Welcome to today's thread - #CrossBorderRail South East Europe Day 27 28 Jun 2024 - Tirana - Durrës-Plazh - Elbasan - Tirana

Crossing these borders:
None - only exploring rail in Albania

Today's routes on the routes map:
https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-south-east-europe-v9-draft_1053482#11/41.2228/19.7685

Here’s today’s intro video #CrossBorderRail https://peertube.netzbegruenung.de/w/d4uky4qi4aTkCtQujVGqJN

Today I’m walking around Tirana not cycling. This city might have a few cycle lanes, but the traffic is grim, aggressive, and drivers never yield for anyone. Horrible. So on foot is less dangerous than bike. #CrossBorderRail

Start by enforcing the basics.

If a pedestrian is on a pedestrian crossing, the cars should stop. Not the pedestrians having to dodge being hit by a 2 tonne BMW.

And systematically tow away illegally parked cars. Put up bollards everywhere to stop the worst illegal parking.

Even Skopje has got this sorted, mostly.

Tirana is making me angry this morning

The crushing poverty next to the riches. The chic private investment projects at the expense of the public realm

All aspire to drive your Porsche Cayenne and let someone else’s world burn

The Golf was driven by a uniformed policeman

#CrossBorderRail South East Europe 2024 Bus 15 of 20

09:40 Tiranë - Tiranë Airport 10:10
No idea what operator

Distance: 18km
Average speed: c. 36km/h

Bus type: IVECO Crossway 3 axel, formerly in service in Luxembourg
⛽️
🚲: ⛔️
🦽: ⛔️
🛜: ⛔️
🍽️: ⛔️
🧳: 😐 (for an airport bus it’s poor - no space for big bags)
🧽: 🙂 (spotless)

I’m the only non local on the bus. I’m the only one so far asked for money (400 lek - which is right as per Google) and didn’t get a ticket. This smells of…

Happy to see meanwhile that bus drivers behave as much as a*******s towards each other as they do towards everyone else

Parking like this. Prevents pedestrians crossing. Get a truck with a lift. Pick it up. Dump it in a field at the edge of the city. Levy a 10000 Lek (100 Euro) fine to get it back.

You can build buildings like these next to the motorway. Whether you should… well 🤔

Mother Teresa’s reaction after they named an airport after her

There’s not a hope in hell Tiranë Airport is getting a rail station in 2025 as the minister promised. If my map is right it ought to be where this road is. But one side there’s car hire, the other side (with the mast) some sort of military installation

(And don’t worry - this wasn’t a drone pic - it was from the top floor of a multi storey car park)

So when I was in Sarajevo in early June and Albania’s deputy transport minister said there’d be trains to Tiranë Airport in 2025…

EITHER he knew that’s rubbish, so he’s a liar

OR he doesn’t know what’s (not) happening on the ground, in which case he’s crap

And - when he said it - no-one, me included, could hold him to account. Now at least I have done the ground work to know more

And the sheer quantity of absolute bullshit about railways that transport ministries and rail companies produce… I’d have a job for life researching it and rebutting it. Whether anyone would pay me for that is rather more questionable though! 🙂

Go to KFC. Break your ankle!

(I neither went to KFC nor broke my ankle)

#CrossBorderRail South East Europe 2024 Bus 16 of 20

12:00 Tiranë Airport - Durrës 12:45
No idea

Distance: 31km
Average speed: c. 45km/h

Bus type: Beulas medium size coach
⛽️
🚲: ⛔️
🦽: ⛔️
🛜: ⛔️
🍽️: ⛔️
🧳: 🙂 (hold is big enough)
🧽: 🙂

Really Albania your rail plans are rubbish

Rebuilding Tiranë - Durrës only single track when there’s easily enough demand for a kind of S-Bahn service. Putting the new Tiranë station edge of the city in the middle of nowhere.

But then still officially having megalomaniac #CrossBorderRail plans for lines to Prizren 🇽🇰, Skopje 🇲🇰, Florina 🇬🇷