European "Auto Train" with multiple border crossings

[jiml]

Our friend Simply Railway travels from Turkey to Austria for a different perspective on overnight Auto Trains:

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Imagine a train crossing the borders of six countries over here. That would be a hell of a ride.

 

[Caesar La Rock]

Smoking on a train, that's a throwback to an era where such a thing was a common. The open windows too, gotta visit a museum to experience opened windows on a train. Great video, love these journeys Simply Railway takes.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Imagine a train crossing the borders of six countries over here. That would be a hell of a ride.

Remember Paul Theroux's Best Seller " The Old Pantegonisn Express" where he traveled on Amtrak from Boston to Laredo, took NdeM Trains thru Mexico , then thru Central and South American Countries as far South as the tracks went, Pantagonia in Chile.

 

[MARC Rider]

1. It seems that you don't need to have a car to ride on this Auto Train.
2. Non A/C 4-person couchettes. Our narrator was lucky to get a room all to himself, which I suspect made the ride more bearable, especially in a non A/c car during a heat wave with 100 F temperatures. I wonder if you pay extra whether you can advance book a whole room for yourself.
3. A nice dining car.
4. The railway infrastructure through the Balkans seemed like a combination of some pretty slick stuff and beat up old tracks and stations similar to Amtrak, circa 1973.

 

[Dutchrailnut]

keep in mind that within European Union schengen countries the borders only exist on paper.
no border checks etc.

 

[jis]

keep in mind that within European Union schengen countries the borders only exist on paper.
no border checks etc.

A very significant part of the itinerary of this train is outside the Schengen area. Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia and Croatia that it travels through are not members of Schengen. Austria and Slovenia are.

 

[Dutchrailnut]

correct but even there border crossing is low level event .

 

[jis]

correct but even there border crossing is low level event .

That I agree. But that was also the case in today's Schengen areas before Schengen. This was specially more so on minor roads, though even crossing on trains was no big deal. Very often border inspectors walked through the train while the train continued on its journey from one border station to the next. In Sleeper trains involving border crossing often the car attendant would collect the Passports and have them processed while the passengers slept. Been there and done that dozens of times back then.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

I finally caught up with this. Good grief. No air conditioning, people shoved in with total strangers, crew takes the best accommodations, constant passport control and engine switching.

Actually makes Amtrak look good.

I do love Simply Railway, though, and love all his videos—even of a train I wouldn’t want to take. He’s an awfully good sport and always up for any adventure, and he always sees the positive.

I do worry about him hanging out of train windows so much, though.

 

[MARC Rider]

I finally caught up with this. Good grief. No air conditioning, people shoved in with total strangers, crew takes the best accommodations, constant passport control and engine switching.

Actually makes Amtrak look good.

But it looks like they have really good (and inexpensive) dining car.

 

[BlackDiamond]

That I agree. But that was also the case in today's Schengen areas before Schengen. This was specially more so on minor roads, though even crossing on trains was no big deal. Very often border inspectors walked through the train while the train continued on its journey from one border station to the next. In Sleeper trains involving border crossing often the car attendant would collect the Passports and have them processed while the passengers slept. Been there and done that dozens of times back then.

I remember traveling in Europe in 1977 the only crossing where they even looked at my passport was going from France to Germany. I even took a bus trip from Germany to Amsterdam and forgot my passport, fortunately they just drive through the border crossing with no one at the post even checking anything

That was an interesting video. Turkey sounds like a fascinating place to visit especially Istanbul.

 

[slasher-fun]

keep in mind that within European Union schengen countries the borders only exist on paper.
no border checks etc.

- Schengen and EU are two different things: some EU countries are not part of Schengen (Ireland, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania, Cyprus), some Schengen countries are not part of EU (Iceland, Norway, Switzerland)
- There are unfortunately a lot of Schengen suspensions, with border checks Temporary Reintroduction of Border Control (they're supposedly temporary, but Denmark -> Sweden has been ongoing for 6 years now for example).

 

[BlackDiamond]

- Schengen and EU are two different things: some EU countries are not part of Schengen (Ireland, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania, Cyprus), some Schengen countries are not part of EU (Iceland, Norway, Switzerland)
- There are unfortunately a lot of Schengen suspensions, with border checks Temporary Reintroduction of Border Control (they're supposedly temporary, but Denmark -> Sweden has been ongoing for 6 years now for example).

Ireland probably can't join Schengen without the UK joining also, which is unlikely to happen anytime soon

 

[slasher-fun]

Yes, the UK and Ireland have their own "mini Schengen", called "Common Travel Area", so having Ireland joining Schengen would mean either scrapping CTA or having UK joining Schengen.

 

[Anderson]

Smoking on a train, that's a throwback to an era where such a thing was a common. The open windows too, gotta visit a museum to experience opened windows on a train. Great video, love these journeys Simply Railway takes.

At least in France, back in 2017 on the Intercites du Nuit couchettes, opening the windows was the only A/C option. (It didn't help much down by Nice.)

 

[cirdan]

Ireland probably can't join Schengen without the UK joining also, which is unlikely to happen anytime soon

Ireland and the UK jointly form the common travel area (CTA) which predates Schengen by many years and bestows a lot of priveledges including travel , right of residency and i believe even the right to vote if resident.

Also part of the CTA are the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man . Ireland cannot join Schengen without first exiting the CTA and I think this is not a step they would take lightly