Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The longest train journey – in 2021

jonworth.eu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 45 posts

Re: The longest train journey – in 2021

#31

Post by ccalloway »

bloat wrote: post #10
dane-pgp wrote: post #6

Presumably the only way that this record could be significantly improved upon would be if Malaysia was connected to Indonesia (perhaps via the proposed Malacca Strait Bridge[0]) and then extended further if Sumatra and Java were connected (via the proposed Sunda Strait Bridge[1]). Beyond that, a rail connection from Asia to New Guinea or Australia is a lot harder to imagine. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malacca_…

How about Lisbon to New York? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bering_Strait_crossing

By the notion of distance from the article (great circle distance around the earth), Lisbon to New York is considerably shorter than the current record.

Re: The longest train journey – in 2021

#32

Post by m-i-l »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #29
m-i-l wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the UK there's been a £150m refurbishment of the Caledonian Sleeper trains from London to Scotland[0]. [0] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-47887656

That one didn't go so well. I was supposed to ride that (London -> Fort William) in the summer of 2019, but the new trains had so many issues we were stuck on the same rolling stock that had been around when I was a child. Hopefully it's in service now, but last time I looked it up, there were still issues.

Yes, I should have put a disclaimer in, but I think the teething issues are largely settled. The point was that the investment was there though.

And to the original point that "at least in Europe there is a push to bring back overnight trains as an alternative to carbon-intensive flying", there is this from 5 days ago: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/europe-is-undergoing-a-slee... which leads with the Caledonian Sleeper, and mentions others such as the new Paris-based Midnight Trains, the revival of the Trans-Europe Express, Czech-based RegioJet, and ÖBB's Nightjet.

Re: The longest train journey – in 2021

#33

Post by Chris2048 »

ccalloway wrote: post #30
Chris2048 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't that simply be the "shortest rail distance between two points"?

Well, no. The shortest rail distance between two points is very very short, because you can choose the two points very close to one another.

Oh, right. Fair enough. The two points with the longest shortest-path, with no fixed choice of points.

Re: The longest train journey – in 2021

#34

Post by bobthepanda »

Chris2048 wrote: post #25
bobthepanda wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least in Europe there is a push to bring back overnight trains as an alternative to carbon-intensive flying. So it's not totally out of the realm of impossibility, particularly if things like carbon taxes change the equations.

I used a sleeper train recently. Quality varies, and make a big difference on quality of sleep. The old diesel engines that stop at many busy locales are hard to sleep in. It was also pretty expensive, costing a lot more than a short flight (It was also less efficient wrt the route it took versus the airport-to-airport routes planes take).

Sleepers are usually priced to compete not with the flight, but flight + one night at a hotel.

Re: The longest train journey – in 2021

#35

Post by kingcharles »

ginko wrote: post #14
hannob wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there? I mean I know there's "Year of Rail" and all that, but that doesn't seem to translate to anything more than words right now. (Like - no actual trains you could book.) The number of night trains has decreased over the last couple of years. It'd be nice if that trend would be reversed, but that will take more than proclaiming a year of rail.

Right now, and for the first time in over a decade I can again book a direct night train from Vienna to Paris: https://www.nightjet.com/en/reiseziele/frankreich I could book a seat on that train for tonight. AFAIK ÖBB (re-)started that line earlier this month.

Wow, these trains were a regular part of my childhood. I'm amazed they were ever out of service, although sometimes they would be deathly quiet, which was part of their spooky attraction.

Re: The longest train journey – in 2021

#36

Post by kingcharles »

Chris2048 wrote: post #25
bobthepanda wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least in Europe there is a push to bring back overnight trains as an alternative to carbon-intensive flying. So it's not totally out of the realm of impossibility, particularly if things like carbon taxes change the equations.

I used a sleeper train recently. Quality varies, and make a big difference on quality of sleep. The old diesel engines that stop at many busy locales are hard to sleep in. It was also pretty expensive, costing a lot more than a short flight (It was also less efficient wrt the route it took versus the airport-to-airport routes planes take).

I've always found them more expensive, and rarely get a full night's sleep. But the weird attraction of regularly waking up in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes getting down from the train to walk around for a while, always kept me using them instead of cheap flights.

Re: The longest train journey – in 2021

#37

Post by kingcharles »

fabioborellini wrote: post #16
grishka wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a long route, just 3.5 hours one way, but they are preparing to restart the "allegro" (St Petersburg - Helsinki) high-speed train service soon, iirc. The fun part is: Finland now requires a proof of vaccination to enter but doesn't recognize Russian vaccines, and vice versa. So as a Russian, if you really want, you could get Pfizer or something in countries that would let you enter with a PCR test or recogni…

They did restart it on last Sunday. Link in Finnish: https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-12222441 The link states that two daily Allegro services have been re-instantiated. Due to Russian legislation, using the service is only possible for Finnish and Russian citizens. It is true that EU and Russia do not recognise each other's vaccines, but a negative test result allows travel. Russia seems to require a test result in any case…

Do you know if these problems have affected service to Lapland? I'm hoping it hasn't tampered with getting raw materials and seasonal workers to Santa's workshops.

p.s. don't tell the kids, but the best thing about Finland: reindeer steaks. Who knew Rudolph was so tasty?

Re: The longest train journey – in 2021

#38

Post by Chris2048 »

bobthepanda wrote: post #34
Chris2048 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used a sleeper train recently. Quality varies, and make a big difference on quality of sleep. The old diesel engines that stop at many busy locales are hard to sleep in. It was also pretty expensive, costing a lot more than a short flight (It was also less efficient wrt the route it took versus the airport-to-airport routes planes take).

Sleepers are usually priced to compete not with the flight, but flight + one night at a hotel.

It was expensive even compared to flight plus a hotel/bnb, minus the benefit of an actual hotel room with facilities, peace & quiet, grumpy-ass-conductor etc.

Re: The longest train journey – in 2021

#39

Post by inglor_cz »

hannob wrote: post #11
bloat wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about Lisbon to New York? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bering_Strait_crossing

It'd be extremely difficult to make a crossing of the bering strait work practically. It's not just the technical challenges of building a bridge or a tunnel in pretty harsh conditions. It's also that on the russian side there is a huge area that has almost no human settlements and no infrastructure. You'd have to build a train line through an area of nothing. That also means it's difficult to imagine intermediate st…

The fact that Chukotka is sparsely populated wouldn't be such an obstacle in itself. It could even be advantageous = no NIMBYs preventing the construction of the railway. The intermediate steps are manageable - after all the Transsiberian Railway was built in the wilderness in the 1890s and early 1900s with much more primitive technology than is available today.

But the terrain between Yakutsk / Nizhny Bestyakh (the closest rail terminus) is pretty bad, bad enough that the construction does not make economical sense at all. The soil moves during the thaw/freeze cycle etc.

Re: The longest train journey – in 2021

#40

Post by sasvari »

ant6n wrote: post #20
hannob wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there? I mean I know there's "Year of Rail" and all that, but that doesn't seem to translate to anything more than words right now. (Like - no actual trains you could book.) The number of night trains has decreased over the last couple of years. It'd be nice if that trend would be reversed, but that will take more than proclaiming a year of rail.

Yes. France brought back a bunch of national night trains. ÖBB brought back Paris-Vienna, and they have more plans. Sbb brought back Amsterdam-Zürich, also planning train to Barcelona. Sweden wants to get back into Europe (not successful yet). Poland wants to connect west again. There's a bunch of private endeavors: berlin-Malmo-stockholm is running more often, there's a startup starting a Prag-Berlin-amsterdam-bruss…

> Sweden wants to get back into Europe (not successful yet)

SJ (Swedish State Railways) won the Swedish government's tender to provide night train services Stockholm - Hamburg starting in summer 2022.

Post reply on HN