Ramifications of "Brexit" for railways

Again, considering the acrimony between North and South (basically Italy) about funding, and the fight between Germany and the ECB about court control, I ask again, will the EU still exist for three more years, and what would be the result of a break-up of the EU on the European railway system? Ideas, anyone?

Brexit: Boris Johnson faces Eurotunnel test

Boris Johnson is facing a major Brexit test with the future of Eurotunnel operations at stake, it has emerged.

The EU wants the UK to drop its opposition to a role for the European court of justice in British affairs to ensure trains keep running between France and the UK after Brexit is implemented on 1 January.

The European commission has this week asked the European parliament and the European council to officially mandate France to urgently negotiate a new bilateral deal with the UK giving the ECJ the powers to resolve future disputes between the two countries as “union law would not longer be applicable to the part of the channel fixed link under the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom” after Brexit.

Unless there is an overarching deal with one body responsible for legal disputes regarding the entire 30-mile (50km) tunnel there will be chaos, insiders say...

Really?

That was six months ago, long before whatever deal was agreed a few days ago, so who knows whether it is still the case?

Just out of curiosity, is there any sort of railway in Gibraltar with a connection to RENFE? Apparently the recent announcement leaves the border arrangements there still up in the air. (I assume that the border arrangements between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic are now settled?)

Just out of curiosity, is there any sort of railway in Gibraltar with a connection to RENFE? Apparently the recent announcement leaves the border arrangements there still up in the air. (I assume that the border arrangements between the U. K. and the Irish Republic are now settled?)

ExCon90 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 9:16 pm Just out of curiosity, is there any sort of railway in Gibraltar with a connection to RENFE?

The closest RENFE station to Gibraltar is San Roque about 8km north of the border.

There is a bus from San Roque to the central bus station of La Linea de la Concepcion, located 300m north of the border. It's a 600m walk from there through the checkpoints to the airport bus station on the other side of the border where bus services from Gibraltar terminate.

Historically, tracks were laid in the 1970s to replace the bus to La Linea in order to connect it to the RENFE network (it's one of the few 50,000+ population cities in Spain without a rail connection). These tracks run to within 2 km of the border to the northern extent of inner-city La Linea. The project was stopped for political reasons back then though and the tracks were never used. It's been proposed to reuse them in a future tram project for La Linea.

Orient Express to axe UK section after 41 years due to Brexit

Luxury train operator cuts service ahead of biometric passport checks so passengers will have to join train in Paris...

I read elsewhere (but can't find the article now) that Eurostar now has a policy of not fully booking all the seats on each train, because so many people are missing their booked train due to passport check delays and are having to be put on the next train.

I've used biometrics for border entry and it's way faster... The Guardian is being quite alarmist and one sided in their reporting here. They clearly think Brexit is the cause yet the UK who never joined Schengen always had the border check even as a member of the EU.

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Well, I think the point is that the Orient Express appears to believe it will be a problem.

While it's true that UK was never in the Schengen zone, before Brexit I was able to pass through immigration quickly in the queue for EU citizens, and didn't have to get entry and exit stamps. Now I have to queue with all the others to get the stamps. Even if I go through the gate for biometric passports, I still have to get a stamp from a human immigration officer. That's what's causing the delays at ports, airports and St Pancras Station. Of course it's not the EU's fault, it's the fault of those of my fellow Britons who were foolish enough to vote for Brexit, but on recent trips to Germany and Italy I definitely found it slower and more irritating than it used to be. C'est la vie.

From experience on my overseas journey last year, it appears that Germany has now withdrawn from the Schengen Agreement.

X-ing from Austria, there is now passport control for rail at Freilassing. The Polizei came through the train wanting to examine documents. In my case on one journey aboard Westbahn, "Fraulein Polizei" looked at my Passport until she found my entry stamp. Then a smile and that was that.

Another journey, aboard a Bayern regional train. "Herr Polizei" simply saw my Passport in hand and just nodded.

Traveling from Salzburg to Bolzano, the OBB route traverses Germany from Freilassing to Rosenheim. However the train makes no stops and hence no inspection. However, at Brennero, there was a lengthy stop (of Amtrak duration) but only a "Carabiniere" passing through saying "mask up" in one language or the other, and with no document examination.

Please tell me the Polizei asked for "papiere?" ha ha. I wonder if the Germans withdrew from Schengen due to COVID.

Sgt. Smith, I think The War, more so than COVID, prompted the apparent withdrawal.

I'll continue to be a skeptic. Orient Express is using this as an excuse to drop an unprofitable leg of a service that can't justify the complexity in a post-Covid environment.

If hiring in the UK is anything like the TSA in the US, I'm sure they're also somewhat short handed which would be a real reason for excessive waits compared to the pre-Covid world. Or maybe post-Covid, people are just irritated to be in crowds and around people who don't care about masking or social distancing as much as they do...

Fact is that biometrics will speed things up assuming the bureaucrats allow processes to change. There's really no real need for entry or exit stamps these days....

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eolesen wrote: ↑Sun Apr 16, 2023 12:18 pm Fact is that biometrics will speed things up assuming the bureaucrats allow processes to change. There's really no real need for entry or exit stamps these days....

Oh but Mr. Olesen, how about my collection of my five some Passports that chronicle where I have traveled to in this life?