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Trains that pass thru but dont stop in a country

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popeter45

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thinking about the thread about custom checks on a train and was wondering if either of the following two happen possibly for customs reasons?
Train from Country A to Country C needs to go Via Country B but doesn't make any Passenger stops
Train from Country A to a Different Part of Country A (e.g. an Enclave) go Via Country B but doesn't make any Passenger stops
 
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Richard Scott

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A number of trains between Austrian towns e.g. Innsbruck and Salzburg. They go via Germany, often without stopping. A number of trains between Austria and Switzerland also pass through Lichtenstein non stop. May not have this quite right but believe trains from Serbia (Belgrade) to Montenegro (Bar) briefly pass through Bosnia non stop.
 

JWK

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The (currently suspended) Paris-Venice Thello sleeper technically passes through Switzerland non-stop (i.e. it makes no scheduled passenger stops. The physical reality is rather different.
 

AlbertBeale

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A number of trains between Austrian towns e.g. Innsbruck and Salzburg. They go via Germany, often without stopping. A number of trains between Austria and Switzerland also pass through Lichtenstein non stop. May not have this quite right but believe trains from Serbia (Belgrade) to Montenegro (Bar) briefly pass through Bosnia non stop.

Re "often without stopping", I think it's actually very rare for any "internal" Austrian train that uses the faster through-the-corner-of-Germany route between Salzburg and Worgl to ever serve any German stations. (Or indeed any international train through there such as Vienna-Zurich.)

All Austria-Switzerland services have to cross Lichtenstein, and as far as I remember, none of the long-distance ones ever stops in Lichtenstein. [I did read recently of plans for a new frequent "local" service linking (I presume) Buchs (in Switzerland) and Feldkirch (in Austria), which would stop at a couple of places in Lichtenstein on the way.]

Yes, Serbia-Montenegro services do run through a corner of BiH (on which there are, I think, no stations to stop at anyway!). Though the BiH section isn't between the other countries, but on part of the route otherwise within Serbia.

I wonder where there are any trains on the coastal route through the south of France which don't stop at Monaco on the way through??

The examples here where they fit the second of the two types listed at the beginning (ie A-B-A with no stop in B, rather than A-B-C with no stop in B) don't, despite the "eg" given in the original question, involve enclaves/exclaves. In fact I can't think of any European enclaves/exclaves with a rail connection...

As with the (not now running) Paris-Italy sleeper, I expect there might be some sleepers in eastern Europe which cut through a bit of a country without a scheduled stop. (Does the new Prague-Rijeka night train have stops in every country it goes through?)

Before the Baltic States got EU-ised, in the days when there was still a Tallinn-Riga-Vilnius route, some of those trains went on to Warsaw [Tallinn-Warsaw was slow, but useful!]; between Lithuania and Poland the route went through a corner of Belarus with no station stop - though there was a very lengthy middle-of-the-night stop at Grodno in Belarus for the bogies to be changed ... and for [in my experience] officious Belarusian border guards to falsely claim a need for passengers to have got a transit visa. I once had a stand-off (mostly a "sit-off", in fact) over this issue in a border guards' hut by the side of the tracks, which took up most of the time the train was there.

There are some other places where railway lines end up zig-zagging across borders without any station between the zig and the zag, generally (I think) where borders have moved. There's somewhere on the current German-Polish border like that.
 

30907

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There are some complications of both types around Zittau in SE Germany.
This includes an ABC example (to Liberec in CZ) where Poland was reluctant to upgrade the section on its territory.

Slightly OT, but readers who have used the route North to Goerlitz will remember a station in Poland that serves a village (Ostritz) in Germany - ISTR that before Poland joined the EU you could only access the station fro Germany, but that's not the case now.
 

class ep-09

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Till the early 90’s in South East corner of Poland , trains running on line 102, Przemysl - Ustrzyki Dolne - Zagorz had to go through USSR ( now Ukraine), without stoping there.
I think there are still trains running over small sections of the line.
 

StephenHunter

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There are some complications of both types around Zittau in SE Germany.
This includes an ABC example (to Liberec in CZ) where Poland was reluctant to upgrade the section on its territory.

Slightly OT, but readers who have used the route North to Goerlitz will remember a station in Poland that serves a village (Ostritz) in Germany - ISTR that before Poland joined the EU you could only access the station fro Germany, but that's not the case now.

It's a station in Poland only served by German passenger trains.
 

oldman

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Till the early 90’s in South East corner of Poland , trains running on line 102, Przemysl - Ustrzyki Dolne - Zagorz had to go through USSR ( now Ukraine), without stoping there.
Not quite without stopping - the Soviet guards had to get on and off! In 1991 there were four guards equipped with extra-long crowbars and an officer with a sidearm. After passing through the train the guards stood on the steps, one each side, at the front facing back and vice versa, to make sure no one escaped. The forward-facing ones had big crash-helmets with visors.

For a few weeks in May there were special 'corridor trains' from Rumania to Austria (passing through Hungary but without Hungarian checks) to bring in Rumanian care-workers, on whom Austria relies for 24 hour home care.
 

StephenHunter

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There was also a service from Kaunas (IIRC) in Lithuania to Germany, the first such service since 1945.
 

LNW-GW Joint

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I believe there is a route Ukraine-Romania-Ukraine which crosses the River Tisza (the border) twice, running through Sighetu Marmatiei in Romania without stopping.
But I've no idea if there are any passenger trains on the line.
It's complicated by the gauge change in Romania (where passenger services do run through the Viseu corridor south to Cluj).

The late unlamented Robert Maxwell was born in this zone on the UA side of the border (in Solotvyno, then in inter-war Czechoslovakia).
Just up the Tisza from this railway loop, in UA, apparently is a geographical marker erected by Austria-Hungary in 1887 claiming to be the "Centre of Europe".
It's a really complicated part of the world.
 
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peters

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thinking about the thread about custom checks on a train and was wondering if either of the following two happen possibly for customs reasons?
Train from Country A to Country C needs to go Via Country B but doesn't make any Passenger stops
Train from Country A to a Different Part of Country A (e.g. an Enclave) go Via Country B but doesn't make any Passenger stops

My understanding is if a Brussels to London train stopped to set down only in France then it would be irrelevant whether or not there were UK quarantine restrictions for people arriving back from France as you haven't been in contact with anyone in France. If you change trains in France or people get on in France then it's a different story.

Usually there's no checks within the Schengen zone but there may be some currently due to COVID-19 restrictions
 
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Prior to both Hungary and Austria being Schengen countries, trains between Ebenfurth and Deutschkreuz in Eastern Austria used to pass through Hungary with certain coaches locked during the station stop at Sopron. These trains crossed the “Iron Curtain” twice! These and the ones between Salzburg and Innsbruck via Rosenheim in Germany were called ”Korridor” trains. Originally trains via Rosenheim had to reverse in the station there but a chord was built in (I think) 1982 allowing trains to pass through without reversal. Korridor trains also existed in Tyrol between Lienz and Innsbruck via Italy and between Innsbruck and Reutte via Germany; since the Schengen Agreement on open borders, this has been unnecessary with trains calling appropriately at intermediate stations regardless of which country they are in.
 

MarcVD

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Two examples in ex-CIS :

Trains between Moscow and Kazakhstan cross from RU to KZ, then back in RU again, and finally back into KZ. There are no stops between the first and third border crossings, and dual entry visas are not required.

Train Moscow Dushanbe crosses Uzbekistan from North to South, but does not have any commercial stop in this country. Non CIS people need a transit visa nevertheless. Before the adequate railway lines were available for a journey entirely within Uzbekistan, part of said journey was done through Turkmenistan, also with no commercial stop, but with transit visa equally required. Only stops were at border stations to exchange locs and make border checks, i.e. extort vast sums of money from Tadjik migrant workers.
 

Beebman

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The line from Plauen in Germany to Cheb in the Czech Republic makes a total of seven border crossings in the space of about 15km. Two sections of the line which briefly pass through Germany and another two which pass through the Czech Republic each have no stations. There's an English-language Wikipedia article here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plauen–Cheb_line
 

oldman

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There was also a service from Kaunas (IIRC) in Lithuania to Germany, the first such service since 1945.
There were a couple in March from Frankfurt/Oder to Kaunas to repatriate people stranded by Polish border closures.
 

SHD

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Not exactly in topic but also interesting trivia on cross-border railway links:

There are still several stations in France that are only connected to foreign railway lines and served by foreign operators:

- Audun-le-Tiche and Volmerange-Les-Mines, both terminus stations of Luxembourgish railway lines (and located a few hundred meters from the actual border)

- The French station of Viévola on the of Ventimiglia-Cuneo rail line, which is wholly run by FS. This line and the Nice-Tende railway line (operated by SNCF) join at Breil-sur-Roya.

The latter two lines (XXmiglia-Cuneo and Nice-Tende) are absolutely beautiful and heavily recommended.

But I cannot think of another reason that an extraordinary taste for trivia to visit the two Luxembourgish stations in France: they serve dreary, dull, and grey border villages, in an area rather deprived of natural beauty!
 

superalbs

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The (currently suspended) Paris-Venice Thello sleeper technically passes through Switzerland non-stop (i.e. it makes no scheduled passenger stops. The physical reality is rather different.
It can do, but often it will route via Modane.
 

gysev

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Prior to both Hungary and Austria being Schengen countries, trains between Ebenfurth and Deutschkreuz in Eastern Austria used to pass through Hungary with certain coaches locked during the station stop at Sopron. These trains crossed the “Iron Curtain” twice! These and the ones between Salzburg and Innsbruck via Rosenheim in Germany were called ”Korridor” trains. Originally trains via Rosenheim had to reverse in the station there but a chord was built in (I think) 1982 allowing trains to pass through without reversal. Korridor trains also existed in Tyrol between Lienz and Innsbruck via Italy and between Innsbruck and Reutte via Germany; since the Schengen Agreement on open borders, this has been unnecessary with trains calling appropriately at intermediate stations regardless of which country they are in.

The same arangement existed for the trains between Innsbruck and Lienz that ran as "Korridor-Züge" through Italy.
 

CW2

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The Polish / German example above is one of which I have some experience.
German trains from Gorlitz to Zittau call at the Polish station named Krzewina Zgorzelecka where there is a footbridge over the river to the German village of Ostritz. A Polish border guard waits at the Polish end of the bridge, and unlocks the gate so that German passengers alighting from the trains can cross the river back into Germany.

The station lies on the route from Wegliniec to Bogatynia, which used to have regular passenger services. One day, on my way home to the UK after a week bashing steam in Poland, I decided to see if there was a loophole in the border arrangements. I alighted from PKP train at the station, wandered round for a bit, said hello to the border guard, and explained I was travelling to Zittau. That's fine, just don't wander off the station. Zittau train arrives, I got on, alighted in Zittau, and thus entered the EU without any passport or immigration checks (this being before Poland was an EU member).

Further east, Czech trains from Jesenik to Krnov used to call at the Polish station of Glucholazy to reverse, without stopping for passengers. I think that has been an open stop for some time now.
 

Journeyman

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The train service for Chernobyl power plant clean up workers runs from Slavutych (the town built to replace the now-evacuated ghost city of Pripyat) to the plant itself, both of which are in Ukraine, but the train passes through Belarus on multiple occasions en-route.
 

Beebman

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Another piece of trivia about the Görlitz-Zittau railway line is that after the line crosses into Poland (going north) it briefly crosses back into Germany for just 250m where there was a small station called Rosenthal. I understand that this small section of track is maintained by DB rather than PKP, indeed the km markers briefly return to German rather than Polish measurement.
 

CW2

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Another one in that corner of Germany is the Zittau - Eibau line which passed through Varnsdorf (Czecho) without stopping.
A friend of mine, long since dead alas, once spent the day in this corner of Germany chasing DR steam locos, and had the same steam loco Gorlitz - Zittau via Poland, then Zittau - Eibau via Czecho, using the two corridor lines discussed above. This would have been mid 1980s.

There's also a line in the north-west corner of Moldova which is a Ukraine corridor route. I'm not aware what the passenger services are on this route nowadays.
 

Journeyman

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There's also a line in the north-west corner of Moldova which is a Ukraine corridor route. I'm not aware what the passenger services are on this route nowadays.

Of course, the Moldova/Ukraine border is greatly complicated by the existence of the unrecognised state of Transnistria, which is basically run by Russian gangsters, and travelling through the area is subject to all sorts of crazily unpredictable events. I was in Ukraine last year, and some people I met who crossed from Transnistria to Ukraine found their progress greatly hampered until $500 found its way into the hands of officials. After that, it was all sweetness and light...
 

Taunton

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Not quite without stopping - the Soviet guards had to get on and off! In 1991 there were four guards equipped with extra-long crowbars and an officer with a sidearm. After passing through the train the guards stood on the steps, one each side, at the front facing back and vice versa, to make sure no one escaped. The forward-facing ones had big crash-helmets with visors.
Comparably, in 1944 the Soviet Union took the Finnish naval base of Porkkala west (ie not the Soviet border side) of Helsinki as Soviet territory, which was crossed by the Helsinki-Turku main line for maybe 10 miles. Procedures were even more elaborate. The Finnish loco was taken off and replaced by a Soviet one for the transit (although the line connected to nothing else), while large steel shutters were put across all the windows to stop looking out. Soviet guards rode in each coach. After about 12 years the territory was returned to Finland, and when they got the first new view of the lineside they found nothing had been erected alongside at all, the line, as previously, just ran through dense forest where the trees had not been touched. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porkkala_Naval_Base
 

Beebman

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I've also just remembered that the line between Zittau and Bischofswerda passes through about a kilometre of Czech territory (with no stations) between Neusalza-Spremberg and Taubenheim (Spree). This area (known in German as the 'Fugauer Zipfel') is a narrow piece of Czech territory which protrudes for about 2 or 3 km into Germany. The section of line through it is owned and maintained by DB Netz.

(The Zittau area is indeed fascinating. I've been there a couple of times, the first was in April 1991 when I had 118 748 from Dresden with 118 601 on the return. There were still two standard gauge locos in steam at Zittau - 52 8012 & 52 8160 - both in use as Heizloks.)
 

43096

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Austrian Railjet services from Salzburg to Innsbrueck run via Freilassing (Germany) without a stop in Germany.
That’s an example of the Rosenheim “korridor” trains referred to above.
 
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