From yesterday - 29th June 2026 ...
The longest journey starts with a single step (though as you’ll see in my images, my days are still walking exercised!). 70 seconds walk from my hotel to Bregenz Hafen station, which was less time than it had taken me to walk down from the 3rd floor. Then a train ride of 89 seconds to Bregenz main station. That's less than the famously short Stourbridge Town branch, on which 3 minutes are allowed.
I found myself wondering at the two stations so close together - after all, I had been based in Bregenz for two nights and previous journeys had been to and from the main station, with a walk to and from my hotel through the town. But the Hafen - "Haven" - stations is well used. This morning, I watched as a train arrived and a whole crowd got off, headed at that time of day for work. And others boarded headed, not as I was for the main station to change but rather for other stops in the area. It works, I think, because all the trains that run to and from Bregenz to certain other stations also call at Bregenz Hafen, so that everyone travelling these journeys can simply use either station and not have to wait for a train that calls. It also works because stations here are "open" - ticket machines, but no barriers of checks as you get on and off the train. There is a strong police presence in places (several at Bregenz this morning) and I've not seen any issues with fare dodging / enforcement / staff trying to reach all their customers in a system that leads like a collander.
Comparisons sprung to my mind of
Millbrook - that station famously close to Southampton Central - which is unbarriered and has a reputation as an entry / exit for the ticketless to the
UK▸ rail system. I have seen revenue protection checking tickets of people leaving Millbrook station and it was surprising what a high proportion had issues with their tickets. But the Millbrook has very limited appeal to many flows of passengers - the occasional train call but for most people leaving and joining at Southampton is the logical choice.
I make a comparison to
Dilton Marsh, and to
Avoncliff, here too. Now both of those may be considered to be satellites - of Westbury and of Bradford-on-Avon. Dilton Marsh, especially, is much further separated from Westbury than my other examples. It has its own significant urban catchment, and is NOT within the same easy walking circle as are Bregenz and Bregenz Hafen. And yet Dilton Marsh is very much the poor relative where Bregenz Hafen is not. Why is thet?
* All trains to and from certain destinations call at Bregenz Hafen. Not the case with Dilton Marsh
* Trains timetabled to call at Bregenz Hafen always do. No need to put in a request to stop
* Tickets are easy to buy - no fuss, no excuse, no rush for a ticket seller to check
Enough of Bregenz Hafen. Or almost enough. I have observed the bicycle provision and the copious number of cycles on trains (some pictures grabbed today at end-of-journey after they had vacated). Even on trains without this big cycle area, numbers are not limited and lots, lots, lots people take their cycles.
Public transport and peddle power make such obvious bedfellows My journey today has been a long one, and really shows the flexibility of Interrail. My plan was to go Bregenz (Hafen ;-) ) - Memmenheim - Ulm ... north from Austria into Germany. But the 4 minute change at Ulm was likely to fail with the Zurich to Munich train running "10 to 15 minutes late" which really means almost 20 minutes in the end. And the whole day would have been pushed back an hour at Memmenheim and another hours at Ulm or shortly thereafter. SO - local trains through Switzerland, heading east before north and changing at St Margrethen ( now in operation again if you saw my post the other day), St Gallen, Zurich, Olten and Basel. From there on the northbound German Intercity Express (ICE) train as far as Mannheim. Mannheim is a crossroads in the ICE long distance network, plagued with delays. My train arrive on time at 15:00 - feel like a first - but the 15:07 connection was delayed, and enough to make it miss the next connection which only runs every 2 hours.
So I'm now penning this from the Hamburg train that was due to leave at 15:33 and was less that 10 minutes late which will take me as far as Koln Hauptbahnhof, from where a couple of local trains will get me to Aachen. I have several options in my journey planner - will toggle on (to confirm by booking) on whichever is available, depending on the time we arrive in Koln - a station that's always congested and you get held up outside (rather like Westbury!)
An update (around 19:30) ... now checked into my hotel in Aachen, and walked out down-town for some food. It's Monday night but there are still people out. Turned out to be 11 trains in the end, with a couple of S-bahns out of Cologne to connect with a local train onwards. The main line is closed for engineering works. But the S-bahn is included in the pass; crowded in the evening peak. Again, plentiful provision for cycles, pushchairs, etc; they don't seem to have the same craze here for filling every space with more seats to claim "we have increased the capacity of the line" - or perhaps they don't need to as the local trains I've been on today have all been at least 4 carriages long (even from Hafen to Bregenz) which I ruefully compare to the Stoubridge line with a single stubby carriage, or the main line through Bradford-on-Avon where, while some trains are 4 carriages, many are just 3 or 2.
And a final update / comment - the morning of 30th June, posting before breakfast and a much more leasuerly day - Aachen to Leuven, in preparation for Eurostar home tomorrow at 07:57 from Brussels. I write, perhaps, far too much and loose many topics into a sea of material. Pictures attached are all from yesterday and I have ensured that within the 32, there is at least one from each location taken, genuine, yesterday. St Gallen with the 3 minute change renders just one poor picture ...
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Pictures numbered to help with any comments
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