Show HN: Trains.fyi – a live map of passenger trains in the US and Canada • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: Trains.fyi – a live map of passenger trains in the US and Canada

#311

Post by reactordev » Wed, Nov 29, 2023, 7:12 PM UTC

noirbot wrote: post #190

jantissler wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That argument would only be valid if Germany was an island, though. But it's not. Lots of traffic coming through from all directions.

Sure, but the size scales out. Texas isn't an island either.

Americans passed on passenger rail due to more modern inventions like the automobile. Being able to “drive yourself” was the ultimate freedom. Trucking (and the interstate highway system) post WWII made it so trucks can get to every major city without hassle. This was because of the rail system being clogged up and some railroads failing (merger). People are starting to come back around to passenger rail service as more younger adults forgo the traditional driving right of passage. Sun rail in Florida for example. Metro subways. Etc. For longer distances, we have Frontier Airlines which is like the Greyhound Bus of the sky. Tickets are dirt cheap and you get what you pay for. Americans also designed their cities to be driven and not walked so we kinda went all in on “Ford” early.

Re: Show HN: Trains.fyi – a live map of passenger trains in the US and Canada

#312

Post by lmm » Wed, Nov 29, 2023, 10:21 PM UTC

shiroiuma wrote: post #305

lmm wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Parking at an airport is equally dumb but it was in the post I was replying to, shrug.

You're comparing apples and oranges. In America, parking at the airport is absolutely normal, because it's a car-based culture and there's generally no public transit to the airport. There's enormous parking lots for cars at all airports there. The alternative is usually a very expensive cab ride, or trying to get a friend to drive you. In Japan, parking at the train station isn't normal in the least; I don't think t…

> In Japan, parking at the train station isn't normal in the least; I don't think they even have a place to park there. The normal way is to take public transit there. Same goes for the airports (at least in Tokyo);

Right, exactly. So adding the cost of parking to the cost of the flight but not the train would be misleading.

Re: Show HN: Trains.fyi – a live map of passenger trains in the US and Canada

#313

Post by dhosek » Thu, Nov 30, 2023, 2:29 AM UTC

plowjockey wrote: post #290

eskibars wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It'd be great. My understanding is that there's basically no live data for freight trains unfortunately

Since the implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC) there is live data but the RRs don't make it publicly available. Real time GPS data is transmitted to the Computer Aided Dispatching (CAD) system and combined with consist data they can determine where any one car is located at any time. By the time I left the company several years ago that data was being restricted to only certain employees. As noted below, ha…

Speaking of consists, I was impressed a few months ago when I saw a mid-train locomotive for the first time, then last week I saw a BNSF train that was a mile long¹ with a single locomotive at the front and a second at the back which I’ve never seen before.

⸻

1. Assuming average car length of 40'

Re: Show HN: Trains.fyi – a live map of passenger trains in the US and Canada

#314

Post by shiroiuma » Mon, Dec 04, 2023, 1:28 AM UTC

lmm wrote: post #312

shiroiuma wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're comparing apples and oranges. In America, parking at the airport is absolutely normal, because it's a car-based culture and there's generally no public transit to the airport. There's enormous parking lots for cars at all airports there. The alternative is usually a very expensive cab ride, or trying to get a friend to drive you. In Japan, parking at the train station isn't normal in the least; I don't think t…

> In Japan, parking at the train station isn't normal in the least; I don't think they even have a place to park there. The normal way is to take public transit there. Same goes for the airports (at least in Tokyo); Right, exactly. So adding the cost of parking to the cost of the flight but not the train would be misleading.

Wrong. Adding the cost of parking in America to the flight is correct, just like adding the cost of public transit in Japan to the train trip is correct.

Re: Show HN: Trains.fyi – a live map of passenger trains in the US and Canada

#315

Post by dhosek » Mon, Dec 04, 2023, 11:57 PM UTC

red-iron-pine wrote: post #296

eskibars wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It'd be great. My understanding is that there's basically no live data for freight trains unfortunately

there definitely is, but the roads aren't going to share it. and tracking trains ain't like tracking planes, where they're easy to see up in the sky and constantly transmitting -- train X takes a turn around a mountain and it's in a radio/cell deadzone and that's it. plus unless you have high-end SAMs you're not able to impact most planes overhead, but shady individuals could certainly impact trains.

Train tracking in dead zones has approximately zero consumer-facing utility. Train tracking in urban areas would be very helpful for route mapping around grade crossings.

Re: Show HN: Trains.fyi – a live map of passenger trains in the US and Canada

#316

Post by lmm » Thu, Dec 07, 2023, 11:09 PM UTC

shiroiuma wrote: post #314

lmm wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In Japan, parking at the train station isn't normal in the least; I don't think they even have a place to park there. The normal way is to take public transit there. Same goes for the airports (at least in Tokyo); Right, exactly. So adding the cost of parking to the cost of the flight but not the train would be misleading.

Wrong. Adding the cost of parking in America to the flight is correct, just like adding the cost of public transit in Japan to the train trip is correct.

The original post was using the Shinkansen as an example to argue that America should be building high speed rail between SF and LA. But if there was high speed rail there you'd still need to park. If the poster wanted to say that travel in Japan was better because they have good public transport so you don't have to park your car near an airport, that would be a legitimate thing to say - indeed IMO good metropolitan public transport makes a much bigger difference than flashy high speed rail. But that wasn't the argument they were making.