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> That is, if you happen to own a nice locomotive, and miraculously have unimpeded direct access to all railways, then this tool will be a useful planner. By

> That is, if you happen to own a nice locomotive, and miraculously have unimpeded direct access to all railways, then this tool will be a useful planner. By law, that already is the case across Europe - all you need is a commercial entity, a locomotive (or multiple) that support all the voltages and signalling/trackside security systems used on the route, carriages that are certified (freight cars usually are Europe-wide, passenger cars run under RIC) and operators that have "Streckenkunde" (=they know where signals, switches, street passes etc. are on a route). There are a handful of people doing just that, in Germany Roland Sandkuhl / LokRapid has gotten incredibly famous after a TV show featuring him and his old-timer Class 219 locomotive has gone viral [1]. [1] https://www.ndr.de/fernsehen/sendungen/hallo_niedersachsen/Roland-und-seine-Lok-Planung-ist-alles,hallonds85010.html https://www.ndr.de/fernsehen/sendungen/hallo_niedersachsen/R...

pxeger1 2y ago
Don’t you also need to negotiate timetable slots?
- johannes1234321 2y ago
  Nowadays you can "negotiate" relatively easily ad hoc on a website these days. Assuming there is free capacity. On "bug" cargo routes that typically works few hours advanced. https://www.dbinfrago.com/web/schienennetz/leistungen/trassen/trassenbestellung/trassenanmeldung/click_and_ride-10907236 https://www.dbinfrago.com/web/schienennetz/leistungen/trasse...
- gsnedders 2y ago
  If there is capacity, they are obliged to provide it on a non-discriminatory basis. If there isn't capacity, then it gets into questions of allocation (which still needs to be done in a fair and documented basis).
johannes1234321 2y ago
> There are a handful of people doing just that, in Germany Roland Sandkuhl / LokRapid has gotten incredibly famous after a TV show featuring him and his old-timer Class 219 locomotive has gone viral [1]. Mind that in a legal sense he operates no EVU (Eisenbahnverkehrsunternehmen / railway operation company) but a locomotive rental business where he lends his locomotive including engineer (himself) to EVUs. But small EVUs exist(-ed), like Rail 4U / Barbara Pirch with her E 94 locomotive, which unfortunately had an accident.

pxeger1 2y ago

Don’t you also need to negotiate timetable slots?

johannes1234321 2y ago
Nowadays you can "negotiate" relatively easily ad hoc on a website these days. Assuming there is free capacity. On "bug" cargo routes that typically works few hours advanced. https://www.dbinfrago.com/web/schienennetz/leistungen/trassen/trassenbestellung/trassenanmeldung/click_and_ride-10907236 https://www.dbinfrago.com/web/schienennetz/leistungen/trasse...
gsnedders 2y ago
If there is capacity, they are obliged to provide it on a non-discriminatory basis. If there isn't capacity, then it gets into questions of allocation (which still needs to be done in a fair and documented basis).

johannes1234321 2y ago

> There are a handful of people doing just that, in Germany Roland Sandkuhl / LokRapid has gotten incredibly famous after a TV show featuring him and his old-timer Class 219 locomotive has gone viral [1]. Mind that in a legal sense he operates no EVU (Eisenbahnverkehrsunternehmen / railway operation company) but a locomotive rental business where he lends his locomotive including engineer (himself) to EVUs. But small EVUs exist(-ed), like Rail 4U / Barbara Pirch with her E 94 locomotive, which unfortunately had an accident.