Maps Reveal You to Travel by Train from European Cities in a Day

The travel route in Europe is extremely well planned and implemented, and a genuine alternative to traveling in planes are trains. Europe has a well connected, high speed network of trains which has been interestingly revealed by fascinating maps by a US based train enthusiast. This US train enthusiast is Peter Kerpedjiev, who did significant research and collected data from Swiss Transport Authority. The research and work of this Harvard Medical fellow amazed the world with the fascinating results. The research conducted by him also proved that Western countries have a better planned and implemented network, and the Eastern countries have to do a lot of catching up.

Peter used statistics from Swiss Public Transport system 

The maps produced by the US train enthusiast revealed that it’s Berlin, Madrid, Paris and London offers the best train connection. Similarly, it also showed that train networks in Sofia, Riga and Podgorica offers fewer trains. In fact, the rail network from Paris is incredibly well planned and travelers can reach Ireland, Southern Italy and Scotland within 24 hours.

The Harvard Medical School fellow, Peter extracted information and statistics from Swiss Public Transport System. In an interview, Peter explained that he wanted to know the destinations which were easily accessible by train. The results amazed Peter, and he was stunned by the incredible rail connectivity available all over Europe. In another interview he also stated that approximately half of France was accessible within four hours by a single train from Paris. He was stunned by this incredible infrastructure which was built and id being maintained.

Road maps and travel maps 

He considered himself lucky, that he was able to access timetables of various Pan European journeys, that too from a single server. This also shows the coordination between the various railway systems. Kerpedjiev, created these beautiful isochorme maps to illustrate the incredible railway network connecting different points around Europe.

These maps also illustrate road maps to showcase the time taken to travel to different points in car. He also created maps showcasing the public rail networks to state the time taken for walking to platforms and stations. With the assistance of Swiss Public Transport API he was able to showcase the travel times for various cities.

In an interview Peter stated that he got his motivation and inspiration from an isochrome travel map of Vienna dating 1881. He was impressed by this map, and wanted to update the concept. After he decided to plot travel maps by train, he realized that contour lines would be ideal for presenting the information. He considers Europe to be the best in terms of the numerous travel options it offers and the train connectivity system which he considers implausible.

 He stated that in Europe the best connection are offered by trains from Berlin, Paris, Madrid and London. Trains are the most important travelling means in Europe, while some trains travel around leisurely by night or day, there are other high speed train traveling across continent. With the help of the schedules used in these beautiful maps travelers could also easily plan journey in and across Europe.