"It's a regular morning of hustle and bustle on Berlin Central Station's platform 12. Brakes screech as a train comes in. Passengers move to the tune of a loudspeaker announcement, then a whistle blows, doors slam and wheels start turning. Mark Smith is off again. "When I am on a journey, there is a sense of anticipation and possibility," he says, adding that the possibilities are greater than most people might imagine."
"Though he's not traveling quite that far, his trip is long enough for most people to discount the railway as a viable option. He is on his way from his UK home near London to a conference in the Estonian capital of Tallinn. The trip will add another 1,800 km (1,118 miles) to the hundreds of thousands of rail kilometers he has already clocked up. It will also take four days and eight trains and cost about $500 for the tickets alone."
Mark Smith travels long rail distances across Europe, boarding at Berlin Central Station's platform 12 en route to Warsaw and onward. His trip from near London to Tallinn covers about 1,800 km, takes four days and eight trains, and costs roughly $500 in tickets. The same route by air takes under three hours and can cost as little as $25. Smith describes train travel as offering anticipation, possibility, scenery and human contact that air travel lacks. He became passionate about rail at 17 on school trips to southern France and Russia and later worked issuing train tickets, learning many connections. Rail travel remains popular despite schedule delays in parts of Europe.
Read at www.dw.com
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