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The New Austrian Railways' Intercity and Nightjet Sleeper Train Interior Design

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Re: The New Austrian Railways' Intercity and Nightjet Sleeper Train Interior Design

#131

Post by bluGill »

ceejayoz wrote: post #116
legitster wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Love that route. Also, on a train the ride is so much smoother - no starts or stop or dealing with traffic. The pricing is nuts, though. A one way train ticket for that route is $36. The same trip via car takes about the same amount of time and $20 in gas. The train is a nice luxury for one person, but for the whole family it becomes very expensive. Passenger rail in the US is absurd.

> A one way train ticket for that route is $36. The same trip via car takes about the same amount of time and $20 in gas. Don't forget wear and tear on the car, though. The IRS sets mileage at 58 cents/mile. That's $100 for Seattle to Portland.

Most of the costs of a car are fixed once you own it. Wear and tears per mile is actually small. Insurance is the same for a car driven 7000 miles a year as one driven 30,000. there is a small discount for less than 7000 miles/year, but it is still fixed. Likewise the car payment doesn't change at all.

The IRS has to come up with a fair number that translates all those fixed costs into per/mile. It is a good financial number, but worthless for this discussion.

Re: The New Austrian Railways' Intercity and Nightjet Sleeper Train Interior Design

#132

Post by ghaff »

legitster wrote: post #128
ceejayoz wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A one way train ticket for that route is $36. The same trip via car takes about the same amount of time and $20 in gas. Don't forget wear and tear on the car, though. The IRS sets mileage at 58 cents/mile. That's $100 for Seattle to Portland.

That's fair. I do my own maintenance and drive cheap cars. YMMV. Still, even at the full rate, two people back and forth, it's still cheaper to drive.

Which is pretty normal most places in the US and at least Western Europe unless maybe parking is especially expensive at the destination. Even so, if two of us go from the Boston area to NYC it’s almost certainly cheaper to drive although I almost always take the train because it’s a lot more pleasant. With a family the train would be a relatively expensive alternative.

Re: The New Austrian Railways' Intercity and Nightjet Sleeper Train Interior Design

#133

Post by the_mitsuhiko »

ekianjo wrote: post #113
amit9gupta wrote: post #16

The images are computer generated graphics, not real photographs taken with a camera.

Expect vandalism to take place in such trains in no time when they get to operate.

OeBB takes great care of their trains. If they get sprayed they are removed from service and cleaned.

Re: The New Austrian Railways' Intercity and Nightjet Sleeper Train Interior Design

#134

Post by deanclatworthy »

em-bee wrote: post #95
deanclatworthy wrote: post #87

Having travelled a couple of times on overnight trains from Austria to other European cities, these sleeping pods look marginally a larger improvement. - Tempeature: Having slept in a cabin where the aircon blasts from the bottom into those sleeping there, they inevitably have to turn it off to sleep, leaving those on the top bunks at temperatures of over 40C in the summer. - Noise/Privacy: In the 4-bunk cabins, I do…

trains longer than the station would double the time at each stop. that's not acceptable. but also, most stations are not designed to have trains longer than the station. a station usually has more platforms than the two rails that feed it. an overlong train would frequently block other trains coming in at other platforms. the only thing that would work is to have two trains on the same route in a short delay from ea…

Two trains would suit me just fine. Or three. As long as they are serving customers I don't see the problem.

I'd guess people weren't using them because they are so cramped and uncomfortable. I would bet they could be economical and comfortable when the whole process is designed from scratch. I don't think this exercise feels like that.

Re: The New Austrian Railways' Intercity and Nightjet Sleeper Train Interior Design

#135

Post by alistairSH »

rolltiide wrote: post #58
jschwartzi wrote: post #12

In the US I would take a sleeper train from Seattle to Chicago instead of a plane provided the sleeper train runs 180 mph on average. That would put me in Chicago in about 10-12 hours, meaning I could get to Union Station in Seattle, get on the train, sleep a full night, wake up, eat breakfast, and disembark in Chicago. The red-eye to Chicago, which is a comparable trip, really sucks because you only get about 3 hour…

or just dont try to get sleep for 3 hours and arrive at your destination in 3 hours? how are these comparable If US had high speed rail I would have a different answer, but it doesnt

I believe the OP's point is a 3-hour red-eye isn't a great travel option. But, it's a fairly common flight when traveling West-to-East in the US. He'd prefer a 10 hour trip (via train, or blimp, or anything else) if the pricing was in the same ballpark.

The 10 hour over-night doesn't "waste" any time - you're eating and sleeping those hours regardless.

Re: The New Austrian Railways' Intercity and Nightjet Sleeper Train Interior Design

#136

Post by ianbooker »

ekianjo wrote: post #110
alkonaut wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The EU should force a carbon tax on plane fuel for intra-EU flights and subsidize rail with the money.

> The EU should force a carbon tax on plane fuel for intra-EU flights and subsidize rail with the money. You are aware that most of Europe produces electricity by burning fossil fuel right? So by all logic we should apply a strict carbon tax on rail as well.

Speaking of logic: Trains are way more energy efficient than planes. So even with the same "strict carbon tax", it would be cheaper to go by train and better for the environment alas.

Re: The New Austrian Railways' Intercity and Nightjet Sleeper Train Interior Design

#137

Post by graeme »

ekianjo wrote: post #110
alkonaut wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The EU should force a carbon tax on plane fuel for intra-EU flights and subsidize rail with the money.

> The EU should force a carbon tax on plane fuel for intra-EU flights and subsidize rail with the money. You are aware that most of Europe produces electricity by burning fossil fuel right? So by all logic we should apply a strict carbon tax on rail as well.

An actual carbon tax on carbon would tax both trains and planes fairly. Planes use much more co2 per capita and so the result would be comparatively cheaper trains nonetheless.

Though I don't think most trains are electric, and I think they do have a fuel tax.

Re: The New Austrian Railways' Intercity and Nightjet Sleeper Train Interior Design

#138

Post by ianbooker »

Finally I see someone realizing the "hovering" seats in a train. Anytime I sit in a train, I wonder why they have not done so for the last 30 years or so.

While they state its for luggage and design purposes, I just think: Its so much easier to clean. Even automatically ;)

Re: The New Austrian Railways' Intercity and Nightjet Sleeper Train Interior Design

#139

Post by jermaustin1 »

ghaff wrote: post #115
legitster wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Love that route. Also, on a train the ride is so much smoother - no starts or stop or dealing with traffic. The pricing is nuts, though. A one way train ticket for that route is $36. The same trip via car takes about the same amount of time and $20 in gas. The train is a nice luxury for one person, but for the whole family it becomes very expensive. Passenger rail in the US is absurd.

I guess I wouldn’t have thought that expensive for intercity travel. Certainly doesn’t strike me as such relative to shorter haul European trains I’ve taken. And in the US, I’m a decent fraction of that ($13) just to take the commuter rail into the city one way.

Same here, I've taken the London to Edinburgh on LNER and Virgin East Coast multiple times and it runs about £40 each way.

And my 30 mile train into Manhattan is $14

$36 one way for a 5 hour train seems pretty cheap.

Re: The New Austrian Railways' Intercity and Nightjet Sleeper Train Interior Design

#140

Post by llamathrowaway »

munificent wrote: post #99

I recently took a train from Seattle to Portland with my family. One difference compared to flying that it took me a while to realize was how amazingly quiet it is. On a plane, the engines are right there out on the wing screaming and conducting that sound directly into the airframe next to you. With a train, the engine is way up front, hundreds of yards a way, separated by several linkages. The end result is that a…

On a train the motors may also be right under your feet:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_unit

And it’s still not annoying, at all. It’s very quiet, and I personally find the sound of electric motors much more tolerable than anything involving combustion.

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