Sweden Wants to Revive Europe’s Overnight Trains • Hacker News Board

Re: Sweden Wants to Revive Europe’s Overnight Trains

#271

Post by bogomipz » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 12:55 AM UTC

zensavona wrote: post #270

bogomipz wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've taken this train from Hamburg to Coppenhagen. It's fascinating to watch the train be put on the ferry and then you got a nice ferry ride and can marvel at the size of the wind farms off the coast. I would highly recommend it if you have the time.

Yep I took it from Gothenburg to Berlin (via Copenhagen and Hamburg) and those wind farms are seriously impressive! Also a really cool view if you take the bridge from Denmark to Sweden, windmills in the sea almost as far as the eye can see.

You took the train from Gothenburg to Berlin?

Was the portion over the Oresund Bridge by bus then? It is indeed an impressive bridge. You get a good glimpse of it flying out of Copenhagen as well.

Re: Sweden Wants to Revive Europe’s Overnight Trains

#272

Post by ptaipale » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 6:48 AM UTC

belorn wrote: post #142

ptaipale wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another point (not in Sweden) is that the rail operators are government-owned companies which often operate like the government does. Couple of months back, I tried to buy a ticket to the car-train to Lapland (I can take the car with me to train in the evening, sleep in a cabin, wake up in the morning and set off for the remainder of the journey with my car). When booking the car slot, the booking system required me…

The rail infrastructure is government operated, but train companies that are responsible for all customer interaction is not. SJ is just as government-owned as SAS. The rail is basically like the airport, and the train companies are like airlines. The general problem is the lack of competition. Between two destinations you usually have the choice between multiple airlines, but for trains there is usually only one. Be…

Quite, though I think Swedish situation regarding competition is somewhat better than my experience which was in Finland - here there's only the government-owned VR (former Statsjärnvägarna).

Re: Sweden Wants to Revive Europe’s Overnight Trains

#273

Post by codfrantic » Fri, Apr 05, 2019, 1:02 PM UTC

petre wrote: post #172

cataphract wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In most EU states, there are VAT exemptions for the fuel used in domestic and intra-EU flights, while no similar exemptions exist for the fuel used in trains (and cars). Likewise, there exist VAT exemptions for plane tickets. At least in Portugal, querosene is also exempt from the ISP (tax on the petroleum products). VAT and ISP make up more than half of the retail price of diesel and is almost 2/3 of the price of ga…

Portugal has a huge tax on petroleum products compared to other EU countries anyway. We paid 1.75€ per liter of gas last summer. If they did't extempt kerosene, Spain would get its share of its tourists.

Here in the Netherlands 1 liter of gasoline was very low a few months ago at about €1,55. Now back up to €1,60 if you do your best or €1,78 on the highways. Portugal is not that bad :)

Compared: https://autotraveler.ru/en/spravka/fuel-price-in-europe.html

Re: Sweden Wants to Revive Europe’s Overnight Trains

#274

Post by bodyfour » Sun, Apr 07, 2019, 3:31 PM UTC

Tijdreiziger wrote: post #262

bodyfour wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm actually surprised they let you stay on the train. Both times I've taken that route they seemed pretty diligent about making sure everybody was off the train. I assume this is for safety reasons -- down in a darkened train on the lowest deck would be the last place I'd want to be if the ferry had any difficulties. I really liked the ferry experience. The ferry part is only about 40 minutes, but it's just enough t…

> it's just enough time to have a quick meal in the on-board restaurant The pickings seemed pretty slim for vegetarians, though, which took me by surprise as nearly every restaurant these days has at least one vegetarian option. I ended up having some plain fries with ketchup.

Yes, I'm a vegetarian myself and also would have appreciated a better selection in that regard. Both times I ended up having meals that were heavy in the potato and cheese departments. The buffet had some fruit and cooked vegetables as well, but nothing that was really a main dish by itself. Still, I didn't go hungry or anything.