Rail route of the month: from Bohemia to the Baltic coast

Hrádek nad Nisou station has seen better days. There is a hint of old Habsburg style, but the ticket office is closed and the buffet is crossed out and closed. Breakfast has to wait. Fortunately, I already have a ticket. A cheap ticket indeed, a rover valid for a whole month that allows second-class travel throughout Germany, and even to and from selected locations in each of Germany's nine bordering countries. Including Hradek nad Nisou. And the price ? Only €9 for a whole month of travel. This is a time-limited summer offer, subsidized by the German government, which remains valid throughout July and August.

On the quay from this isolated Czech train station, I ponder the possibilities. Switzerland in a day? Luxembourg or Denmark perhaps? I opt for something more docile: a train journey through an area historically known as Lusatia, following the Oder-Neisse line from Bohemia to the Baltic. The Oder-Neisse line is not a railway, but rather an artifact of 20th century politics. This line on the map, hammered out at the Potsdam conference in 1945, defined the new eastern border of post-war Germany. It divided communities straddling the new border and upended the railways.

With the melting of borders and the free movement offered by Schengen, the railways along the Oder-Neisse line have over the years been reconnected, a process that continues today. A new passenger train running east from the German town of Guben via the Neisse River to Poland started last month.