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The powder blue craft shown gliding past the riverfront greenery is our planet’s oldest monorail: the Wuppertal Schwebebahn in Germany, in regular service since 1901. More than 80,000 straphangers ride the 13.3 kilometer route daily. The Schwebebahn suffered one serious accident in 1999, when a train derailed, and a not-particularly-serious accident in 1950, when a…
(Nota: Todos los enlaces están en inglés.) El carruaje azul claro que se muestra deslizándose por la vegetación de la orilla del río es el monorraíl más antiguo de nuestro planeta: el monorraíl de Wuppertal en Alemania, en servicio regular desde 1901. Más de 80.000 viajeros recorren diariamente sus 13,3 kilómetros de trayecto. El Schwebebahn…
Tarragona is a Catalan port city near the high-speed rail route linking Barcelona and Madrid. The ancient Romans called it Tarraco, built a shore side amphitheatre and a circus for chariot races. Tarragona has beaches, a touristy old town and a cathedral, one of Catalonia’s largest. I hankered for a visit, and also craved a…
About Madrid buses I have remained mostly silent, despite this blog’s fetishistic name and despite many past gushes about Madrid’s rail network. Why? Blogger bias! Blogger emotional bias. I lived without wheels for over a decade in car-centric Los Angeles, may suffer a straphanger’s PTSD from so many occasionally torturous slogs in buses there, as…
Or my interpretation of the history, at least, as shall be presented tomorrow at a meeting of Andén 1, a transit enthusiast group in Madrid. President Eduardo Gallego suggested the talk. I combed through my collection of transit-related books, articles and bookmarks, wrote up the remarks that follow. If I post now, I’ll have a…
O mi interpretación de la historia, al menos, tal como se presentará mañana en una reunión de Andén 1, un grupo de entusiastas del tránsito en Madrid. El presidente Eduardo Gallego sugirió la charla. He rebuscado en mi colección de libros, artículos y marcadores relacionados con el tránsito y he redactado los comentarios que siguen.…
The blue-shirted innocent at lower right above is about to enter Madrid’s Alsacia station: second to the last on the eastern end of the metro 2 line, in the city’s un-touristy outskirts. Alsacia straphangers can expect weekday subways every three to five minutes for a twenty-six minute shlep to the Sol transit hub in Madrid’s…
5+ years in Spain, and I still marvel at Madrid’s subway like a first-time tourist. I sip tea out of a Madrid Metro coffee mug, festoon my refrigerator with Madrid Metro magnets, pay dues to Andén 1, a local enthusiast group, own their book about the metro and a thicker official history published by the…
Eight hours, 291 kilometers, through 91 tunnels, over hundreds of bridges: this is the route of the Glacier Express, described by rail guru Seat61 as one of Switzerland’s two most scenic train trips. I had sampled the first before the pandemic, craved a return to Switzerland to round out the short list. Please regard this…
Ironically, the Madrid Metro I ride during the pandemic is the best I have used since my move here in 2016. Some travelers fear the subway now, have sought alternatives. Public transit ridership in Spain fell forty percent this summer; sales of polluting old cars rose. I reap a dividend: the commuter now gridlocked on…