I love to travel Europe by train. But here's what a joined-up 21st-century network needs | María Ramírez
Share:
Passenger numbers are rising, but competing with budget airlines will take work on ticket prices, infrastructure and integration. Last August, I took the train from Trieste to Ljubljana, following a route once used by the Orient Express. Along the way, I admired the Adriatic coast, discovered that Prosecco is a now abandoned railway station dating from 1857, and felt the shift in geography as the train climbed towards Villa Opicina on the Italian-Slovenian border. Crossing into Slovenia now means little more than a change of crew.
![[María Ramírez]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2023/08/28/Maria_Ramirez.png?width=180&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
I had with me Alma, a novel by Federica Manzon set in Trieste and the former Yugoslavia that explores the region’s strong and complicated connections, frozen by the cold war and rattled by the Balkan wars. As the train crossed into Slovenia, I thought about the shared history and geography of two places that were kept apart for decades.
![[A trainline along the Catalan coast near Barcelona, Spain]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/32e04dea609bf200f39b28bbad3268c013ccf711/0_16_4827_2896/master/4827.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The trip cost about €12 and took just over two and a half hours. It was not high-speed rail, but a small Austrian train with a few carriages where you had to bring your own food (a good opportunity for a picnic with Trieste’s food delicacies). Still, it was joyful. That is the case for many train journeys around Europe, an increasingly popular way of rediscovering space and history in a less stressful, less polluting and more convenient way – and not just for leisure.
Trains take you to places you might otherwise bypass. Between Barcelona and London, I enjoyed Nîmes, whose tree-lined avenue leading from the station offers a model of a welcoming arrival experience, and rediscovered Sète, Paul Valéry’s often overlooked seaside town, now revamped for cyclists and pedestrians. Exploring the almost perfect Swiss rail network, I stumbled on one of the best outdoor swimming spots I’ve ever been to: a public pool by Lake Thun, just one stop from Berne. In recent months, I have even enjoyed a smooth Brussels to Berlin train trip that was only a few minutes late, in contrast with the frequent delays that German passengers complain about.
