So apparently this blog is going to feature two consecutive posts about trains. I took Amtrak twice this week. In one direction, the train was delayed an hour; in the other, it was delayed forty minutes. This would not be considered remarkable in most of Amtrak’s territory, but usually things are better than this along the “Northeast Corridor” between Boston, New York, and Washington DC. Of course, when this happens on Amtrak, you get a half-hearted apology from the train crew but nothing more.

But I became curious: in countries with first-rate train systems, how are you compensated when the train operator makes you late?

Okay, probably not too many people are interested, but information on this topic seems to be extremely hard to come by — I did web searches in English, Spanish, and French, all to no avail.

The Moroccan railway operator ONCF has, apparently for about a month, been operating a new rail line north from Taourirt to Nador and Beni Ensar (which is also spelled Beni Nsar, Beni-Enzar, Beni Ansar, بني نصار, and probably a dozen other ways). There are also some intermediate stops, but these are probably unlikely to be of interest to tourists.