/content/d101...
A lot of my issue with how UKGov is handling CyberSec issues (OSA aside which is just a flawed piece of legislation generally) in a wider sense - and this is a great example - comes down to transparency. Let’s hear the ‘why’ and that allows proper debate.
A lot of my issue with how UKGov is handling CyberSec issues (OSA aside which is just a flawed piece of legislation generally) in a wider sense - and this is a great example - comes down to transparency. Let’s hear the ‘why’ and that allows proper debate.
Good luck - what a brilliant idea!
September 24, 2025 at 7:10 AM
Good luck - what a brilliant idea!
It’s a really interesting tour; I went on one a few years ago. Would highly recommend!
September 24, 2025 at 7:07 AM
It’s a really interesting tour; I went on one a few years ago. Would highly recommend!
Looking forward to it! I'm on the railtour running into the depot Saturday.
September 18, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Looking forward to it! I'm on the railtour running into the depot Saturday.
It seems the times are liable to change at short notice and it's not worth TfW's while making the necessary changes, indeed!
September 17, 2025 at 3:51 PM
It seems the times are liable to change at short notice and it's not worth TfW's while making the necessary changes, indeed!