Mapping Program That Shows You Where You Can Go on a 5-Hour Train Ride in Europe

Twitter user Benjamin TD, a software engineer and mapmaker, created an application that shows users what areas of Western and Central Europe are accessible from within 5 hours of a given train station. Countries that have spent a lot on high speed rail, such as France and Germany, have enormous coverage. For example, as you can see, almost all of Germany is accessible within 5 hours of Frankfurt.

The heat maps show how close different areas are, with darker colors representing closer stations. Even London is accessible within 5 hours of Calais, thanks to, I suspect, the Chunnel.

The Øresund Line crosses the Baltic Sea gap between Denmark and Sweden, making traveling between those two nations easy.

For other nations with less developed rail networks, such as Slovenia, travel options are more limited.

#trains #maps