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Night trains promise lower emissions and overnight travel, but they are costly and complex. Why is demand rising anyway?
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00:07Whenever I plan a long trip across Europe these days, night trains have been popping
00:11up as an option everywhere, way more than I remember from, say, ten years ago.
00:16And strangely enough, most of the cool routes come from this tiny mountain country you'd
00:20never guess.
00:21Austria's State Rail Company is running daily night trains all over the continent,
00:25more than any other operator.
00:26In fact, almost everyone else is cutting back services, because night trains are a pain
00:31to run, and cost a lot.
00:33But Austria's night trains are comfortable, popular and punctual.
00:37I want to know, what's their secret?
00:39So I hopped on an overnight train, what else, and went straight to Vienna to find out exactly
00:44how this small country became Europe's night train powerhouse.
00:47And who else is joining the party?
00:57Also on the show, why international shipping routes can both drive and hinder the global
01:02economy, high-tech against mass shootings, can drones provide effective protection against
01:07gun violence in schools?
01:10And even more new technology, can remote-controlled cockroaches rescue people from rubble?
01:25We're at a local station near Hamburg, and it's currently about 8 p.m., and we're supposed
01:30to arrive in Vienna at 10 a.m. tomorrow in the morning, so I've got a 14-hour journey ahead
01:35of me.
01:38And then this slick-looking sleeper pulled in.
01:41We wanted to book a train from Berlin, but Austrian rail said we have to take this one if
01:46we want to film, because it's their newest carriages.
01:49The Austrians are definitely putting their best foot forward.
01:52They have made sure to put us on a train that's polished and white.
01:56We've got carpet floor, I want to take my shoes off.
02:00I'm booked into these mini-cabins.
02:03I think we're there.
02:03This is my humble abode for the night.
02:06It's giving Japanese capsule hotel vibes.
02:09But more capsule, less hotel.
02:11It did feel like playing Tetris to fit myself and my stuff in.
02:14Okay.
02:16Well, this will do for the night, I guess.
02:19Okay, we've got a pillow, blanket, which I'm not sure will keep me warm, doesn't look
02:25very warm.
02:26I've got a mirror, and it falls down to be a table.
02:30I've got my own private window.
02:33Currently, I can't see anything.
02:35And I've also got a panel here.
02:40Oh.
02:41Oh.
02:42Oh.
02:43We've got disco lights in here.
02:46Cozy.
02:47Nice and cozy.
02:49We paid 99 euros for this, which, if I can sleep, is a fair deal to me, because I'm saving
02:55on a night in a hotel.
03:00So, for an okay price, you get some privacy, rare for night trains in Europe.
03:06This is the cheapest option, if you dare to spend a 14-hour journey sitting up.
03:11Why would you do that?
03:14I chose the seated one just because it's way cheaper, and it's very normal.
03:19Like, where I come from, I come from India.
03:22In Asia, sleeper trains have long been an integral part of travel.
03:26Especially in vast countries like India and China, where people travel long distances,
03:30regular trains often include sleeping compartments.
03:33They are very affordable.
03:36It's like a tenth of a price of a flight.
03:38So, the price, I have to say, in Europe is, in general, is way higher.
03:43Yeah, sure.
03:44And if I don't have so much luggage, I would have gone with the flight.
03:48So, the seated car is often a compromise.
03:52It was pretty empty at this point, too.
03:55Of course, there's also a fancy first-class option.
03:59That's where my cameraman Henning will be sleeping.
04:02He gets a bigger cabin because of all the equipment.
04:04A whopping 330 euros for the entire suite.
04:08It fits two people, and he's got his own toilet and even a shower.
04:12When traveling long distances, people mostly care about two things, price and time.
04:16If those were improved, 10 to 30 percent would be willing to switch from plane to night train,
04:21studies have found.
04:23So, why are these people doing it already?
04:26I can carry a lot of luggage.
04:28I don't have a restriction.
04:29I can travel in night where I would consider it's not a productive time.
04:35Others just find it convenient.
04:40For me, it's the most comfortable way to travel because you can sleep, which I can do anywhere.
04:47You don't lose any free time, and flying isn't really an option because of the environment.
04:55Within continental Europe, I always try to take night trains.
04:58Why?
05:00For sustainability reasons.
05:02The environmental benefit of electric night trains is real.
05:06This German study looked at their potential.
05:08Per kilometer traveled, the hierarchy is clear.
05:11Night trains beat cars, and they absolutely crush planes on emissions.
05:15If 30 percent of current air passengers shifted to night trains,
05:19which would require several dozen new routes to and from Germany,
05:22that could save up to this amount of emissions,
05:25which would offset the entire climate impact of flights within Germany.
05:28But flying is the reason why night trains almost went extinct in the first place.
05:34But back to our less glamorous trip to Vienna.
05:39After frantically searching for an onboard restaurant, spoiler, there is none,
05:43I discovered I can order food to my cabin.
05:45On my way back there, I checked this info board.
05:48Okay, so we're about three hours into the journey now.
05:51We're still crossing Germany.
05:53And we're going at an average speed of about 92 kilometers per hour.
05:57And that's when I made a terrible discovery.
06:02What happened? Explain to me.
06:05I left my car in the cabin, and now I can't get in.
06:10After straying around looking for help, I finally managed to kneel down for dinner.
06:16I went for classic Austrian dessert, Kaiserschmarrn.
06:19Although at this point, I would have eaten the menu.
06:22Then I found out that Austria, a country of nine million people,
06:25transports one and a half million passengers on night trains every year.
06:28And they have a vast network.
06:31Austrian rail runs daily sleepers to Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium,
06:34Czechia, and the Netherlands.
06:36Some don't even go through Austria, go figure.
06:40But that's a question for tomorrow.
06:43Okay, so it's almost midnight now.
06:45I've finished my tea.
06:47And so now, I guess, it's the moment of truth.
06:50And we'll find out if I can actually sleep in here.
06:57Rise and shine.
06:58Morning.
06:59Well, this went better than expected.
07:01I got about six and a half hours of sleep.
07:04It was way comfier than my last night train in a chaotic six bed compartment,
07:09where I fell asleep late and even missed breakfast.
07:11Not this time.
07:12But I'm having it in Henning's fancy suite.
07:15Let's see how everyone else slept.
07:19Hello.
07:21I feel like a seven out of ten.
07:23Yeah.
07:24Seven out of ten.
07:26Yeah, like a six or seven.
07:28Okay.
07:31I've struggled a bit, but I had my sleep mask on and some noise cancelling headphones,
07:37and I was listening to something and it slipped.
07:40After two more hours whooshing through the Austrian countryside, we finally made it to
07:44Vienna Main Station.
07:46Here, I'm meeting Kurt Bauer, who has been heading Austria's night trains and long-distance
07:51passenger services for the past ten years.
07:53He says their focus is on dedication and building a reliable brand.
07:57And inevitably, a fair few influencers have checked out their sleeper cabins and posted
08:01about them on YouTube.
08:02The big break for Austrian rail came in 2016, when Germany's Deutsche Bahn officially walked
08:07away from night trains.
08:10We had to decide, do we also want to cut down the night train network dramatically?
08:15Or do we want to become one big operator with a distinct brand?
08:21And we decided to go for the second because, to be quite honest, for a small state operator
08:27like Ă–BB, there are very few opportunities to become a real European player.
08:33And that was one of those opportunities.
08:35They took over 40% of German rail's nighttime connections and bought a lot of their sleeping
08:40carriages second-hand.
08:43Since then, Austrian rail has also ordered new coaches.
08:46The move was actually pretty huge.
08:48Because having sleeper carriages that fit all the technical requirements is one of the
08:52biggest bottlenecks in the whole business.
08:54Also, carriages from France can't necessarily run in Poland.
08:58There are, in Europe, three different gauges of the tracks, right?
09:04So the width of the tracks.
09:06There are four electrification systems for trains in Europe.
09:10There are more than 20 different signalling systems.
09:14Another problem is space.
09:16Our train fits 250 people.
09:18A high-speed day train from Germany's state operator can hold almost four times as many.
09:23And it can run multiple times a day, whereas night trains only run once.
09:28Staff cost a lot at night, which is probably why there was no restaurant on my ride.
09:32And countries like Spain, France and Germany charge a lot for foreign trains to run on their tracks.
09:37So, for the biggest players on the market, it's simply not worth it.
09:41Also, it's really hard to draw up schedules.
09:44It's not just construction works.
09:46Many train stations have already filled the evening and early morning slots, which are crucial for night train journeys.
09:51A real dumpster fire of problems.
09:53It seems that night trains can work, especially if the EU prioritises them.
09:58Because they are a prime solution to making traffic less polluting.
10:01And people want them.
10:02I'm hearing it over and over.
10:08Without them, global trade would barely function.
10:12Waterways and sea lanes, major shipping routes along which goods in the tens of thousands of tons are transported worldwide.
10:19If such routes are disrupted or restricted, as happened in the Suez Canal in 2021 and now in the Strait
10:26of Hormuz, it has major consequences for the global economy.
10:30And building canals is not without its problems either.
10:38They are the backbone of the global economy and a major source of jobs.
10:43Canals link regions, enable trade, and move much of global shipping.
10:48For nearby communities, canals can create tensions, displacing farmers, straining water supplies, and reshaping ecosystems.
10:57Yet the global economy depends on them.
10:59This maritime network relies on these strategic links, shortening routes and connecting markets.
11:06Two canals stand out.
11:08The Suez Canal links the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea.
11:14It shortens routes between Asia and Europe by around 9,000 kilometers, or nearly 10 days at sea.
11:25The Panama Canal connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific.
11:30It saves up to 8,000 kilometers, or one to two weeks of travel, by avoiding the long route around
11:37South America and Cape Horn.
11:41Almost one-fifth of global maritime trade passes through these two canals.
11:45And across continents, goods move between ports, cities, and industrial hubs along vast river and canal networks.
11:55Artificial waterways are very important for various different things.
11:58Of course, there's transport and navigation.
12:01That is one of the key ones.
12:02Matthew McCartney works on improving water management in vulnerable regions.
12:08We also use artificial waterways for other things, like moving water for irrigation.
12:15We move, you know, for draining water away from places where we don't want it.
12:20And for things like flood control.
12:22Loss of natural habitats and growing pressure on water supplies are among the main concerns raised by environmental groups.
12:31Now let's go to Istanbul, Turkey.
12:33Here in 2021, the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan formally launched the largest infrastructure project in Turkey's history.
12:42A highly controversial 45-kilometer canal is planned to connect the Sea of Mamara with the Black Sea alongside the
12:50natural Bosphorus Strait.
12:53The government says the canal will ease maritime traffic, reduce accidents in the Bosphorus, and generate revenue through tolls and
13:01new urban development.
13:03According to the municipality of Istanbul, run by the opposition, the government has never presented a feasibility report, so the
13:11exact planned costs are unknown.
13:14According to the municipal assessment, construction costs alone would reach 65 billion US dollars, more than the annual GDP of
13:23a country like Bolivia.
13:25Now we head to France.
13:27Here, construction is underway on the Canal Seine Nord d'Europe.
13:31A fully artificial 107-kilometer waterway, it will link the Seine to the Dunkerque-Schelles Canal, connecting France with Belgium
13:39and the Netherlands.
13:41The goal is to complete a European inland waterway network, enable larger cargo vessels, and shift freight away from roads.
13:49The project includes a wide set of environmental measures, ecological riverbanks, new vegetation, wildlife crossings, relocation of species, and other
14:00compensation systems to limit damage to ecosystems.
14:07In total, the project covers around 3,000 hectares.
14:11Around 1,200 hectares are dedicated to construction work and environmental measures.
14:16As part of the project, a stretch of the River Wasse is being restored, with sediment removed and riverbanks rebuilt
14:23for wildlife.
14:25In one restored area, the Grande Berle, a protected wetland plant, has reappeared and been relocated.
14:34Over 40 years, it is expected to cut up to 50 million tons of CO2 emissions, more than what Portugal
14:40emits in a year.
14:44Farmers and local residents fear the loss of fertile land.
14:48They question soil quality after relocation and warn about heavy water use in a drought-stricken region.
14:54Tension between economic goals and local needs remains unresolved.
14:59The Canal Seine Nord d'Europe is scheduled to begin operations in 2032.
15:05Canals remain essential to the global economy, but they also create tension.
15:10They reshape landscapes, put pressure on water resources, and force communities to adapt.
15:16They can offer logistical and environmental benefits, but their sustainability depends as much on management as on engineering.
15:24Balancing economic efficiency, environmental protection, and fairness for nearby communities.
15:36In the US, school shootings that cause numerous deaths and injuries occur time and again.
15:43But other countries, such as Turkey, have also recently seen gun violence in schools.
15:49Although calls for stricter gun control are heard after every new tragedy, a ban on firearms in the US in
15:55the near future doesn't seem realistic.
15:59So, other solutions are needed.
16:02Like the Campus Guardian Angel.
16:06Can drones stop school shootings?
16:08One startup says they can.
16:11The company is called Mithril Defense and the system is called Campus Guardian Angel.
16:17Nationwide demonstrations are taking place in schools like this one include Texas near Houston.
16:24Basically, it works like this.
16:28Say there's a school shooter.
16:30Small black drones sitting in ceiling boxes burst free.
16:34Indoors, they can move at up to 100 kilometers per hour.
16:37The drones fly in waves.
16:39In tests, the company says they can break through windows, trigger strobe lights and sirens, and fire pepper gel at
16:44a shooter.
16:45Or physically collide with them to engage or disable them.
16:48Campus Guardian Angel says the system is designed to address what security experts often describe as the most dangerous window
16:55in a school shooting.
16:55The time between the first alert and the moment law enforcement makes contact with the attacker.
17:01Tyrone Morrow is in charge of the law enforcement officers assigned to the school district.
17:06He found the demonstration promising.
17:09Safety is neither convenient or cheap.
17:12So you're either going to pay now or you're going to have to pay later.
17:15And the goal is, you know, what price tag do you put on a child's life?
17:19And I think it would be a phenomenal piece of equipment because it can give us real-time information real
17:25quick.
17:26And more importantly, it puts my officer in a better position to tactically be able to respond to an active
17:33shooter on one of our campuses.
17:36According to health policy research organization KFF, a student in school today is far more likely to spend a school
17:42year at a school where a shooting takes place than a student was in the early 2000s, nearly three times
17:48as likely.
17:48As that risk has grown, the school security industry has expanded too.
17:53From surveillance cameras, metal detectors, and AI-powered threat detection.
17:57Many schools also have dedicated police officers, known as school resource officers or SROs.
18:03Christoph Oborsky was himself a former school resource officer.
18:07These days, he's the director of tactical operations at Campus Guardian Angel.
18:12This is one of four operation centers that we will have here at this location.
18:17So in this space, there are 11 seats, so four pilots.
18:21And then you have seven talk members that are controlling different aspects of the communication piece as well as threat
18:28trackers.
18:29From operation centers like this, teams are meant to monitor incidents in real time, tracking the attacker's location, relaying information
18:37to law enforcement, and communicating with teachers sheltering in classrooms through a dedicated app.
18:43A commander ultimately decides whether force should be used.
18:46In this case, Oborsky.
18:47They are the best drone racing pilots in the world, but they're not law enforcement.
18:51They don't have years of experience.
18:52So the person in this seat does the articulation of force, if any force, and their job is just to
18:59fly the drone.
19:00The system is still in its early stages.
19:03Campus Guardian Angel is currently being piloted in Florida schools at a cost of $557,000 to the state.
19:10With Georgia next, founder and CEO Justin Marston has nationwide ambitions.
19:14Gun violence is the primary way, is the number one way that they get killed, both in schools and generally.
19:21But every child is much more precious than the dollars that are spent protecting them.
19:26When asked whether drones address symptoms rather than the root cause, Marston is direct, gun laws are not his fight.
19:33We can continue to talk about and have debates around gun control.
19:38But there are so many guns.
19:40I don't know that there is some magical answer to that.
19:44And it's a fundamental right in America.
19:47And so, pragmatically, we're just looking at this and saying, hey, that's an important debate.
19:51Other people should have that debate.
19:52My opinions are relevant to it.
19:55But the thing I can help with is stopping lunatics with guns murdering children in schools.
20:01Discussing the gun control situation is also a non-starter in schools, says Ken Trump.
20:06He has spent four decades as a school security consultant.
20:09The issue of guns has become very politicized, very polarized, and people are in their corners and locked in.
20:21And there is no in-between in the U.S. politically.
20:25The message that I used to always say to parents and still say today is,
20:31I'm not going to get into the politics of gun control and gun rights because either way you lose the
20:37conversation.
20:37But he's not convinced that Campus Guardian Angel is the answer.
20:41To suggest that somebody is going to be setting blocks or states away operating a drone like you're playing a
20:53game on an Xbox may sound good.
20:58It may sound attractive.
21:00It may sound like, wow, high tech, we're going to do this.
21:04But it's unproven.
21:09It's something that some states have shaken loose some money for to test the theory.
21:19But schools aren't guinea pigs.
21:21Kids shouldn't be guinea pigs.
21:23And we shouldn't be testing hypothetical unproven types of far out ideas just because it sounds good or because the
21:38technology is out there and people have good intentions.
21:41There's no evidence that this would actually work as described in a real act of assailant incidents.
21:49Rather, what schools need isn't necessarily something on the cutting edge of technology, Trump says.
21:55As one principal said it best, he says, what I really need are cameras that work and more bodies, more
22:03adults to help me supervise this campus.
22:07He didn't ask for drones.
22:09For now, Campus Guardian Angel keeps pitching his system to more schools across the country.
22:13What schools are currently doing is clearly not working 100% of the time.
22:18And that gap is exactly what's driving industry solutions like this one.
22:22The technology can only truly prove itself during an actual school shooting.
22:26And if it works even once, every school district in America may want it.
22:31Yet as long as America's gun laws remain what they are, stopping shooters and preventing them may both be necessary.
22:37And neither may ever be enough.
22:45The gun lobby in the U.S. is very powerful, so state-of-the-art technology will likely be needed
22:51to prevent mass shootings.
22:53Another promising technology of the future has to do with these creatures, cockroaches.
23:01Wherever they show up, they're not usually given the warmest welcome by us humans.
23:08But even these pesky pests can be made useful with the help of high tech.
23:18At first glance, it looks like an entirely ordinary cockroach.
23:22But attached to its back are a radio module, a camera and sensors.
23:26Power is supplied by a small solar battery.
23:29These are biobots.
23:31They can carry up to 15 grams, roughly as much as they weigh themselves.
23:35With the help of AI, the collected data is analysed and the animal's movements are controlled.
23:41We can control each cockroach with centimetre-level precision, but we can also steer an entire swarm into a specific
23:48area.
23:52The biobots can crawl into narrow gaps, under rubble or into contaminated zones.
23:57For example, deployed in swarms after earthquakes, the cyborg cockroaches could search for buried survivors, create situational maps or test
24:06the air for dangerous gases.
24:11You can let them live outdoors for months and activate them when you need them.
24:15Say we are monitoring an entire border region and want to receive data only when, say, a chain-driven vehicle
24:21passes by.
24:23Scenarios in the security and defence sector are also an option.
24:27Scanning buildings, locating individuals or conducting undercover reconnaissance indoors.
24:32A German start-up is working to make this technology market-ready.
24:37We work exclusively with government actors.
24:41This will not be a product that you can just go out and buy at a hardware shop.
24:49Aside from cockroaches, research is also being conducted into the use of other animals.
24:54Pigeons with brain implants fly predefined routes and film as inconspicuous biodrones.
25:00Flying beetles are remote-controlled via electrodes implanted in the brain.
25:04And even dragonflies can be steered with high precision.
25:07Defence and security technology is seeing a massive surge in investment.
25:11But this research raises ethical questions.
25:13Insects like cockroaches are not considered animals in need of protection in the usual sense.
25:18Still, it remains unclear where the line should be drawn.
25:21How far should we go with living organisms?
25:23And who will ultimately control the deployment of such systems?
25:26We want to use it for a good purpose.
25:30Using that in other contexts should be something hard to understand.
25:37One thing is certain.
25:39The technology works in the lab.
25:41And companies are now working to test it in real-world scenarios.
25:44It could even save human lives.
25:53International trade routes and cutting-edge technology in the face of diverse threats.
25:58Those were this week's topics on MAID.
26:01Until next time, take care.
26:06The