Travel climate-friendly
How far can you take the train in five hours? Online tool provides exciting answers
There’s a train going somewhere – the only difference is that the journey shouldn’t be longer than five hours
© Screenshot / chronotrains-eu.vercel.app, David Ebener / DPA
Where do we want to go? An online tool shows how far you can get from any train station within five hours by train. Ideal for planning climate-friendly weekend trips.
To the Mediterranean. Or to the Arctic Circle. Or even to Vladivostok. Anyone who gets on the train can go almost anywhere, at least in theory. But how far can you get from your home station in a certain amount of time? This is shown by a new online tool from a software developer from France. “How far can you go by train in 5 hours?” – “How far can you travel by train in five hours?” they say. And the tool keeps what the name promises.
Map shows train connections across Europe – in five hours
Operation is extremely simple: a map is displayed at https://chronotrains-eu.vercel.app. After clicking on any station, a kind of heat map appears. Regions colored red can be reached within one hour from the selected train station, regions colored orange in two hours and regions colored light yellow in five hours. The application is therefore suitable for planning weekend trips.
The timetable data of the European Union are evaluated with the exception of the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as the trains in Great Britain, Norway and the Ukraine.
According to the tool, numerous cities in Germany and abroad can be reached within five hours from the main train stations of the five largest German cities, in all directions:
- Berlin: northernmost destination: Kolding (Denmark), easternmost destination: Zlotniki Kutnowskie (Poland), southernmost destination: Hausham (Bavaria), westernmost destination: Aachen (North Rhine-Westphalia)
- Hamburg: Hinnerup (Denmark), Posen (Poland), Nuremberg-Dutzendteich (Bavaria), Utrecht (Netherlands)
- München: Löwenberg (Brandenburg), Hegyeshalom (Hungary), Rovereto (Italy), Metz (France)
- Köln: Bordesholm (Schleswig-Holstein), Fürstenwalde (Brandenburg), Dagmersellen (Switzerland), Luton (England)
- Frankfurt am Main: Neumünster (Schleswig-Holstein), Cottbus (Brandenburg), Spiez (Switzerland), Calais (France)
However, the connections are out of the question for the 9-euro ticket. Because of the higher speed, they primarily rely on long-distance trains, for which the flat-rate ticket is not valid – it doesn’t help abroad anyway.
The data are based on samples from the stern, at least for Germany, correct. According to the operator, the data from the Deutsche Bahn timetable information is used as the basis for the application. However, travelers should not rely entirely on the information provided by the online tool. Certain trains often only run infrequently. And the transfer times are also not precisely recorded with the map. According to the developer of the tool, the connections shown are “possibly non-existent, taking into account real transfer times”.
Map also provides information on high-speed lines
But the map is always sufficient for a rough overview, and it also provides information on the expansion of high-speed lines in Europe and the structure of the rail network in Europe. Thanks to the TGV in France, which runs with few intermediate stops and high speeds, large parts of the country can be reached from almost anywhere within five hours. In Germany, on the other hand, it’s usually over after around 500 kilometers.
For a trip to the Mediterranean Sea or to the Arctic Circle by train, you have to plan far more than five hours anyway. And to Vladivostok it takes even several days.
You can find the online tool here