Theres a place called Ars in France. Not sure if it had a station but worth a mention anyway. I can now say "France has a nice Ars". And it was as well 😂
Fun fact - there's an estonian city, not far from this route actually, called "Kunda", which in Czech means roughly the same as what "Püssi" means in English.
It’s a very popular build in the USSR steam locomotive. And what is more interesting - still freight is being exported from Russia… I was laughing when author called the situation as ‘Putin regime’, he should have read data about off-sore assets of even russian governors and their Miami and their etc holdings. No one normal wants that war and such decisions. We are people and feel sorrow, grief and pain for that happened , but money made such impossible things happen, too many greediness
Lucky for you they’re building Stadler FLIRTs and KISS in their Salt Lake City Plant. It’ll be soon until more transit agencies will replace their bi-level low floor to leveled platform height Stadlers
@@mrobocop1666 german here. Stay strong Friend. I hope for the russians and the ukrainian people that this war comes to an end fast. It's another war that the USA starts for World domination and Selensky is the little slap dog of them. I wish you all good friend😊
The speeds on the line have been increased since your visit. Between Tapa and Narva the maximum speed on large parts of the route has been raised ot 135 km/h. Tallinn-Tapa-Tartu route will be electrified by 2025 and Tapa-Narva by 2027. New trains will also be introduced made by Škoda, specifially designed for express services and will provide extra comfort as well as vending machines. When the new trains were introduced in 2013 and 2014 the dwingling numbers of rail passengers skyrocketed and are now twice as high as they were before the arrival of the new trains. By the way, I must say your pronounciation of the local names was very good!
The power pack being separate from the trains ensures good passenger comfort with less vibrations and noise reaching the passengers. I gotta say it's my favourite feature about these trains.
And also that you can build diesel-electric on same production line or retrofit existing trains. Serbian Railway bought many Stadler Flirt for electrified lines, but they are electric only. And Russian Diesel Hydraulic for non electrified lines. Problem is, that there are many lines that are electrified partially, but given current situation, they have to run on diesel on whole journey. For example, line Belgrade - Pančevo - Vršac (- Timisoara, Romania) is electrified from Belgrade to Pančevo and section in Belgrade uses commuter rail tunnels, where 2 stations are under ground. And Belgrade Centar station is underground, so you have Diesel idle while passenger get on board.
I took a sleeper train from Talinn to St. Petersburg 20 years ago. We were woken up in the middle of the night for passport and customs checks. Us foreigners were asked to say some of the bags were ours, so the customs people didn't check what was being smuggled.
Once i took a train from Moscow to Kaliningrad, it takes about 20 hours, and guess what? Three country borders, with passport checks on each! All checks are happening in the middle of the night, so don't expect sleeping well there :D
May I say as a recent subscriber to your channel that I love your voice with its clear and accurate enunciation as well as the warm cadences. Your obvious interest in, and communication of, geography, landscapes, scenery, history, art and architecture is charming, informing and absorbing without in any way detracting from the central topic...the train. Keep up the good work while i do my best to catch up! 🥰
I really love the design of the canopies and the lamp posts. Really something unique and beautiful. Classic scandinavian design. What an interresting video.
@@greendude96 Oh, Yeah, I see. Maybee they should have gotten to a compromise. You can certainly design beautiful canopies that still protect you from the weather. Or a small glass cabin with doors at the platform, so you are protected from the elements.
So weird to see a Russian TEP70 right beside an American diesel locomotive... worlds collide! Very cool video, I really enjoy the minor graphics for station names and line diagrams.
You also passed "Lilleküla" station on the way between Balti Jaam and Kitseküla. It literally means "flower village", although the surroundings of the railway station mostly consist of a big parking lot of a shopping center. Once I was on a bus driving through Lilleküla and some childrens were upset about the fact that they didn't see any flowers. By the way, to save some money in the project to literally renovate every single meter of the country's rail network, some rural station were only rebuilt with a very short platform. At these platforms, it's always the door next to the wheelchair & bike area which opens.
I am delightfully surprised by the seeming quality of these Estonian trains and infrastructure.. I never really seen any of Estonia’s train world before, but with it being another ex soviet country my expectations were quite low. It’s nice to see good investment in the railroads, which can help a lot. Nice video
The network is gradually being upgraded to 160 km/h. The Tallinn-Tartu mainline will be fully electrified by 2026, Tallinn-Narva by 2028. 16 new Škoda EMUs will arrive in 2024-2025. There are also plans to use the under-construction Rail Baltic tracks also for local traffic, but that will mean new trains again, since it is European gauge.
Estonia is very modern and technologically advanced. These trains are not super special (they look like the ones we have in the Finnish capital region commuter lines, though those have a different interior and more…commuter-y seating) but otherwise Estonia is heads above many Western European countries when it comes to e-services. They’ve got e-citizenship, electric voting, Starship (the delivery robots) is Estonian as is (partially) Skype. You never need cash anywhere - you don’t in Finland either but I know in places like Germany or the US you still do.
Hi, very nice and informative video :D! Btw, I have a recommendation for where you should travel next! I think you should travel to Bergen in Norway from Oslo. There are very beautiful views with many hills, water and trees. I would recommend traveling to Bergen while it’s bright outside so that you can enjoy the views, and I think there is WiFi on board as well with a restaurant (it was on the train I took). Anyways, Great video :)
@@paul_ko It has factorys all over the world including poland, germany, usa etc. Its a swissed based company thats it, the product it self is international.
Thank you for this Video... It was a little throwback to my own trip with ELRON to Narva last summer! I found the trains clean and pleasant. Better than here in Germany. It's a pity that the old trains were no longer in service, I would have liked to try them too.
You 100% need to travel in standard (not premium) Russian sleeper train. Best way - from Saint Petersburg to Moscow on a double decker train. It coust only about 25$, but very comfortable. Premium variant cost about 50$ Luxury - 500$ for 2 person, you room have private shower!
Thanks for the showcase! The train network here in Estonia isn't very large, but I must say it's pretty modern with step-free access and the trains. And yes, we used to have a straight train connection from Tallinn to Russia, but it was closed when the pandemic happened
@@SuperalbsTravels There are no international trains to Latvia. Estonian trains stop at Valga, Estonia, where you have change over to a Latvian train.
i took the train to Chop (UA) from Cierna nad Tisou (SK) a week ago and its pretty safe if you ask me, i got arrested when exiting the train and carried to an interrogation room because of accidentally filming military/police personell so i dont reccomend recording everything. but for the rest visiting Ukraine was lovely and im visiting this 25th of february again
As much as i like the video, nice and informative. I do not like the title at all. Of course it's safe, why wouldn't it be? Just because we share a border with Russia, it doesn't mean it's dangerous. Ever since the war started, foreigners started asking that question... Even tho Berlin and Central Europe are closer to the actual fighting. -.-
Those ex-Union Pacific locomotives in Estonia are the General Electric C36-7 design. As for these Stadler Flirts, the power pack set-up reminds me of their UK counterparts (Classes 231 and 755, of course).
There is no difference at all between first and second class. First class seats are reserved which one can consider when trains are crowded. Those trains run for 10 years already and still look like new. No graffiti and nothing broken. AC works, no excessive oil burning in engines, everything is good.
I'm from Russia. I'm looking forward to the normalization of relations between Russia, Finland and the Baltic states, so that all routes (from Moscow and Saint Petersburg) become active again. Btw, the train is very similar to the Russian "Swallow"
Good and informative video, but could we stop with the post-soviet thing already? Yes, Estonia was occupied by the USSR, but more than thirty years have gone by already since the restoration of independence. Why doesn't anyone say post-n*zi for Germany? Probably because it's impolite, and so is post-soviet especially for countries that never wanted to be part of it.
It's alright as people think of that. But many from the western side seem to want to create this massive gap, pretend the Soviet Baltic people are so radically different when in reality we are not at all.
Excellent video, and if you are wondering what it's the British version of the train is, they are class 755 Greater Anglia GEML routes Wales Class 231. The American locomotives you see are GE C36-7 or C30-7s with US signals replaced by former Soviet Union ASLN Klub-U. Regarding the Russian 2TE116 locomotive, it's also operated in Ukraine with them using KFA Wagons to carry Challenger 2 tanks to the Eastern Region from Poland and Slovakia. 2TE116 is also related to the German Deutsche Bahn Baureihe 232 Deutsche Reichsbahn Deutschen Demokratischen Republik (German Democratic Republic) Baureihe 132 TE109 2TE109 due to them being made in the same Ukrainian factory.
@henrikmanitski1061 thank you for telling me about that because they are still being used here where I am in the United States by Short line railways or Class 1 Railways inside a Marshalling yard.
The snow you were driving through wasn't a blizzard it was just the light snow flying around because of the wind that train creates with it's high speed and the snow on and near the rails.
Interesting video. I had no idea the Estonian freight locomotives were in fact second hand American ones. And the train service looks really good. Surprisingly comparable in terms of the train to whats seen on provincial regional services in Denmark by the likes of Arriva and Nordjyske Jernbaner, who have similar trains with similar comfort levels on similarly long journeys. Though some of the Danish trains, especially Arriva in central Jutland, are much more expensive than Elron on routes like Aarhus to Skjern (I mean 215kr c'mon). Nordjyskes main corridor from Aalborg to Skagen is however very similar in both comfort, price, speed, and travel time to Elrons service (like 100kr thats more like it).
Dr Dewot Estonia should import brand new Indian diesel locos instead of second hand US engines , I think at a cheaper price also and causing less pollution.
@@sureshbhatia9408 Any NEW locos that Estonia will acquire in the future will be electric. Also, old American diesel locos are being modernised, with only the undercarriage remaining of the original.
@@sureshbhatia9408 Indian locos would be a bad choice, since Indian rolling stock companies have no presence in Europe, meaning that parts would have to be Imported, potentially meaning that the locomotive would be out of use for weeks or even months. Meanwhile General Electric is a very good choice, since a lot of their locomotives operate on the post-Soviet countries' broad gauge railways. You'll see them in Kazachstan, Ukraine, Moldova and other places. There's also licensed production of GE locomotices in Ukraine, so getting parts is a lot easier since a lot of the parts can be imported from a country that is a lot closer. Also, i doubt Indian companies would be interested in designing a brand new type of 1520 mm broad-gauge locomotive to comply with all the EU standards, since they wouldn't be able to sell too many of them anyway. Ukraine already has a big fleet of new GE Evolution TE33A engines and i think they'd probably just order more of those if they needed, since they can be assembled on the spot. Lithuania typically goes with European manufacturers and Moldova simply can't afford buying new locos right now since they already bought GE units recently, which only leaves potential small orders from Latvia and Estonia. Simply not worth it for the Indians, since it would be a waste of R&D money.
@@tupolewposting2733Do the countries mentioned by you in east Europe have fully electrified traction ? Can they afford costly GE locos and parts even if imported from neighbouring Ukraine ? Why will the imported indian locos remain useless for months when parts can be imported in no time if found ineffective during the regular check up of the locos ?
Very informative video. What did you do once you got to Narva? You should definitely make videos about the destinations (and their stations!) as you're a very engaging presenter :)
When i was a kid i used to ride this line every winter going from Moscow to Tallin. Back then there were two daily trains between the two capitals, one was via St Petersburg and another one was direct. The second was much faster but it would cross the border at like 5 a.m. or smth which was very annoying. Estonia wasn't in EU and Schengen zone yet though, so the process of border inspection was quite quick. But you had to get up anyway. And those Moscow-Tallin trains were pretty crowded, consisting of up to 15 cars as i recall. Hell of a traffic. But as Russia and Estonia continued to drift apart from each other this traffic got weaker and weaker with years. Now i won't be surprised if i see bushes groing from underneath the tracks on Russia-Estonia border. Shame...
While the major cities of the world are slow to bring wheelchair-accessible transportation to the masses, Estonia already has level-boarding on all stations of its national railway system with the ever-ubiquitous Stadler trains. Accessible, affordable and convenient rail transport is always good for the customer. *SIDENOTE:* Ah "Pussi"... ha ha ha. Is it by chance that you've owned a cat? 🐈
@@earthandwind820Priorities. In the US, it is freight, in Estonia it is passengers. Freight trains mainly run at night, when there is no passenger traffic.
@@henrikmanitski1061 I think a country that consistently claims itself to be #1 to the world & the “richest country on earth” can do both. But we’d rather spend that $$ on illegal invasions/wars… you know the stuff our current politicians/media claim they’re (hypocritically) supposedly against re: Russias war in Ukraine. The amount of homelessness, embarrassing civilian infrastructure away from tourists areas, Americans living paycheck to paycheck (also whitewashed to foreigners in other countries to not make the USA “look bad”) is unacceptable for such a “wealthy” country. They clearly don’t have the right “priorities” at all.
Actually, Indonesia railways needs a diesel unit like FLiRT, doesn't it? considering that Stadler also established a joint venture with INKA in Banyuwangi
How many takes did you have to do for the Pussi joke until you could say it with a straight face? lol. Nice video. Impressive that they're step-free already, although probably easier when you only have 8 lines in your entire country. Stadler steadily taking over the world I see!
@@tomatimahl Bad rep starts actually from the beginning. Why the main station called “Balti jaam” like it is some kind of terminus in Russian empire? Wouldn’t be “Tallinna jaam” much better? Why they everywhere use Russian as second language on labels? Looks like Russian integration instead of European integration. (In Finland they used 110 years ago Russian, Finnish and Swedish labels because it was part of Russian empire, but today they use only Finnish and Swedish as they are no Russian empire anymore. Estonia is nether. So it’s pretty strange that Estonians in place which supposed to be called “Tallinna jaam” use billboards glorifying Russian empire and let _babushkas_ to sell stuff like that)
@@ragnarlaine4065 also we dont have russian as secondary language, just some PRIVATE COMPANIES choose to also put russian in their ads and such. We only learn English and Estonian in school, russian is literally banned
@@ragnarlaine4065 and Babushkas selling stuff is normal, it happens in latvia, finland, lithuania, poland, croatia, bosnia, serbia, ukraine, romania and so on
Great trip. Nice train by the way, and the town at 9:33 is very unique. I think only in Estonia where US Locomotive can meet with Russian Locomotive. Bit curious about the progress of Rail Baltica project, how about the progress?
In Estonia, a number of viaducts and ecoducts are being or have been built. Some of the sections are in the tender phase, while others are being designed. Construction of one 10 km section of the line will start next year.
Not yet. Any train journey currently would be very long and involve a transfer on the border of the 2 countries. They're both trying to change that with the Rail Baltica high speed rail project, linking all 3 baltic states to mainland europe with fast 230km/h trains. But that is still many many years away from being possible to ride.
To be fair, we don't really need one. Northern Estonia with Tallinn and Southern Finland with Helsinki mirror each other being the densest parts of both countries. Good connections of these two regions are more important than with Riga. I'm sure some Southern Estonians will disagree, but South is much less densely populated.
Train trip sounds nice because i live in the place where i see lots of trains like these freight trains and elrons stadlers also soon it will come here nee trains that Estonia bought this year
I took a train from that station to St. Petersburg in the summer of 2016. The border crossing was very time consuming BTW. Taking the bus into or from Russia is quicker through passport control.
Жил года 4 назад в отеле Go Shnelli, что одной стеной выходит на вокзал, так под окнами как раз стояли эти морковные поезда до Нарвы (а они на тепловозной тяге) и всю ночь и тарахтели дизелями. А в Кейлу ходят такие-же морковные Штадлеры, только электрические.
I'm not sure if I understood you right when you said that the train was driving with electrified way until Aegviidu, but if that's what you said then that's wrong. There are only two types of trains. 1. Only electrified meaning that they can't change to diesel motor. 2. Only diesel motor meaning that they can't change to electrified. Yes they drive with the same route as the electrified trains, but they can't use the electric lines above they just drive with diesel motors. They are planning to get škoda trains in second half of 2024 that can change from electric to diesel and diesel to electric meaning that when there's electrified route then it uses electric lines and when they end it continues with diesel motors. Also one of the main routes from Tallinn to Tartu and back right now is not electrfied but with new škoda trains they want the line to be fully electric.
Of course it is safe! I went on this same journey around christmas time when visiting Russian relatives in St. Petersburg. The only downside was long queing time on Narva bridge, but apart from that everything was fine!
Enoyed the video and agree that Elron is a very pleasant way to travel. Püssi btw is a derivative of the Estonian word for gun or rifle. I wonder if you saw the sign at Balti Jaam for "Rong Info"....rong being the word for train...but still funny all the same.
The title makes us think that we will reach the border with Russia. I saw everything to see if people on foot, foreigners, could cross it. I didn't know.
@Hazpt Media Never annexed any territories in any of those places. Invaded Afghanistan to root out al Qaeda. Never took it over. Invaded Iraq as a knee jerk reaction due to bad Intel, but didn't annex territory. Invaded Syria to destroy isis, but didn't annex territory. UN invited US to come to Lebanon. Never annexed territory and we left with our tail between our legs. Vietnam, we were invited by the government of South Vietnam to protect it from your buddies in the North. Never tried to make it into Hawaii or anything. Were you the editor of Pravda at one point, tovarich?
@@SuperalbsTravels It's damn hard to learn! I've been learning it for a year now at university since I study there. I successfully purchased Elron tickets the other day in Estonian 😅
12:12 that fence on the platform, is that for a former passport control? internartional platform. and the headine asked if it is safe, but was it safe?
What funny names for stations have you seen? 💬👇
Theres a place called Ars in France. Not sure if it had a station but worth a mention anyway. I can now say "France has a nice Ars". And it was as well 😂
I have never been to Japan, but I know the Shitte (尻手) station.
In Sweden, terminus is called "slutstation".
Raasiku)
is it possible in korea😶
The inner-child in me smirked so hard when I saw Püssi come up on screen 🤣
as always? :D
that was cheeky
Hehe... You saw Pussi COME up on screen...
😂
Fun fact - there's an estonian city, not far from this route actually, called "Kunda", which in Czech means roughly the same as what "Püssi" means in English.
The USA needs more trains like these. The last photo of the train framed by falling snow is magical.
It’s a very popular build in the USSR steam locomotive. And what is more interesting - still freight is being exported from Russia…
I was laughing when author called the situation as ‘Putin regime’, he should have read data about off-sore assets of even russian governors and their Miami and their etc holdings. No one normal wants that war and such decisions. We are people and feel sorrow, grief and pain for that happened , but money made such impossible things happen, too many greediness
@@mrobocop1666 you can always go to the frontline and help your regime end this war faster, why don't you?
@@mrobocop1666 blablabla [yawn] too many words to say that you are Putin bootlicker, come back when you have something interesting to say
Lucky for you they’re building Stadler FLIRTs and KISS in their Salt Lake City Plant. It’ll be soon until more transit agencies will replace their bi-level low floor to leveled platform height Stadlers
@@mrobocop1666 german here.
Stay strong Friend.
I hope for the russians and the ukrainian people that this war comes to an end fast.
It's another war that the USA starts for World domination and Selensky is the little slap dog of them.
I wish you all good friend😊
The speeds on the line have been increased since your visit. Between Tapa and Narva the maximum speed on large parts of the route has been raised ot 135 km/h. Tallinn-Tapa-Tartu route will be electrified by 2025 and Tapa-Narva by 2027. New trains will also be introduced made by Škoda, specifially designed for express services and will provide extra comfort as well as vending machines.
When the new trains were introduced in 2013 and 2014 the dwingling numbers of rail passengers skyrocketed and are now twice as high as they were before the arrival of the new trains.
By the way, I must say your pronounciation of the local names was very good!
The power pack being separate from the trains ensures good passenger comfort with less vibrations and noise reaching the passengers. I gotta say it's my favourite feature about these trains.
And also that you can build diesel-electric on same production line or retrofit existing trains.
Serbian Railway bought many Stadler Flirt for electrified lines, but they are electric only. And Russian Diesel Hydraulic for non electrified lines.
Problem is, that there are many lines that are electrified partially, but given current situation, they have to run on diesel on whole journey. For example, line Belgrade - Pančevo - Vršac (- Timisoara, Romania) is electrified from Belgrade to Pančevo and section in Belgrade uses commuter rail tunnels, where 2 stations are under ground. And Belgrade Centar station is underground, so you have Diesel idle while passenger get on board.
Seems to be a Stadler feature like the UK Class 755/756 trains.
a Stadler specialty
Basically a modern iteration of the Hastings Thumper .
I took a sleeper train from Talinn to St. Petersburg 20 years ago. We were woken up in the middle of the night for passport and customs checks. Us foreigners were asked to say some of the bags were ours, so the customs people didn't check what was being smuggled.
Once i took a train from Moscow to Kaliningrad, it takes about 20 hours, and guess what? Three country borders, with passport checks on each! All checks are happening in the middle of the night, so don't expect sleeping well there :D
May I say as a recent subscriber to your channel that I love your voice with its clear and accurate enunciation as well as the warm cadences. Your obvious interest in, and communication of, geography, landscapes, scenery, history, art and architecture is charming, informing and absorbing without in any way detracting from the central topic...the train. Keep up the good work while i do my best to catch up! 🥰
I took this train to Tartu and Valka while doing a border run from Russia. Really lovely.
Narva was lovely as well!
I really love the design of the canopies and the lamp posts. Really something unique and beautiful. Classic scandinavian design. What an interresting video.
Stadler is a Swiss company and they also design the interiors on order.
They might look nice, but most people here don't actually like them as the protection from the elements is... A bit lacking 😅
@@greendude96 Oh, Yeah, I see.
Maybee they should have gotten to a compromise. You can certainly design beautiful canopies that still protect you from the weather. Or a small glass cabin with doors at the platform, so you are protected from the elements.
So weird to see a Russian TEP70 right beside an American diesel locomotive... worlds collide! Very cool video, I really enjoy the minor graphics for station names and line diagrams.
You also passed "Lilleküla" station on the way between Balti Jaam and Kitseküla. It literally means "flower village", although the surroundings of the railway station mostly consist of a big parking lot of a shopping center. Once I was on a bus driving through Lilleküla and some childrens were upset about the fact that they didn't see any flowers.
By the way, to save some money in the project to literally renovate every single meter of the country's rail network, some rural station were only rebuilt with a very short platform. At these platforms, it's always the door next to the wheelchair & bike area which opens.
He only passes Lilleküla on a bypass track and not on one of the commuter trains that stop.
@@timectrl The lines going to Tartu and Valga also stop there, so it's a bit weird that Narva trains don't
Kudos for the (handcrafted?) subtitles, they match your production quality perfectly👏🏻
Thank you! They come directly from my written script, more accurate than automatic ones. :)
I am delightfully surprised by the seeming quality of these Estonian trains and infrastructure.. I never really seen any of Estonia’s train world before, but with it being another ex soviet country my expectations were quite low. It’s nice to see good investment in the railroads, which can help a lot. Nice video
The EU membership has brought development to the Baltic states.
The network is gradually being upgraded to 160 km/h. The Tallinn-Tartu mainline will be fully electrified by 2026, Tallinn-Narva by 2028. 16 new Škoda EMUs will arrive in 2024-2025. There are also plans to use the under-construction Rail Baltic tracks also for local traffic, but that will mean new trains again, since it is European gauge.
Estonia is very modern and technologically advanced. These trains are not super special (they look like the ones we have in the Finnish capital region commuter lines, though those have a different interior and more…commuter-y seating) but otherwise Estonia is heads above many Western European countries when it comes to e-services. They’ve got e-citizenship, electric voting, Starship (the delivery robots) is Estonian as is (partially) Skype. You never need cash anywhere - you don’t in Finland either but I know in places like Germany or the US you still do.
Hi, very nice and informative video :D! Btw, I have a recommendation for where you should travel next! I think you should travel to Bergen in Norway from Oslo. There are very beautiful views with many hills, water and trees. I would recommend traveling to Bergen while it’s bright outside so that you can enjoy the views, and I think there is WiFi on board as well with a restaurant (it was on the train I took). Anyways, Great video :)
Makes me proud to see native brands at our Baltic friends. Greetings from Germany 🇩🇪❤️🇪🇪
Hahaha. Thank you.
Stadler is swiss tho
@@paul_ko It has factorys all over the world including poland, germany, usa etc. Its a swissed based company thats it, the product it self is international.
@@enterIT-xl8cc it's still a swiss company, like how siemens is german even though they manufacture in china
@@paul_ko Previously almost got Stadler confused with the pencil-making company
Thank you for this Video... It was a little throwback to my own trip with ELRON to Narva last summer! I found the trains clean and pleasant. Better than here in Germany. It's a pity that the old trains were no longer in service, I would have liked to try them too.
find those old trains in Latvia. One of them even goes to the Estonian town of Valga so you can connect there.
You 100% need to travel in standard (not premium) Russian sleeper train. Best way - from Saint Petersburg to Moscow on a double decker train. It coust only about 25$, but very comfortable.
Premium variant cost about 50$
Luxury - 500$ for 2 person, you room have private shower!
Remember taking one of these trains to Tartu in 2015.
Great trains and very modern
Yes, I agree!
Thanks for the showcase! The train network here in Estonia isn't very large, but I must say it's pretty modern with step-free access and the trains. And yes, we used to have a straight train connection from Tallinn to Russia, but it was closed when the pandemic happened
Yeah, only a few international trains to Latvia now. :(
@@SuperalbsTravels There are no international trains to Latvia. Estonian trains stop at Valga, Estonia, where you have change over to a Latvian train.
@@henrikmanitski1061 Valga, Estonia to Riga you say? ;)
i took the train to Chop (UA) from Cierna nad Tisou (SK) a week ago and its pretty safe if you ask me, i got arrested when exiting the train and carried to an interrogation room because of accidentally filming military/police personell so i dont reccomend recording everything. but for the rest visiting Ukraine was lovely and im visiting this 25th of february again
As much as i like the video, nice and informative. I do not like the title at all. Of course it's safe, why wouldn't it be? Just because we share a border with Russia, it doesn't mean it's dangerous. Ever since the war started, foreigners started asking that question... Even tho Berlin and Central Europe are closer to the actual fighting. -.-
Interestig video. I have never seen this part of the world before. Thanks for sharing.
Glad you enjoyed it!
I laughed at your little comment about Pussi. Interesting video as well.
Very good videos you make thank you enjoyed
Thanks! 😁
This is a fun day trip. Did it last month while visiting Tallinn. That BK is pretty good too as it's one of few places with free drink refills.
Too bad it doesn't open until 11! 😅
@@SuperalbsTravels true! When I got back that evening from Narva I had dinner there!
@@roaddogg800 Oh perfect, I should have done that myself! :)
Those ex-Union Pacific locomotives in Estonia are the General Electric C36-7 design. As for these Stadler Flirts, the power pack set-up reminds me of their UK counterparts (Classes 231 and 755, of course).
They are now entering service in Wales as the class 231
GE C36-7i *
Flirt DMUs (British Class 231 stock) was specially developed by Stadler to meet the train order Estonia placed back in 2009.
There is no difference at all between first and second class. First class seats are reserved which one can consider when trains are crowded. Those trains run for 10 years already and still look like new. No graffiti and nothing broken. AC works, no excessive oil burning in engines, everything is good.
I'm from Russia. I'm looking forward to the normalization of relations between Russia, Finland and the Baltic states, so that all routes (from Moscow and Saint Petersburg) become active again. Btw, the train is very similar to the Russian "Swallow"
Elron is not similiar to Lastochka(Swallow)
@@SuperKillburn why u so angry? what I was doing to u and ur country?
Чувак, зникни кудись!
@@СеменПермяков-н9ч where did u see i'm angry lol?
@@jetblack044 did you say it to me?
Fabulous video. Very informative and thoroughly enjoyable to watch.
Good and informative video, but could we stop with the post-soviet thing already? Yes, Estonia was occupied by the USSR, but more than thirty years have gone by already since the restoration of independence. Why doesn't anyone say post-n*zi for Germany? Probably because it's impolite, and so is post-soviet especially for countries that never wanted to be part of it.
It's alright as people think of that. But many from the western side seem to want to create this massive gap, pretend the Soviet Baltic people are so radically different when in reality we are not at all.
Excellent report! 👍
Thank you so much 😀
Excellent video, and if you are wondering what it's the British version of the train is, they are class 755 Greater Anglia GEML routes Wales Class 231. The American locomotives you see are GE C36-7 or C30-7s with US signals replaced by former Soviet Union ASLN Klub-U. Regarding the Russian 2TE116 locomotive, it's also operated in Ukraine with them using KFA Wagons to carry Challenger 2 tanks to the Eastern Region from Poland and Slovakia. 2TE116 is also related to the German Deutsche Bahn Baureihe 232 Deutsche Reichsbahn Deutschen Demokratischen Republik (German Democratic Republic) Baureihe 132 TE109 2TE109 due to them being made in the same Ukrainian factory.
Thanks for the information! :)
C30-7s have not been running for more than a decade. The are being modernised to C30M, basically into a whole new loco.
@henrikmanitski1061 thank you for telling me about that because they are still being used here where I am in the United States by Short line railways or Class 1 Railways inside a Marshalling yard.
Stadler Trains are always amazing
The best bit is the low-floor! 😃
Awesome trip idea! Thanks for sharing :)
"Püssi, Where I'd really like to spend more time" LMAO HAHAHAH
😂😂😂
Latvia still uses old soviet trains but they will soon be replaced by the Škoda 16ev
Only on the electrified lines. Is Latvia going to electrify the whole network?
@@henrikmanitski1061 probably not
The snow you were driving through wasn't a blizzard it was just the light snow flying around because of the wind that train creates with it's high speed and the snow on and near the rails.
Stadler FLIRT, amazing!
That's right!
Interesting video. I had no idea the Estonian freight locomotives were in fact second hand American ones. And the train service looks really good. Surprisingly comparable in terms of the train to whats seen on provincial regional services in Denmark by the likes of Arriva and Nordjyske Jernbaner, who have similar trains with similar comfort levels on similarly long journeys. Though some of the Danish trains, especially Arriva in central Jutland, are much more expensive than Elron on routes like Aarhus to Skjern (I mean 215kr c'mon). Nordjyskes main corridor from Aalborg to Skagen is however very similar in both comfort, price, speed, and travel time to Elrons service (like 100kr thats more like it).
Dr Dewot
Estonia should import brand new Indian diesel locos instead of second hand US engines , I think at a cheaper price also and causing less pollution.
@@sureshbhatia9408 Any NEW locos that Estonia will acquire in the future will be electric. Also, old American diesel locos are being modernised, with only the undercarriage remaining of the original.
@@sureshbhatia9408 Indian locos would be a bad choice, since Indian rolling stock companies have no presence in Europe, meaning that parts would have to be Imported, potentially meaning that the locomotive would be out of use for weeks or even months. Meanwhile General Electric is a very good choice, since a lot of their locomotives operate on the post-Soviet countries' broad gauge railways. You'll see them in Kazachstan, Ukraine, Moldova and other places. There's also licensed production of GE locomotices in Ukraine, so getting parts is a lot easier since a lot of the parts can be imported from a country that is a lot closer. Also, i doubt Indian companies would be interested in designing a brand new type of 1520 mm broad-gauge locomotive to comply with all the EU standards, since they wouldn't be able to sell too many of them anyway. Ukraine already has a big fleet of new GE Evolution TE33A engines and i think they'd probably just order more of those if they needed, since they can be assembled on the spot. Lithuania typically goes with European manufacturers and Moldova simply can't afford buying new locos right now since they already bought GE units recently, which only leaves potential small orders from Latvia and Estonia. Simply not worth it for the Indians, since it would be a waste of R&D money.
@@henrikmanitski1061
India can supply electric locos also .
@@tupolewposting2733Do the countries mentioned by you in east Europe have fully electrified traction ? Can they afford costly GE locos and parts even if imported from neighbouring Ukraine ? Why will the imported indian locos remain useless for months when parts can be imported in no time if found ineffective during the regular check up of the locos ?
I stayed in that hotel in April 2022. Nice it is too…
Very informative video. What did you do once you got to Narva? You should definitely make videos about the destinations (and their stations!) as you're a very engaging presenter :)
Thank you! I had a quick look around, but had to go back to Helsinki the same evening.
When i was a kid i used to ride this line every winter going from Moscow to Tallin. Back then there were two daily trains between the two capitals, one was via St Petersburg and another one was direct. The second was much faster but it would cross the border at like 5 a.m. or smth which was very annoying. Estonia wasn't in EU and Schengen zone yet though, so the process of border inspection was quite quick. But you had to get up anyway. And those Moscow-Tallin trains were pretty crowded, consisting of up to 15 cars as i recall. Hell of a traffic. But as Russia and Estonia continued to drift apart from each other this traffic got weaker and weaker with years. Now i won't be surprised if i see bushes groing from underneath the tracks on Russia-Estonia border. Shame...
The correct spelling is Tallinn not Tallin
Just to make you aware. I Want A IR4 Video from Esbjerg Or Sønderborg To Copenhagen
Those trains look a lot like Finlands stadler flirt trains😂 good video 🫵🏻😊👍🏻
Ammmmmazing trip report! Loved it :)
Glad you enjoyed it! :)
5:58 Lähdevesi spotted 👀
While the major cities of the world are slow to bring wheelchair-accessible transportation to the masses, Estonia already has level-boarding on all stations of its national railway system with the ever-ubiquitous Stadler trains. Accessible, affordable and convenient rail transport is always good for the customer.
*SIDENOTE:* Ah "Pussi"... ha ha ha. Is it by chance that you've owned a cat? 🐈
high platforms is a standard in Soviet / Russian Railways station. It surprises me that the rest of the world still uses low platforms.
That rai-car was really something else indeed 🤭
Even Estonia has a better Train system than Canada and USA😭😂
North america has a great freight train system.
@@HeaGuerilla 😭
@@HeaGuerilla we need some normal civilian trains too 😩
@@earthandwind820Priorities. In the US, it is freight, in Estonia it is passengers. Freight trains mainly run at night, when there is no passenger traffic.
@@henrikmanitski1061 I think a country that consistently claims itself to be #1 to the world & the “richest country on earth” can do both. But we’d rather spend that $$ on illegal invasions/wars… you know the stuff our current politicians/media claim they’re (hypocritically) supposedly against re: Russias war in Ukraine.
The amount of homelessness, embarrassing civilian infrastructure away from tourists areas, Americans living paycheck to paycheck (also whitewashed to foreigners in other countries to not make the USA “look bad”) is unacceptable for such a “wealthy” country. They clearly don’t have the right “priorities” at all.
Great video 📸
hah Finnish VR train water bottle. nice thing to take to estonian train with you from Finland
Oh yeah, I forgot that! 😅
That train is looking good
Actually, Indonesia railways needs a diesel unit like FLiRT, doesn't it? considering that Stadler also established a joint venture with INKA in Banyuwangi
Love it how you spell that Rrrrr 😊
Greetings from Estonia
How many takes did you have to do for the Pussi joke until you could say it with a straight face? lol. Nice video. Impressive that they're step-free already, although probably easier when you only have 8 lines in your entire country. Stadler steadily taking over the world I see!
10:56 - quite interesting vehicle!
the 1524mm gauge railway in Finland is still the Russian gauge, Estonia uses the same gauge too along with the 1520mm one
The title feels a bit clickbait-y lol
Yeah, gives a bad rep to estonia
@@tomatimahl Bad rep starts actually from the beginning. Why the main station called “Balti jaam” like it is some kind of terminus in Russian empire? Wouldn’t be “Tallinna jaam” much better? Why they everywhere use Russian as second language on labels? Looks like Russian integration instead of European integration. (In Finland they used 110 years ago Russian, Finnish and Swedish labels because it was part of Russian empire, but today they use only Finnish and Swedish as they are no Russian empire anymore. Estonia is nether. So it’s pretty strange that Estonians in place which supposed to be called “Tallinna jaam” use billboards glorifying Russian empire and let _babushkas_ to sell stuff like that)
@@ragnarlaine4065 balti jaam, baltic station. How hard is it to understand, its named from the Baltic Sea. I have no clue where you got empire from.
@@ragnarlaine4065 also we dont have russian as secondary language, just some PRIVATE COMPANIES choose to also put russian in their ads and such. We only learn English and Estonian in school, russian is literally banned
@@ragnarlaine4065 and Babushkas selling stuff is normal, it happens in latvia, finland, lithuania, poland, croatia, bosnia, serbia, ukraine, romania and so on
I took this train today. The same oil train was there, minus the locomotive
This does me thinking at the "GTW" driving on regional lines in The Netherlands.
Great trip. Nice train by the way, and the town at 9:33 is very unique. I think only in Estonia where US Locomotive can meet with Russian Locomotive. Bit curious about the progress of Rail Baltica project, how about the progress?
Fascinatingly, there are US built locomotives in Russia too! 😳
In Estonia, a number of viaducts and ecoducts are being or have been built. Some of the sections are in the tender phase, while others are being designed. Construction of one 10 km section of the line will start next year.
Girlfriend: where are you
Me : Püssi 😅
😂😂😂
Love those old elevated signal boxes...I assume they're signal boxes?
They are old water towers.
As an Estonian, some of the pronunciations were pretty funny but otherwise pretty close to how we say them. Great video!
The border south of the country is a bit more exciting.
Saatse boot will have you entering Russia without a visa. 😊
is there a good connection from Tallinn to Riga as well?
Not by rail, there are some good long distance busses though
Sadly no despite infrastructure being there.
Connection? Yes. Good? No, unfortunately. You're looking at one possible journey per day with a 2 hour or so connection in Valga.
Not yet. Any train journey currently would be very long and involve a transfer on the border of the 2 countries. They're both trying to change that with the Rail Baltica high speed rail project, linking all 3 baltic states to mainland europe with fast 230km/h trains. But that is still many many years away from being possible to ride.
To be fair, we don't really need one. Northern Estonia with Tallinn and Southern Finland with Helsinki mirror each other being the densest parts of both countries. Good connections of these two regions are more important than with Riga. I'm sure some Southern Estonians will disagree, but South is much less densely populated.
Best trains in Estonia!
These are the only trains in Estonia 😂
Train trip sounds nice because i live in the place where i see lots of trains like these freight trains and elrons stadlers also soon it will come here nee trains that Estonia bought this year
I always love the wifi password locomotive 😂😂😂
👍
Great report. Any plans to do something similar in Latvia and Lithuania?
Great video as always👌maybe you could try the Thalys next time? Would be pretty interesting I think. Anyway keep up the good work💪
1:52 as a German the ,,Reisibüroo" made my giggle
A borrowed word? 😂😂😂
@@SuperalbsTravels probably 😅
I took a train from that station to St. Petersburg in the summer of 2016. The border crossing was very time consuming BTW. Taking the bus into or from Russia is quicker through passport control.
Considering Russia is not being attacked by anyone, I would say it's safe.
As long as you don't go to Belgorod
Жил года 4 назад в отеле Go Shnelli, что одной стеной выходит на вокзал, так под окнами как раз стояли эти морковные поезда до Нарвы (а они на тепловозной тяге) и всю ночь и тарахтели дизелями. А в Кейлу ходят такие-же морковные Штадлеры, только электрические.
Just to correct you, those new trains actually replaced RVR DR1B/A trains, the one you showed, i personally had never seen before.
püssi station, well played albs.
😂😂😂
I love Elron!
Yeah they're pretty good! :)
I love ELRON 🥰 I traveled on my vacation in Estonia with it and the next time with my journey to Russia. I always enjoyed it 👍🏻
The bottle of "Lähdevesi" (VR) is water from Finland (Valtion Rautatiet, Finnish National Railways).
I'm not sure if I understood you right when you said that the train was driving with electrified way until Aegviidu, but if that's what you said then that's wrong. There are only two types of trains. 1. Only electrified meaning that they can't change to diesel motor. 2. Only diesel motor meaning that they can't change to electrified. Yes they drive with the same route as the electrified trains, but they can't use the electric lines above they just drive with diesel motors. They are planning to get škoda trains in second half of 2024 that can change from electric to diesel and diesel to electric meaning that when there's electrified route then it uses electric lines and when they end it continues with diesel motors. Also one of the main routes from Tallinn to Tartu and back right now is not electrfied but with new škoda trains they want the line to be fully electric.
Estonia isn't the first in the world to have a step-free railway network
Of course it is safe! I went on this same journey around christmas time when visiting Russian relatives in St. Petersburg. The only downside was long queing time on Narva bridge, but apart from that everything was fine!
Really a clickbaity title playing on people's fears of Russia, since you could easily say Sweden is more dangerous than Estonia
damnn these trains look sick
When was this video filmed? I mean, the month? Just to know of in October or November, there is snow in Tallinn.
End of November
@@SuperalbsTravels Thanks!
9:31 I did not saw that one comming.💀
😂😂😂😂
Enoyed the video and agree that Elron is a very pleasant way to travel. Püssi btw is a derivative of the Estonian word for gun or rifle. I wonder if you saw the sign at Balti Jaam for "Rong Info"....rong being the word for train...but still funny all the same.
The tracks will be electronically distributed and maintained
The title makes us think that we will reach the border with Russia. I saw everything to see if people on foot, foreigners, could cross it. I didn't know.
I would love to go to Estonia. I reckon it’s a perfect place to film the next 007 movie in too
If you imagine a black James Bond that could time-travel, „Tenet“ has pretty much got you covered.
And now "The Agency" is being filmed here.
I assume it must be wide guage in Estonia - am I correct?.
Otherwise how do those Russian locomotives you showed, get across the border?
Yes it is the same gauge. :)
Эстонии нужно переходить на евроколею, нужно избавляться от советского наследия
Püssi is definitely a place worth spending more time at.
*( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)*
Your treating the Russian Federation like north Korea
Yeah, you're right. It's worse. North Korea hasn't invaded anyone since the 1950s
@@nb2008nc using that logic the US, Australia, UK is worse than North Korea
@@hazptmedia What territory did any of those states annex?
@@nb2008nc Afghanistan Iraq Syria Lebanon Vietnam
@Hazpt Media Never annexed any territories in any of those places.
Invaded Afghanistan to root out al Qaeda. Never took it over.
Invaded Iraq as a knee jerk reaction due to bad Intel, but didn't annex territory.
Invaded Syria to destroy isis, but didn't annex territory.
UN invited US to come to Lebanon. Never annexed territory and we left with our tail between our legs.
Vietnam, we were invited by the government of South Vietnam to protect it from your buddies in the North. Never tried to make it into Hawaii or anything.
Were you the editor of Pravda at one point, tovarich?
Is it safe? Made me laugh😂
I from Estonia Hello-Tere
Hi! 👋
Ma arvan et, Elron on väga tore!
That's Estonian for I think Elron is very cool.
Awesome, it's a cool language! :)
@@SuperalbsTravels It's damn hard to learn!
I've been learning it for a year now at university since I study there.
I successfully purchased Elron tickets the other day in Estonian 😅
12:12 that fence on the platform, is that for a former passport control? internartional platform. and the headine asked if it is safe, but was it safe?
1:20 shame that this old station building was demolished by soviets
Yeah. The current one is pretty lifeless and dull.
9:32
It would be interesting to go there and order Mustard there. (look up Estonian word for mustard).
Oh wow, sinep! 😂