Trains

Shortening the trip from Moscow’s city center to Sheremetyevo International Airport, new Aeroexpress trains began service June 11. What was at least a 2-hour bus trip now takes 35 minutes.

The trains depart from Savolovsky station downtown and debark at the airport’s Terminal 2; shuttle service is available to Terminals 1 and the new Terminal C.

A train ticket costs RU250 (about $11) or, for first class, RU350 ($15). (Cab fare could cost $35 to $100, depending on the driver.) For the schedule, visit www.sheremetyevo-airport.ru.

Jolly olde England and the Emerald Isle of Ireland continue to enchant and entice, even with the pound whomping the dollar nearly two to one. Here’s what to expect if you visit in 2008.

Great Britain

• The Heathrow Express train connecting LONDON’s Paddington Station with Heathrow Airport is now the most expensive rail journey per mile in Britain. Save money by riding the tube (London’s underground) or using the regular train.

The Keighley & Worth Valley Steam Railway (West Yorkshire, England; phone 01535 645214, www.kwvr.co.uk) is offering a “Super Luxury All Day Guided Tour” from Keighley through Brontë Country for £350 (near $509) per person for up to 12 people.

The railcars of the Majestic Imperator Train de Luxe (Vienna, Austria; www.imperialtrain.com) replicate those used by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and his wife, Elisabeth (Sissi), before WWI. With modern chassis, cars dating from 1905 to 1959 have been restored or replicas made using original plans and photographs.

The (non-air-conditioned) luxury train runs between Vienna and Munich, passing through Melk, Linz, Salzburg, Prien am Chiemsee, Innsbruck, Seefeld and Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Every year when I update my guidebook series, I find out what’s new in Europe. Here’s a review of what Americans can expect the next time they cross the Atlantic.

The 7-mile Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway (Ravenglass, Cumbria, CA18 1SW, U.K.; phone 01229 717171, fax 717011, www.ravenglass-railway.co.uk) shows the sights of England’s Western Lake District from Ravenglass to Dalegarth year-round.

The world’s oldest working, 15-inch-gauge steam locomotive departs multiple times every day from April to October; other months (except January) have departures only on weekends. A ticket costs £10.20 (near $18) for one day’s unlimited rides or £6 ($11) for a single ride (children £5.10 or £3, respectively).

When people ask me about the scariest situation I’ve ever been in, I think back to a taxi ride I took to the Moscow airport in the early ’90s. A no-neck guy who looked like a classic Russian mafia thug picked me up in a beat-up old car and drove for an hour down puddle-filled alleys and past derelict apartment buildings. All I could think about were those movie scenes where the good guy is taken down to the riverbank to be shot. Instead, the no-neck pulled up to the airport, shook my hand and said, “Have a good fly.”

The repairs to the railway covered by landslides between Cuzco and Machu Picchu have been completed and full train service has resumed, including that of Orient Express’ luxury train Hiram Bingham,, leaving Cuzco daily at 9:10 a.m. and arriving at Machu Picchu station at 1:09 p.m. Return is at 6:07 p.m., arriving Cuzco at 9:59. 

Authorities are investigating a train crash at Sainthia station in West Bengal, India, that killed 63 people on July 19. The incoming Uttar Banga Express smashed into a stationary train after it failed to apply emergency brakes and entered the station at top speed in spite of repeated warnings to stop. Both the driver and his assistant were killed. Among possible causes is a switching error by railroad staff.

India Railways is owned and operated by the government.

In the Republic of Congo, a train crash on June 22 killed over 56 and injured 677. The train derailed about 60 kilometers outside Pointe-Noire on its way from there to Brazzaville. The causes determined were high speed, driver error and having too many passengers.