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Austria rail operator OeBB unveils new night trains

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Re: Austria rail operator OeBB unveils new night trains

#211

Post by turing_complete »

albert180 wrote: post #52
omnibrain wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The trouble lies in the old rolling stock. They bought all that from Deutsche Bahn who suddenly stopped all sleeper train services a few years ago. Deutsche Bahn had neglected that segment for years and did not invest into more than the bare maintenance to keep the stock rolling.

Because it's unprofitable. We need to either accept that we need to subsidise these kind of services for climate protection or ban flights inside the European Union

Or, shocking, let people take a flight if they want.

(I low-key hate flying btw and prefer trains for shorter distances)

Re: Austria rail operator OeBB unveils new night trains

#212

Post by crote »

MrYellowP wrote: post #180

As an Austrian, I must say that I am amazed that this is even a topic here ... let alone a topic that gathers so many comments. I thoroughly appreciate all the comments and insights. Personally, my only complaint I ever had about the ÖBB was that they got rid of the repeating noise trains used to make. A noise they used to advertise with in the past.

It's called "Continuous Welded Rail". More expensive in initial installation, but way cheaper in maintenance and as a bonus it has better ride performance too.

Re: Austria rail operator OeBB unveils new night trains

#213

Post by ant6n »

Closi wrote: post #195
jltsiren wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This, like many other ideas combining cars and public transport, sounds like something that doesn't scale. The exact numbers vary, but the passenger capacity of a car train is usually something like 1/2 of a normal night train or 1/3 of a normal day train, assuming that the train is fully dedicated to carrying people with cars. You also need special facilities and longer stops, because cars can't just dismount at nor…

This implies that rail is running at capacity during the night, which I suspect isn’t true. It’s not a choice between 1 car-train or 1 normal night train - you can have both if there is line capacity. And you probably aren’t running sleeper carriages during peak hours.

Many German lines are running at 125% of capacity and above, including at night.

Re: Austria rail operator OeBB unveils new night trains

#214

Post by ant6n »

asdff wrote: post #185
config_yml wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Add an hour commute to the airport, another hour at check-in and security and 10x the emissions: it's actually a fun experience going by night train, especially when traveling with kids.

Per passenger mpg between a train and a plane isn't all that far off. Planes tend to travel pretty full so per passenger mpg is pretty high, like 100mpg. You get better per passenger mpg with a train but the train needs to get decent ridership. Depending on where you are going, maybe the train and bus service doesn't get too much ridership and your flight in might actually work out to be the greenest way.

Radiative forcing-wise, flying emits 200g equivalent of co2 per pax-km, rail about 20g. And that’s largely due to infrastructure, so the marginal „cost“ of more trains is low.

Re: Austria rail operator OeBB unveils new night trains

#216

Post by ChumpGPT »

dzhiurgis wrote: post #189
reacharavindh wrote: post #175

I have taken the car train from Hamburg to Vienna as a family. Pure luxury and comfort! We drive from Denmark to Hamburg(with a 2 year old), and load the fully packed car(stroller, luggages gifts for the in-laws etc) into the train at a special entrance, and walk into the coaches. We booked a private cabin/room for more privacy and also because we have a two year old. There were quite comfortable bunk booths as well…

Something like this would cost $1000 in Australia

Trust me this is not the cross continent train that you have in Australia, this is a dumpy Euro train and Austria is a dirty old hole.

Re: Austria rail operator OeBB unveils new night trains

#217

Post by abhayhegde »

xyzelement wrote: post #117

I did the OBB overnight train from Vienna to Venice a few years ago. I did the baller move and bought the 4 person sleeper room for myself, that came with a bathroom / shower. So from a privacy and point to point travel it was great. From the restfulness point of view, not so much. I am not a light sleeper but the train was noisy and jerky and the bed narrow with your body perpendicular to the direction of travel so…

As someone who has traveled on OBB and non-acela Amtrak, how would you describe Acela journey? Is it a significantly better experience?

Re: Austria rail operator OeBB unveils new night trains

#218

Post by xyzelement »

abhayhegde wrote: post #217
xyzelement wrote: post #117

I did the OBB overnight train from Vienna to Venice a few years ago. I did the baller move and bought the 4 person sleeper room for myself, that came with a bathroom / shower. So from a privacy and point to point travel it was great. From the restfulness point of view, not so much. I am not a light sleeper but the train was noisy and jerky and the bed narrow with your body perpendicular to the direction of travel so…

As someone who has traveled on OBB and non-acela Amtrak, how would you describe Acela journey? Is it a significantly better experience?

I mean its very hard to compare an overnight train experience with a few blues Boston to NYC. The Acella is fine you have a large seat with some space around you and pretty crappy wifi. Definitely more comfortable than a coach airline seat maybe in line with business class space and comfort wise but otherwise not that not worthy.

Re: Austria rail operator OeBB unveils new night trains

#219

Post by ddejohn »

crote wrote: post #207
ddejohn wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The shoes and belts thing is ridiculous, I agree. But there's a legitimate reason for the liquid ban to which I'm not sure there's much of a solution, is there?

Most of it is completely unneeded, to be honest. The chances of another 9/11 happening are basically zero because of two factors: 1) better cockpit security, and 2) 9/11 happening. Before 9/11, a hijacking meant you were going to be late for dinner. If everyone cooperated, it would basically just be an inconvenience. Since 9/11, a hijacking means you are going to die . Turns out near-certain death is quite a good mot…

All valid points except the last -- you can still blow a hole in the fuselage and cause it to crash without needing to get into the cockpit.

Re: Austria rail operator OeBB unveils new night trains

#220

Post by ddejohn »

asdff wrote: post #192
ddejohn wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The shoes and belts thing is ridiculous, I agree. But there's a legitimate reason for the liquid ban to which I'm not sure there's much of a solution, is there?

Whatever bottle of liquid they fear you have you can literally turn around and hurl at the crowd of 400 people in the tsa line behind you. Its total theater, reactionary legislation that helped establish an entrenched for profit security apparatus industry that will lobby for its existence until the end of time. If people want to cause harm there's no shortage of ways.

This isn't really a fair argument. As far as I understand, at least in the case of the 2006 plot, the bomb still needed to be constructed (i.e., ingredients mixed, detonator placed inside, etc). If you have something in a water bottle you're just carrying through security and it's volatile enough to simply throw at a crowd and cause harm, I don't think you've got a great chance of even making it very far, maybe not even to the airport in the first place lol.
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