How far can you go by train in 5h? • Hacker News Board

Re: How far can you go by train in 5h?

#401

Post by SllX » Sat, Jul 30, 2022, 2:13 AM UTC

hunterb123 wrote: post #363

mrgriscom wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Residents of the US territories are US citizens with the exception of American Samoa

Technically yes by the Jones Act, in a very limited sense... there are restrictions as well as tax exemptions. So I wouldn't really consider citizens of US territories full US citizens. So maybe it's more appropriate to say they aren't Americans, but they are US citizens. But that is all semantics. My main point was the reason they don't have US representation is they don't have US taxation.

The restrictions are tied to geography not persons.

A Puerto Rican in California is entitled to all the benefits of US Citizenship whereas a Californian in Puerto Rico is not. Mostly these are related to welfare and elections. This would be the case for the Californian or Puerto Rican living anywhere in the world outside the US.

Re: How far can you go by train in 5h?

#402

Post by SllX » Sat, Jul 30, 2022, 2:14 AM UTC

thaumasiotes wrote: post #385

hunterb123 wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Technically yes by the Jones Act, in a very limited sense... there are restrictions as well as tax exemptions. So I wouldn't really consider citizens of US territories full US citizens. So maybe it's more appropriate to say they aren't Americans, but they are US citizens. But that is all semantics. My main point was the reason they don't have US representation is they don't have US taxation.

> My main point was the reason they don't have US representation is they don't have US taxation. The District of Columbia has to pay US taxes without being allowed any US representation.

A situation that could be happily resolved by returning the remaining DC territory to Maryland. I would be all for it.

Re: How far can you go by train in 5h?

#403

Post by microtherion » Sat, Jul 30, 2022, 2:52 AM UTC

ben-schaaf wrote: post #58

nicoburns wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting that it uses 20 minutes. I guess that's optimistic if you need to account for delays, but that's much longer than I often take to transfer (5 minutes often being workable if the trains are generally reliable, and you're able to catch a later train if you miss the intended one).

Swizerland (SBB) has some nice data on this with 98.9% connection punctuality, 40% of connections <5min and 77% under 10min. Though they might be an outlier here given the integrated timetable.

Indeed the 20 minute interchange assumption interacts quite badly with Swiss schedules, because actual Swiss interchanges are routinely much tighter than that, so each is penalized with 30 or 60 minutes extra for the next connection.

Re: How far can you go by train in 5h?

#404

Post by SECProto » Sat, Jul 30, 2022, 3:17 AM UTC

rootusrootus wrote: post #322

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why anyone lives in apartments by choice is beyond me. The noise is absurd. I am sorry but you westerners have no clue how to make decent apartments. London is full of 'luxury' highrises with basic design mistakes and complete failures. In czech republic they would never build drywall separation between apartments, its always brick or concrete with real noise insulation. The staircase is never attached to the walls…

Plenty of condos in the US (and I'm guessing London) use concrete walls between units. This isn't something magic that only the Czech Republic understands. But concrete is pretty unfriendly to the environment and has a low expected lifespan. Much of the US is covered in trees, so an average apartment is primarily constructed from wood. Condos and apartments are generally constructed to different standards, due to the…

> But concrete is pretty unfriendly to the environment and has a low expected lifespan

reinforced concrete has low expected lifespan in exposed conditions because moisture causes rust causes degradation. The concrete used for division between units, as being discussed here, is unreinforced. As long as there's no sulfate-containing minerals in the aggregate (and it's protected from moisture), an unreinforced concrete block wall will last indefinitely.

Typical dividers in apartment buildings in the west are either concrete as I just described, or they are made with "steel studs" (C-channel with gypsum board). The latter is awful for noise isolation, while the former is okay (and better if some additional considerations are taken).

Apartment buildings in my (north american) experience are built to the same standards as condos. The only time wood would be used in either is in a low rise (<4 storey) construction, which tend to not have any of the density benefits that you want from multi-unit construction, and all of the possible downsides.

Re: How far can you go by train in 5h?

#405

Post by drpancake » Sat, Jul 30, 2022, 3:41 AM UTC

pahn wrote: post #134

I made an interactive art installation on this question once: A black box with a knob where you could adjust how much time you have, then it would offer you (Google streetview) panoramas of the locations it found within your distance, and in the end even print a paper slip with your travel itinerary to take with you. The installation used realtime data (Google directions API): I somehow figured out, that if I would r…

Very cool. Slightly reminds me of an app I made for fun a few years ago that created a visual diary of your location history over the past 48 hours by pairing it with Google Streetview imagery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dpreu_pFI2A

Re: How far can you go by train in 5h?

#406

Post by thematrixturtle » Sat, Jul 30, 2022, 3:45 AM UTC

mustacheemperor wrote: post #250

pahn wrote: post #134

I made an interactive art installation on this question once: A black box with a knob where you could adjust how much time you have, then it would offer you (Google streetview) panoramas of the locations it found within your distance, and in the end even print a paper slip with your travel itinerary to take with you. The installation used realtime data (Google directions API): I somehow figured out, that if I would r…

I have been wishing Apple or Google maps would add this as a feature for at least five years now. When I’m in a new city for work, and I know I have 90 minutes til my next meeting, it would be massively helpful to see every lunch place in a 15-25 minute walking radius. The fact that there’s still not a “search/filter by transit time” feature in any Maps app seems like proof there’s not enough competition in that spac…

Have you tried a "restaurants near X" query? In my experience it's smart enough to calibrate "near" to your surroundings (walking distance in cities, driving distance in suburbia).

Re: How far can you go by train in 5h?

#407

Post by soneil » Sat, Jul 30, 2022, 4:11 AM UTC

chrismartin wrote: post #104

black_puppydog wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also shows an effect that the focus on high speed rail brings: rural areas are often very badly connected. Here in France they've even kept shutting down regional lines. That creates the train equivalent of "fly-over states": areas that you see from the train while going through, but that it would be impractical to go to .

Has anyone considered the following? In a small town, you have a section of track running parallel to high speed rail. The track has a small and short "local" train (maybe just a couple of cars) that picks up passengers and accelerates to maybe 80 MPH, while the high-speed train slows to the same speed. The trains run next to each other for a couple of miles, some doors open between them, and people can step between…

I could swear I've seen illustrations of such concepts. In the same theme as circular runways and having runways balanced across the tops of city skyscrapers.

The "moving platforms" concept seems to come up quite often, ala https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlhuHmVn4Ss

Re: How far can you go by train in 5h?

#408

Post by inglor_cz » Sat, Jul 30, 2022, 5:32 AM UTC

stratom wrote: post #8

It also shows how much the train networks focus on domestic travel. In nearly all bigger countries it is possible to reach most bigger cities within the 5h. But journeys in this time-frame seldomly go much beyond the border. There is still much optimization potential for transnational travel in Europe's train network.

Language barriers in Europe are still rather formidable.

Plus, when it comes to daily "Pendlers" (people who cross the border regularly to work), often they cross the border in places where there is no extant railway connection. In Czechia, a lot of commuting people cross the German border using the D5/A6 highway, which has no nearby alternative. The closest potentially upgradeable railway is 40 km away in difficult mountain terrain, so even if it got upgraded to a reasonable standard, it would have to attract different customers going from different A to different B.

By far the most common demographics to cross the borders in trains in my country are tourists, who like to go from one capital or important city (Berlin, Krakow) to another (Prague, Vienna).

Re: How far can you go by train in 5h?

#409

Post by nonethewiser » Sat, Jul 30, 2022, 5:33 AM UTC

xenocratus wrote: post #152

OJFord wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Infamously similar in the UK, even despite being smaller. Particularly East-West travel anywhere much North of London. Many inter-city routes are via London. (I'm not complaining, j'habite à Londres ;))

> anywhere much North of London You don't need to go that much North - I used to live in Oxfordshire, trying to get to Cambridge for work was a joke (I don't drive). It would take 3.5h+ for a 140km journey from Oxford to Cambridge because train journeys were only through London (+ a railway station change), and there was only one coach that stopped in every town along the way (and which has been axed into two separat…

Actually, it seems like the fastest driving route goes down to London as well.

In fact, since Oxfordshire isn't very far north of London it's kind of a bad example. Of course it goes through London.

Re: How far can you go by train in 5h?

#410

Post by bigDinosaur » Sat, Jul 30, 2022, 5:53 AM UTC

chrisseaton wrote: post #358

thejackgoode wrote: post #349

Five hours, I assume, is the maximum amount of time an average person can enjoy sitting in a train. With overnight trains making a comeback, there are much more possibilities. I recently enjoyed falling asleep in Central Europe and waking up over the Alps near the sea. Trains are amazing.

It’s more comfortable to be on a train than a flight and people are happy taking ten hour plus flights no problem.

I don't happily take ten hour plus flights, I take them because if I need to go somewhere that takes that long by plane there's no viable alternative.