in protest at what they say are unsustainable levels of mass tourism. they say it's damaging the environment and driving up costs for local people. the head of a uk government watchdog has told the bbc that rishi sunak has "set us back" on climate change. chris stark says the pm has left the uk at risk of falling behind other countries. now on bbc news it's the travel show. europe by train. for generations of backpackers, interrailers — and, well, for me — it's what travel�*s all about. and in germany, the railways are booming, partly because of this — it's called the deutschlandticket. it costs me 49 euros a month and it allows me almost unlimited use of the country's

regional public transport network. it was a cost—of—living measure introduced in 2023, initially at just nine euros each. i do love a train — who doesn't? — so i'm planning to take them to crisscross the country and get a better look at the close relationship between germans and their railways. from berlin's iconic u—bahn to the incredible hanging overhead railway of the industrial west to the makeshift island trains of the northern coast... we've got the birds flying, the water, the light — this is stunning! ..i'm here to see how engineering and a bit of imagination have led to a network like no other. doors beep with almost 40,000km of track, germany's rail network is the longest in europe, which makes it the perfect place to explore by train.

but from berlin's vast central station, i'm taking an even cheaper form of transport for a spot of sightseeing. all right, we're doing it — we're crossing the tramway. agh! fabulous! oh, it's beautiful. i can see the tv tower on my left and it's so cloudy, the tip of it is just unseen. alexanderplatz is, these days, the touristic heart of the capital. until 1989, it was the main public square in communist east berlin. so i was born in 1990, which is a year after the berlin wall came down, so for myself — and i'm sure for generations younger — there's no recollection of those news events, so being able to be here and just get a sense of what it

might have been like feels quite special. by 1989, the berlin wall had forcibly divided the city for 28 years, with the communists controlling the eastern part of the city whilst the capitalist west controlled the rest of berlin. travel between the two was strictly controlled and, in most cases, forbidden. but i'm heading down into the u—bahn, berlin's underground rail network, which i can access with the deutschlandticket. 0k, u8 this way. ooh! now, alexanderplatz was in the east, so anybody getting on the u—bahn three stops in that direction had to wait on board until they got safely four stops down that way. this was effectively a ghost station.

they were manned, guarded — you definitelyjust could not get off. athena kerins leads tours for a group called berlin underworlds, which explores the tunnels and passageways underneath the city. so alexanderplatz would have been a ghost station. really eerie. what would that have been like? so for the west berliners coming through, it would have been dark, a little bit eerie. just the glowing emergency exit signs, maybe a bit of light creeping in from the tunnels itself. for the east berliners, it would've been completely different because they weren't allowed to know about this at all because if they knew that it was coming through here, they might be tempted to try to get into the train station or the tunnels and use them to escape. but even before those 28 years of division, the tunnels down here harboured secrets. athena's taking me to one of the world war ii bomb shelters built into

the u—bahn network. oh, wow! welcome to our bunker. how long would they have stayed down here? as the war progressed, and especially as the americans joined the war, the americans bombed in the day, the british bombed at night, and towards the battle of berlin, when there was also street fighting, people were down here days on end. it's quite interesting because you can hear rumbling going past. they get that big rumbling, passing noise all the time. would they have been aware that this bunker was here? you mean the passengers? the passengers, yeah. yeah, for sure, because this place was used primarily for people who were in the transit system and, during a bombing raid, had to come somewhere. the people in here were lucky. as we go a few stops up the u8 line, athena takes me forward in time to a later shelter — a symptom of berlin's position

on the faultline of the historic tensions between east and west. welcome to pankstrasse. so, this is the bunker, or there's a bunker nearby? there's actually — we're in the bunker already, because this entire station is the bunker. it was originally opened in 1977 to be a multi—purpose facility. so it's both a train station, as you just saw but also, in a 48—hour preparation period, it can be turned into an atomic fallout shelter. so this is some of our many, many, many dormitories. a big luxury here is that we actually all get our own bed, which is not standard for bunkers like this. we have several dormitories but on top of that, about 2,000 people would have to be sleeping on the train platform itself.

this is the pillow they would sleep on? that's the blanket and the pillow. they are quite literally paper. oh, wow. so this is a kitchen essentially for everybody? this is not a kitchen, this is the kitchen. the kitchen. this place is going to feed 3,339 people two meals a day. thankfully, we're not eating anything too glamorous — it's mostly going to be soups — assorted soups out of the cans. in this can is actually a dehydrated, jellified soup concentrate, rather than normal soup. this is giving me sort of 1970s lab. yes. already a step above the last one, there is, in fact, a ventilation system here. so this place isn't going to protect us from a direct hit of a bomb but, in theory, if the rest of the world goes to war, this place can protect us from the radioactive fallout. 0k. while this now looks like a relic of a bygone era, the german government's

recently been investigating the possibility of restoring bunkers like these for use in the future. i know immediately following the russian invasion of ukraine, the topic came up a lot in germany. and the ministry for the interior did do a preliminary survey because, in the height of the cold war, there were quite literally thousands of these places around all of germany. most of the experts in the areas of civil defence have agreed that it's not really a productive use of money. it costs an insane amount of money to even just repair the ones that they've let fall into disrepair. but i'm surfacing for some fresh air now and back to the hauptbahnhof, the capital's modern main station, in search of trains bound for germany's industrial west. so i've been able to use my deutschlandticket for this, but the big restriction is that you can't use it

on the high—speed trains, so it'll take probably twice the amount of time to actually travel around. you do need a bit of patience for this. you can buy a more expensive ticket and travel direct but the cut—price method means changing trains five times. so i may have missed this one. wait, it's also late! so that means that i'll be fine. add to that the uncharacteristic delays and disruption that have dogged the german railway network in recent times, you'll need to leave plenty of time to make your connections. five minutes�* delay — that means we're good, right? no, that's not ours. 0h! oh, so we have... i have missed it. we've missed it. it's also quite fiddly to buy.

you need to subscribe to a deutschlandticket, which means a monthly direct debit. door beeps so if you're only here for a couple of weeks, you need to remember to cancel that as soon as your trips over — otherwise, you continue paying after you've headed home. my next stop is in the west of the country, not far from the industrial giants that have made this part of the world such an economic force. so, this is wuppertal. it's sandwiched between the two powerhouses of cologne and dortmund. it's much smaller in comparison but it does have one thing going for it that's made it world—famous, and it's right there! the schwebebahn is a suspended monorail. the carriages hang from a track about 12 metres above the streets and rivers of wuppertal.

0h, hello! hello! nice to meet you. i'm meeting inga canters, who grew up riding the schwebebahn, and even got married on it back in 2006. it was built in 1893 or 4 but only in 1901, it was ready. and then, you could go from one town to the other. that's over 120 years that this has been standing here. yes. what do you think was the impression of the residents when they first saw this? they were impressed, ithink, said... "what is this? " yes! excited. yeah! they feared it because they thought that satan could come and take them away, or something like that. they didn't want the schwebebahn. ok, it's coming — we're getting on? yes, 0k.

0h, where shall we sit? shall we stand? i kind of want to feel it... yes, yeah. . . move. hold on. 0h, hold on? yes! it's going to move a lot? ok, you hold on to this one. whoa! it does feel like it's sort of hovering, levitating. yes. a little bit bumpy but it's ok, it's pretty smooth. and so, what are some of your memories being on here? it was very funny. my grandma, she came to wuppertal the first time in 1953. she stood at the street and looked up and said, "how can you come into the schwebebahn?" laughs because she couldn't see that there was the platform? yes. what do you think it represents to the people here? i think they like it because it's the only in the world, but i think they like to go from one place to the other in a short time.

i think about 85,000 people a day, they take it. oh, thank you! given all that history, it's a bit of a surprise there's been no proper museum to the schwebebahn. but, just as i arrive, all that's about to change. tomorrow, the schwebodrom opens, and i'm here to meet its managing director thomas helbig as he makes the final few preparations. come in. hello, tom! how are you doing? fine. woo! it's great that you're coming here. thank you, i'm excited! it's looking good. do you have anything left that you need to do today before tomorrow? well, we have to clean up a little bit but we are, to 95%—98%, we are ready. and it's great that you're coming here to our schwebebahn experience. emeline, please enter the first room. 0oh! it's our projection world. and here, we tell the story of mobility — why it was necessary to build the schwebebahn. because population increased massively

in the middle of the 19th century and industrialisation came. as well as the projection, there are reminders of what the carriages looked like through the ages... and then, of course, this is like... 0oh, bouncy! ..but you can't lean back. ..a lego diorama of wuppertal, but la piece de resistance is at the end. emeline, let's just enter the carriage number 11. here, you see it's still — you can still open the windows, for example. just put them on. 0oh! make them link. the brain, really — yeah, after five seconds, you are in the world of 1929 and you really think you are making a left or right turn. a lot of people thought that it is against god, it's too speedy, that it's too much metal over the river, that it looks ugly, all the people who didn't have the vision that this will change the mobility

in the valley completely. the next day, and the grand opening attracts quite a crowd. all: drei, zwei, eins! applause. # madel, fahr mit mir schwebebahn. how was that for you? how are you feeling? oh, it was very emotional and i'm really happy that it's now opened. yes, it's. . . it's great. all of your hard work. yes. aww, i can feel the emotion! yes, i think people will come here and then, they will see what a history wuppertal has to tell and what a lovely town it is. and they will go back to their hometown and they will tell, "well, we had a really good day in wuppertal."

i'm using the deutschlandticket to head north now, out of germany's cities and to its coast. train horn blares in the summer, the trains up here get busy with beach—lovers but the sunshine and crowds have thinned a little by the time i arrive. oh, wow, 0k — very, very windy, and this is schleswig—holstein, in the north—west of germany. any further north and i'll be arriving in denmark. from here, i'm heading out

over the wadden sea. but it's not a boat i'll be taking. this is amazing. fabulous! pleasure to meet you! hello! emeline! hello. so, this is the lorenbahn? ja. the lorenbahn trains service the hallig islands, which are cut off from the mainland by flooding up to 50 times a year. people living here use their little trains to get around. each family has its own wagon — or lore — and every one is unique. claudia nommensen has offered to give me a ride on hers. you have to be very physically fit to do this, don't you? 0h, she's changing the rails across! right. we've got the birds flying,

the water, the light — this is stunning! so, claudia, when did the lorenbahn start? but there's a catch — as a tourist, you're not really supposed to use it, unless you're staying over

on the island. did someone show you how to do this? luckily for me, claudia runs a bed and breakfast. hier ist jetzt blumenkohl. mmm, cauliflower! so, do you feel that it's a shame that people can't come to use it, unless they come and stay here? laughs would you want to have more tourists coming?

the lorenbahn wasn't actually built for the residents to get around. it belongs to — and is run by — germany's state department for coastal defence. wow! well, this is definitely a lot bigger than claudia's! nice! how do you...? how does it start? here, you can give power. can i try? yes. wow, claudia did not let me do any of this! laughs then, you have to accelerate. oh, so the wheel is the accelerator? yes. so, did you have to learn how

to ride this for the job? yes. was it fun? much fun. much fun! engineer fabian luecht agreed to show me their work. and he is picking me up on his lorenbahn. we have to look there. we have to look there? oh, yeah, of course. ok. so there you can see the dyke. so there's times where all of this is flooded? yes. the climate change makes that the flood grows up every year 3—limm a year, and we have a change in the time slot of the floods,

the flood stays a longer time. fabian�*s team has a job on its hands — notjust to defend this land, but also to keep the lorenbahn above the encroaching seas. there, you can see the old railway. before we built up the new railway, you can't drive there because everything is under water. oh, ok. so, originally, that was the railway down there and, in the last couple of years, you've raised it? yes. in a country better known for its cars and autobahns, people's affection here for their trains has been a real eye—opener. all: ..eins! now, germans are known for their engineering but what has surprised me is seeing some of their creativity and flair. engineering — and a bit of imagination — have led to a network like no other.

and if the deutschlandticket brings more people here to see it for themselves, that can only be a good thing. fabian, los geht�*s! hello. well, there's certainly a nip in the air, a chilly breeze. let's see what the weather has got in store over the next ten days. here's the outlook. more chilly weather on the way, but with high pressure close by, at least over the next few days, the weather will be generally dry and the brightest and warmest of all weather will be further

towards the west. and i use the word warmest very loosely here. here's the area of high pressure for sunday, but notice that a weather front has just snuck into the north of that high pressure. and here's ourjet stream pattern. notice how the jet stream blowing in from the north and dragging in the colder air, especially along the north sea coast. just temporarily, some slightly warmer weather there heading particularly to ireland. but on the whole, it will stay fairly chilly. now, the outlook for sunday then shows thicker cloud and bits and pieces of rain for eastern central and maybe southern scotland and quite cloudy here for many of us. but the rest of the country, i think variable amounts of cloud on sunday with the sunniest of the weather out towards the south and the west. and notice that in western parts of northern ireland it could warm up to about 17 or 18 degrees. on the north sea coast, closer to ten in that northerly wind. on monday, the high pressure still with us, but further weather

fronts crossing the country, weak weather fronts, and they often bring a lot of cloud and some rain for a time, which will be crossing eastern scotland, northern central england, maybe making its way towards wales later in the afternoon. i think for most of us it will be just a cloudy day with spits and spots of rain for a time and chilly typically ten, 11, 12 celsius. the weather further west will certainly be brighter and dry because we're closer to the centre of that high pressure, which by tuesday will have drifted out into the atlantic, and in its wake we have a northerly breeze once again, so it's thatjet stream that's dragging in the colder airfrom the north. so again, on the north sea coast, often cloudy, some showers, chilly, the best of the weather out towards the west here. here temperatures could just about manage the mid—teens, but in newcastle, no higher than nine degrees on tuesday. and then tuesday into wednesday — well, not not an awful lot changes. low pressure tries to sneak in,

but we still have that cold northerly blowing in, so i think a chance of showers again almost anywhere along that north sea coast, could be a few showers developing inland. the best of the weather on the south coast, southwestern parts of england here, but still only around 12 or 13, which is below the average for the time of the year. and then towards the end of the week, we could see some showers developing across eastern and central areas of the uk. some of them could be heavy. there's even a chance of a bit of a wintry mix, particularly across the high hills and the tops of the mountains. and no surprise here because of these values, only around nine celsius in newcastle and eastern scotland. now, how about into next weekend? well, low pressure will be paying us a visit, so rather than the high, which is now way out in the atlantic, low pressure will draw in some slightly milder air from the south, but that, of course, means thicker cloud and occasional showers, so we're back to april showers by the time we get to the weekend. so here's the outlook from friday onwards into the weekend. yes, slightly milder.

those temperatures recovering to perhaps 15 or 16 celsius, but as a result of that and that low pressure, we will see those april showers developing, so it looks as though we'll need our brolly once again. bye— bye.

live from london, this is bbc news. lawmakers in the us house of representatives vote in favour of billions of dollars in us military aid for ukraine, after months of delay. i'm helena humphrey on capitol hill. president biden has told the senate to quickly send the foreign aid bill to quickly send the foreign aid bill to his desk for final approval. the scene as israel strikes homes in southern gaza. nine people have been killed, including at least four children,

after strikes in rafah. the head of the government's climate watchdog, chris stark, criticises the prime minister. he told the bbc that rishi sunak has left the uk at risk of falling behind. and thousands of people take to the streets of the canary islands in protest at what they say are the damaging effects of over—tourism. hello, i'm samantha simmonds. politicians in the united states have approved a multi—billion dollar package of military aid to help ukraine in its fight against russia. the move has been warmly welcomed in ukraine and president biden has hailed it as an answer to history's call. in russia, the kremlin have reacted, saying the move will further enrich the us and ruin ukraine even more, by killing even more ukrainians. on this vote, the ayes are 311, the nays are 112,

the bill has passed.