🚆 Eight Hours, One Dog, and a Very Slow Train – Pipeaway Newsletter #204

Hi from Budapest!

I thought I’d stay longer in the Hungarian capital. But ice floating down Danube, and my improvised clothing upgrades with Covid masks, were warning that I hadn’t really prepared my suitcase for all the seasons.

My shoes filled with Gran Canaria sand, after spending an entire month west of Africa, were not ready for the harsh European winter, knocking on the plane window as soon as my return flight reached the Old Continent.

So, instead of the pre-planned four nights in Budapest, I cut my stay to one. I canceled my bus ticket and took the first train ‘home’.

I was not the only Croat returning to Zagreb by a slow, slow, truly sloooow train. Enduring this connection that typically lasts 6.5 hours (but in our case, it took eight!), was Šaro, a dog who didn’t ‘speak’ Hungarian.

Seeing how patiently he commutes (he had to pay for the train ticket, but was luckily spared the ‘seat reservation’, as he spent the entire journey on the train floor) was quite impressive.

Science tells us that dogs perceive time more slowly than humans, so I cannot imagine what kind of torture they must feel when boarding trains they could, in some sections of the railroad, even outrun.

Well, is there any comfort in the fact that Croatian trains are four times slower than those in Spain?

Despite the speed, Croatian trains still seem to kill more people per kilometer than Spanish ones (2024 data).

I don’t know how the recent deadly train crash in Adamuz will affect the statistics, but so far, it seems that slower Croatian trains were at least cursed with fewer collisions.

In general, train passengers are relaxed; they perceive it as just a moving place to sit. Despite the high speeds we might experience, we trust the railway’s safety (with a reason!) – we trust it enough to not have seat belts. We walk in those trains, we dine, we play cards, we work on our laptops, we pet dogs… It’s a very nice way to travel.

Still, when accidents happen, they can be truly bad, so it’s worth knowing how to survive a train crash. Read this practical guide so you can be prepared for even an unlikely accident scenario – I hope you’ll never have to use the things you’ll learn!

To end the newsletter on a higher note: did you know that the first underground train was launched in a cave? In Postojna Cave, in Slovenia, a unique railway system brings you over 3.7 kilometers of tracks to the world’s only underground post office!

You can check a part of that ride in a YouTube short video I just published.

Have a safe week,

Ivan Kralj    
Pipeaway.com

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Ivan Kralj

Editor

Award-winning journalist and editor from Croatia