Europe has had legendary trains like Le Cevignol, the Glacier Express, The Orient Express, etc. and now it has the Garbage Train - a 56-car train that runs every day between Naples and Hamburg, arriving in Hamburg packed with garbage from Naples - a stopgap solution to the Neapolitan problem with finding places to stash their mound of garbage that have been piling up all around town.

The train journey takes 44 hours and carries 700 tons of Neapolitan refuse all told each day to be burnt in Hamburg's three incinerators.

A string of garbage trucks carries the garbage from the train station to the incinerator.

To help out Naples garbage problem the German Ministry of the Environment agreed to take all told some 200,000 tons.

So German towns like Hamburg have always had Italian cafes and restaurants run by Italian immigrants and serving along with Italian food such delicacies as Spaghetti Ice - whipped custard make to look like spaghetti

Well now they have one more Italian import - gar-baje

You missed out the bit about the garbage being radioactive - apparently it has been found to be so when they check the ashes after burning it in Hamburg. Comforting thought for anyone near Hamburg. Why don't they check it before burning it I wonder?

sounds to me like the Comorro mafia who apparently practically runs the landfill business in Napoli may be putting some hazardous waste in the garbage and probably getting paid by hospitals, etc. to dispose of it

An article in the june 9, 2008 NYTimes talks a lot about the reasons of the Naples trash problems and notes

"We have described the U.K. as the dustbin of Europe because we put more into landfill than any other EU country and our landfill space is running out very quickly" said a spokesman for the British Local Government Association.

NYT then opines "waste in Britain is increasing 3% a year and the dumps will be filled to capacity in nine years."

So will London and Britain become the next Naples - with trash piling up with nowhere to put it?

Almost correct:
The radioactive waste was found before incineration during routine screenings of each container which are standard procedure. It was medical waste with low radioactivity, and got treated seperately from the rest of the trash.

Gee, can you get a cheap ticket to ride that train? Could be a cheap way to travel in Europe? But I wouldn't eat in the dining car!

I hear that they have a special this week in the dining car. All you can eat for one euro.

Waldo is Service included or should i tip?