He railway was central to the creation of the modern idea of Europe in the 19th century, according to historian Orlando Figes. The railway could also be crucial for the Europe of the 21st century, marked by the climate change. Something of this idea must have influenced the decision of Jon Worth to get on the train, in the summer of 2022, with the aim of explore all european borders endowed with railways.
This Berlin-based British political scientist worked for years as a consultant on European affairs, specializing in Brexit. “I decided to change the subject when [Boris] Johnson won the election in 2019: it had become too depressing,” he explains.
Then, he noticed a very practical problem that he had encountered in those years. For work he needed to travel often and always looked for the option of doing it by train, to avoid the emissions associated with the aircraft. But she ran into difficulties constants. So, he decided that fixing that would be his mission.
Worth, who also teaches political communication at the College of Europe in Bruges, is seasoned at the difficult feat. In 2008, he was one of the initiators of a famous campaign in response to evangelical propaganda, which hung on London buses an advertisement that read: ‘God probably doesn’t exist. He stops worrying you and enjoy life.
Worth has just announced that he will stand in the European elections with the German Green Party, but his project #CrossBorderRail It was a personal initiative, independent of that political formation.
with folding bike
In 2022, the activist traveled on various trips more than 30,000 kilometers, boarding almost 200 trains and crossing 95 border connections equipped with railways. Those where trains no longer run, he crossed with a folding bicycle that he brought with him.
Thanks to her, he also attended various events, meetings and debates organized along the route. Every time she ran into a problem, she sent a postcard to the European transport commissioner, Adina Válean.
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The most outstanding result of the project was a 20 point map in which improvements could be carried out immediately, with little cost.
“After so many times being blocked at the European borders, because of absurd hours and unreliable Trains, I understood that you have to look at the matter from the passenger point of viewand not so much from companies and manufacturers,” concludes Worth.