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France’s new high-speed trains

citylab.com

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Re: France’s new high-speed trains

#231

Post by cowl »

isostatic wrote: post #211
cowl wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course it does. it's a monthly ticket valid from first of the month until end of the month. And even for the tickets without a date Why should the passenger be penalised when there are no working stamping machines in the train station? how is that the passenger problem?

> Of course it does Dunno about France (OP gave no indication he was talking about a period ticket), but in the UK monthly tickets last a month from the time they begin (which is printed on the ticket at time of purchase). Most train tickets I've bought on the continent are undated - if you don't composte them then you could use them time and time again, which would be theft of service. In the UK we have carnets whic…

> I'm not sure how competition or changing ownership would help

Competition always helps. It would be as simple as putting a stamping machine inside the train like they do on the buses. I mean it doesn't cost anything and the only reason it is not being done is the same reason machines in stations do not work. The train company has a monopoly and they don't care to try offering a decent service.

Re: France’s new high-speed trains

#232

Post by baroffoos »

stephen_g wrote: post #163
chillacy wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your Intel chips were probably specced out in mils (milli-inches). All the screws are various fractions of an inch. A surprising amount of "modern engineering" uses imperial still. Science at least is all metric.

Actually, in most of the world we use pretty much just metric screws. It’s always bloody annoying to occasionally have to integrate some piece of equipment that we have to specially get in UNC or other imperial screws for. As for Intel chips, while wafers used to be specified in inches, I beleive they are generally fabricated on 300mm diameter wafers now. All the die sizes I’ve seen doing some quick research appear t…

Yep, all of the hobby electronics stuff I have worked with has been M3 and M4 screws. Really convenient

Re: France’s new high-speed trains

#233

Post by m0zg »

supernova87a wrote: post #31

SNCF is fiddling with the wrong things. It doesn't need to separate train operations from rail track network maintenance. It doesn't need to open up the network to competition. What it needs to do is cut the number of excessive public sector workers, reduce costs, and stop running the business like a political arm of the government. I can bet that the reason they think they need to do all these things is that cost pr…

I wanted to travel by rail from Zurich to Paris earlier this year, and as it happens, ended up in Zurich when SNCF was on strike. So I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get back in time and had to cancel the trip. From what I hear this happens relatively frequently there. A train which you're not sure if it runs our not on any given day has somewhat limited utility IMO.

Re: France’s new high-speed trains

#234

Post by falsedan »

C1sc0cat wrote: post #197
falsedan wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the UK, usually you negotiate for the occupier to refresh the lease before concluding the sale. After 50 years, you'll probably be dead so you don't have to worry about lease renewal (in the UK the standard leasehold is 99 years, so you'll definitely be dead by then). If you were due for a renewal, and you didn't have the funds to pay the fee, you'd remortgage. If you were very wise, you'd take out an insurance po…

It effects the value of your estate and you wont get a mortgage on a short lease very easily.

In the UK, this part:

> In the UK, usually you negotiate for the occupier to refresh the lease before concluding the sale

is a requirement your mortgage lender will impose. Yes, it puts a burden of a few hundred pounds of solicitor's fees + lease renewal to get the leasehold reset when your executors/inheritors dispose of the property.

Re: France’s new high-speed trains

#235

Post by falsedan »

microcolonel wrote: post #191
falsedan wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it’s typically accepted grammar to use “fatted” as in a “fatted pig” no it ain't, it's extremely out-of-mode

Really though, fatted is the word; and in this context, it is the more direct translation of gras .

literal translations are inhuman. write what your audience will understand, not what the isomorphic pair based on linguistic common ancestor is

unless being right is more important than communicating effectively

Re: France’s new high-speed trains

#236

Post by kmlx »

NeedMoreTea wrote: post #227
kmlx wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Netherlands seem much more able to have transport options that join up. The Netherlands is a very small country, almost half the size of Panama, with a mostly dead flat geography. It is also one of the most densely populated countries in the world.

UK is pretty densely populated as countries go. If you consider just England, actually slightly higher density than The Netherlands, though obviously not quite as flat.

i'm getting 395 pop. density for UK, and 488 for the netherlands. nl is also the most densely populated country in the EU. on a world scale, netherlands is 31 out of 254 territories (incl. countries). i'd also add the WW2 devastation that allowed some of the European countries to overhaul huge parts of their infrastructure.

Re: France’s new high-speed trains

#237

Post by GordonS »

ip26 wrote: post #61
jdietrich wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rail subsidies are highly regressive. The rail network primarily connects cities to cities via relatively affluent suburbs. If you live on a council estate and work in a factory, it's highly unlikely that you have the option of commuting by rail. Very few workers with below-average incomes have the need to travel from Manchester to London for a meeting. Rail travel is inherently more expensive than other modes and al…

Rail might not be the mode of choice for day laborers. But on a trip around Europe, via probably twenty different trains, I didn't see a single monacle, glass of fine alcohol, or even a suit. Trains were full of very ordinary people, including children and students... The clientele felt very similar to cattle-class air travel.

> I didn't see a single monacle

Thanks, I just spat coffee up a wall!

Re: France’s new high-speed trains

#238

Post by GordonS »

kmlx wrote: post #151
mcv wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More comfortable than the TGV? The train I'm most familiar with is the Thalys, the high-speed train from Amsterdam to Paris, and I'm not sure if it's more comfortable than other TGVs, but it's always a joy to travel in. I recently went to London in the Eurostar, and they'd managed to make the train experience feel like a plane. Very disappointing.

Having recently used both the TGV and the Tokaido Shinkansen, I'd say the Hikari line is much more comfortable than any of the TGV trains. Regarding the Eurostar, it works like that because the UK is not in Schengen. As such, border control needs to happen. Not to mention the potential issues with terrorism. And the Eurostar is net inferior to any of the Shinkansen trains.

Can confirm, I've been on the TGV and also a few bullet trains in Japan - the bullet trains were practically luxurious in terms of comfort and space, and the service was fantastic.

I also found the bullet trains to be great value, especially when compared to the expensive, uncomfortable, over-crowded, slow, dirty, late trains here in the UK.

Re: France’s new high-speed trains

#239

Post by GordonS »

falsedan wrote: post #178
icebraining wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the lease is set to expire in twenty years, can you know in advance how much it will cost to renew, so that you can include it in the mortgage? If so, then it doesn't really seem to help the city to capture the gains that may have accrued over those years. If not, what happens if the lease now costs much more and you can't afford it? Do you get kicked out of the house?

In the UK, usually you negotiate for the occupier to refresh the lease before concluding the sale. After 50 years, you'll probably be dead so you don't have to worry about lease renewal (in the UK the standard leasehold is 99 years, so you'll definitely be dead by then). If you were due for a renewal, and you didn't have the funds to pay the fee, you'd remortgage. If you were very wise, you'd take out an insurance po…

Aren't leaseholds pretty rare in the UK? I'm in Scotland, but I don't think I've ever come across a leasehold property here.
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