Back home now, and a few fairly obvious thoughts occurred to me while travelling through three countries, two transport systems and one tunnel.
The Metro station at Schuman always looks like it’s under repair. It has that faded, dishevelled look, totally out of keeping with the refurbished Berlaymont building above it. In fact, most of the Brussels stations have that feel of not being looked after all that well. However, there are trains and Metro trains, and they run frequently, late into the night and the standard one-trip fare is just €1.50 (£1).
In London, we have tube and mainline stations with gleaming platforms, virtually shopping centres in their own rights, some with modern architecture and a general cutting-edge air. The rolling stock is old in the provinces, but refurbished tube and inter-city stock is around, and there are some new vehicle fleets, too. But you can’t travel far for £1 in London…
I know which I’d prefer. Do you?