Sugar Mills Valley Train When in Cuba, I made the most of the public transport, I used a Cadillac, a taxi, a mini bus and a coach. It was only in the historic city of Trinidad where I gave in and took a train. Not just any train… special train to the old sugar mills. This section of the line was severed from the main national network at some time so it seems to be run as a giant train set by state rail employees. They even let me drive! Trinidad Central Station is quite impre

Following a previous article on transport from Lisbon Airport I left the city on board CP’s (Portugal’s national rail company) premier service, the Alfa Pendular, down to the south coast of Portugal. Lisbon Oriente Station Oriente station must have been designed for Instagram: every angle looks photogenic and – on a sunny day – the station is bright, airy and calm. We didn’t have too much trouble finding the platform but seemed to become a stand-in station assistant while we

In the first and second articles on Perth’s transport network I focussed on getting around the city so it seemed the obvious choice to use the Australind train to get down to the South West. Unfortunately, due to historic line closures the train only travels as far as city of Bunbury, so I booked onto the train to skip Perth’s highways before renting a car at the end of the line. Things didn’t really work to plan as I ended up on a replacement bus, on the highway, the whole w

I’m used to travelling to Brussels and Paris on Eurostar so it seemed the obvious way to travel down to the south of France too. I hadn’t realised that the direct service to Marseille operated fairly regularly throughout the year. There is something romantic about the thought of boarding a train in London and stepping off in the Mediterranean. It’s not bad for a 6.5 hour train ride; that’s less than the 7 hours it takes to get to Aberdeen. Brussels, Paris and the Med! On the

One of the first things you notice about a journey on Irish Rail (Iarnród Éireann) is the space available. Trains operating in Ireland are a wider gauge than those in Great Britain, therefore, carriages feel a lot more open. On a recent journey from Dublin across to west Clare, I was impressed by the carriage layout on the ICR trains used for most InterCity routes. These trains have large standard seats aligned to the windows, with ample space above and below for luggage stor