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Europe is investing heavily in trains

nytimes.com

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Re: Europe is investing heavily in trains

#121

Post by mikepurvis »

lqet wrote: post #26

Here in Germany, for as long as I can remember, the government praises itself every year for investing as much in rail as never before. I have not noticed the service quality to change for the better over the last 15 years. The ever-rising investments seem to be only enough to keep the status quo of the crumbling infrastructure.

At least they're speaking into a culture that wants to hear about investment in rail, regardless of whether the work being done feels like it's yielding tangible improvements or not.

Here in Canada, it sometimes feels like they're almost ashamed of what little they're spending and even try to hide it away, or spread the big capital expenses over multiple years to make it look like even less.

Re: Europe is investing heavily in trains

#122

Post by hdjjhhvvhga »

atlasunshrugged wrote: post #106

As an American who doesn't drive, the experience of trains in the EU compared to the US is just delightful. Yes, there are super cheap flights and I used them often for longer haul trips but the trains were always amazing- I've done trips including Mariupol to Lviv, Budapest to Berlin, and Berlin to Munich and always had a great experience. The Romania-Chisinau line is quite old but part of its charm. I see a lot of…

I remember going to Crimea one summer some 20 years ago, it took almost 40 hours but boy it was something I'll never forget! Especially the babushkas with local produce, pelmeni and so on at every stop so you could buy them (so cheaply) just grabbing them from their hands through the window. Delicious food, great views and an excellent company.

On the other side of the equations are superfast trains like the TGV, this one is expensive but in my humble opinion it is faster than plane on routes like Paris-Lyon and I'll take train over plane on any day at distances shorter than 500-700km.

Re: Europe is investing heavily in trains

#123

Post by jmcgough »

nfin wrote: post #57
skrbjc wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for your perspective from someone close to the situation there. I believe many Americans have a picture of a perfect system in Europe, but the truth is likely different. Can you elaborate on the negative aspects of the train system, as you see it?

my short answer would be: bad at punctuality. Frequent delays bigger than 10min. France for example is better at punctuality IMO. But granted: smaller population density, therefore less stops needed in rural areas. And lower population density made it also a lot easier to build many complete own tracks for fast trains (TGV). Also more centralized way of thinking, so if you are around Paris: good, if you live far away…

I haven't taken European trains, but Amtrak in the US is often atrociously late. They pay to rent tracks from freight companies and have to cede right-of-way to not block them.

Re: Europe is investing heavily in trains

#124

Post by dijit »

uoaei wrote: post #93
Sharlin wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing is perfect, but also remember that people always find things to complain about, particularly if they don't have personal experience of less well functioning systems.

By that logic, no one should complain about anything, because we don't live in literal hell. But that is of course preposterous.

Parent: people often complain because it’s the worst they’ve ever had, take it with a pinch of salt.

You: well you can’t complain about anything then can you!?

——

You can complain, but it’s good to have an understanding of what you’re complaining about, the parent is right. We are quick to complain about imperfection when a lot of what we have is truly quite good.

Sometimes it’s legitimate criticism, sometimes it’s being spoiled.

Any criticism that is not specific can (and probably should) be dismissed outright. Complaints and criticism should always be specific.

Re: Europe is investing heavily in trains

#125

Post by mywittyname »

lrem wrote: post #37
mywittyname wrote: post #17

Time is money, so I don't think trains can ever compete with flying for long-distance travel (>1000miles). They could do like the USA does and make flying such a time-consuming pain in the ass that it's rarely worth it for trips under 5 hours.

It _really_ depends on the distances and sizes of the cities you're going to. Paris-London train is about 3 hours, which is likely less than you'll spend on getting to+from an airport. Paris-Berlin on the other hand is miserable, unless you love trains.

This is exactly my point, trains can't compete with point-to-point travel at 500mph. So injecting a bunch of padding on either side of flights is the best way of making train travel more appealing.

Re: Europe is investing heavily in trains

#126

Post by toshk »

lqet wrote: post #26

Here in Germany, for as long as I can remember, the government praises itself every year for investing as much in rail as never before. I have not noticed the service quality to change for the better over the last 15 years. The ever-rising investments seem to be only enough to keep the status quo of the crumbling infrastructure.

Deutsche Bahn is a disaster. Extreme delays up to 2 hours more often then not. Rude staff. Forcing moms with kids out of the train by police. Travelled for 3 summers through germany, now just take the plane.

Re: Europe is investing heavily in trains

#127

Post by ibiza »

fosk wrote: post #74
namdnay wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You still have diesel trains ?!

Caltrain in the Bay Area, the capital of world technology, is still a....diesel train. I can't help but chuckle whenever I see one.

Did you miss the wires strung above the tracks? They're working on it:

https://www.caltrain.com/about/MediaRelations/news/Caltrain_...

Re: Europe is investing heavily in trains

#128

Post by jlmorton »

fosk wrote: post #74
namdnay wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You still have diesel trains ?!

Caltrain in the Bay Area, the capital of world technology, is still a....diesel train. I can't help but chuckle whenever I see one.

However, it's moving to electric, with the first electric locomotive undergoing testing now, and the first electric fleet arriving this spring, with fully electric service expected to begin in two years.

Re: Europe is investing heavily in trains

#129

Post by SergeAx »

Typical distance between European capitals is ~500km. It is less than an hour net time by plane, but adding travel from city center to the airport, check in, security check, waiting time, waiting for luggage, travel from destination airport to city center - all those are compounding into 4-5 hours door to door depending on road traffic. High speed train is about the same or even better, and you have internet connection on board all the time.

Re: Europe is investing heavily in trains

#130

Post by mszcz »

ithinkso wrote: post #54
lqet wrote: post #26

Here in Germany, for as long as I can remember, the government praises itself every year for investing as much in rail as never before. I have not noticed the service quality to change for the better over the last 15 years. The ever-rising investments seem to be only enough to keep the status quo of the crumbling infrastructure.

It's different in Poland. Here, everyone always complains about the rail and it was shit like you wouldn't believe only like 15 years ago. I've been using trains only sporadically but the improvements are absolutely immense, I couldn't believe my eyes. Not perfect of course but holy shit did it improve, especially regional rails Of course we had to improve from much lower standards than Germany, I guess, so I have no…

Yeah, around that time I was still in college and used trains a lot. I remember we had a running joke about everything inside the trains we traveled in had some sort of sticky, yucky film. When you grabbed something and then let go you could kind of feel the train clinging to you. The heating in the winter was always either broken or turned to 11. My friend once, by accident, melted a big chunk of his shoe on the radiator under his seat.

I've recently traveled by that same line. The train has changed a bit, the film seems to be gone but the ~100km trip takes 5 minutes longer than it used to, averaging edit: spelling

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