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The night train revolution has been hailed as an alternative to airplanes

cnn.com

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Re: The night train revolution has been hailed as an alternative to airplanes

#21

Post by baz00 »

htlion wrote: post #11
baz00 wrote: post #6

It's not. It's expensive, noisy, takes a long time (6h door to door) and is uncomfortable as fuck. I recently had to go to Edinburgh. It was £235 standard class to get a train that takes several hours. Or £80 to get a plane that takes 2h door to door (1h in the air). If I want to go anywhere in Europe it's quicker, easier and almost always cheaper to fly. Even on a bad Lufthansa flight where everything goes wrong :)…

You must be having noisy nights at home to enjoy 2 hours door to door travel by plane. The state of the train network is terrible so it should be used as a bad example. Trains are longer but for most people they are more comfortable physically and mentally : more space for your legs, your luggage and less hassle going to the station and passing controls. Night trains are not perfect, but with earplugs they can be ple…

Trick is to live perpendicular to the flight path where there is good public transport ;)

As for the trains, no. Standing up with a suitcase between your legs is not uncommon. I prefer Ryanair to that.

When I travel by air I have hand luggage and that's it. Maybe if I do a couple of weeks away I'll have a small suitcase as carry on. Don't pack the kitchen sink.

Re: The night train revolution has been hailed as an alternative to airplanes

#22

Post by baz00 »

traceroute66 wrote: post #19
baz00 wrote: post #6

It's not. It's expensive, noisy, takes a long time (6h door to door) and is uncomfortable as fuck. I recently had to go to Edinburgh. It was £235 standard class to get a train that takes several hours. Or £80 to get a plane that takes 2h door to door (1h in the air). If I want to go anywhere in Europe it's quicker, easier and almost always cheaper to fly. Even on a bad Lufthansa flight where everything goes wrong :)…

> I recently had to go to Edinburgh. It was £235 standard class to get a train that takes several hours. UK rail is truly depressing. In Japan you can take a Shinkanzen from Tokyo to Hokkaido, 4.5 hours, 800km (appx 500 miiles) for 20,000 Yen (£108) first class or 11,000 Yen (£60) standard class. And that is walk-up fare for "right now", you can use an app to get advanced fares. And I can assure you those 4.5 hours w…

Agreed. Japan is exceptionally good I agree. Europe not so much. Germany's rail system is a shit show for example. I had to get a taxi to a car hire place a couple of times there.

Re: The night train revolution has been hailed as an alternative to airplanes

#23

Post by Doctor_Fegg »

baz00 wrote: post #6

It's not. It's expensive, noisy, takes a long time (6h door to door) and is uncomfortable as fuck. I recently had to go to Edinburgh. It was £235 standard class to get a train that takes several hours. Or £80 to get a plane that takes 2h door to door (1h in the air). If I want to go anywhere in Europe it's quicker, easier and almost always cheaper to fly. Even on a bad Lufthansa flight where everything goes wrong :)…

A sleeper train takes 0 useful hours, because you’re asleep.

Plus you potentially save on a night’s accommodation.

Last time I took the Caledonian Sleeper was for a morning meeting in Glasgow. My colleagues flew from Luton on the first morning flight and turned up irritable and tired. I got the Cally Sleeper and was fresh as a daisy with no time wasted - in fact I could do a couple of hours’ work while they were trogging around airports and planes.

Re: The night train revolution has been hailed as an alternative to airplanes

#25

Post by dboreham »

baz00 wrote: post #6

It's not. It's expensive, noisy, takes a long time (6h door to door) and is uncomfortable as fuck. I recently had to go to Edinburgh. It was £235 standard class to get a train that takes several hours. Or £80 to get a plane that takes 2h door to door (1h in the air). If I want to go anywhere in Europe it's quicker, easier and almost always cheaper to fly. Even on a bad Lufthansa flight where everything goes wrong :)…

> It was £235 standard class to get a train that takes several hours.

Presumably for some people the sleeper saves a hotel night, so there's that.

Pricing is definitely inverted vs long ago because I would take the sleeper (archaic term for what we're now calling "night train"??) from Edinburgh to go to business meetings in London vs flying which was much more expensive, we well as inconvenient. On the train you get to walk off the platform reasonably refreshed after a night's sleep and your bacon/egg/beans breakfast and saunter to your 9am meeting. By plane you'd be getting up at 2-3am.

Re: The night train revolution has been hailed as an alternative to airplanes

#26

Post by baz00 »

Doctor_Fegg wrote: post #23
baz00 wrote: post #6

It's not. It's expensive, noisy, takes a long time (6h door to door) and is uncomfortable as fuck. I recently had to go to Edinburgh. It was £235 standard class to get a train that takes several hours. Or £80 to get a plane that takes 2h door to door (1h in the air). If I want to go anywhere in Europe it's quicker, easier and almost always cheaper to fly. Even on a bad Lufthansa flight where everything goes wrong :)…

A sleeper train takes 0 useful hours, because you’re asleep. Plus you potentially save on a night’s accommodation. Last time I took the Caledonian Sleeper was for a morning meeting in Glasgow. My colleagues flew from Luton on the first morning flight and turned up irritable and tired. I got the Cally Sleeper and was fresh as a daisy with no time wasted - in fact I could do a couple of hours’ work while they were trog…

Got a kindle. Meh. 2 hours of Andy Weir and some exercise walking around the terminal. I was happy.

Re: The night train revolution has been hailed as an alternative to airplanes

#28

Post by jddj »

baz00 wrote: post #6

It's not. It's expensive, noisy, takes a long time (6h door to door) and is uncomfortable as fuck. I recently had to go to Edinburgh. It was £235 standard class to get a train that takes several hours. Or £80 to get a plane that takes 2h door to door (1h in the air). If I want to go anywhere in Europe it's quicker, easier and almost always cheaper to fly. Even on a bad Lufthansa flight where everything goes wrong :)…

2hr anywhere door to door with LHR is an amazing feat.

Surely doesn't include wait time?

Or did you mean airport door to airport door

Re: The night train revolution has been hailed as an alternative to airplanes

#29

Post by mschuster91 »

Personally, I regularly have to travel between Munich and Hamburg. Flying that route is a nuisance: either fly the day before and have to spend a day in a hotel, or get up at 03:30... get ready, travel to the airport (~1h regular time + buffer of at least 30 minutes because the goddamn train always has issues), account for 2 hours of pre-boarding crap (security checks, boarding), 1.5h flight, .5 h to account for getting luggage, .5h to be at Hamburg Hbf, and spend the rest of the day as an overtired zombie running on coffee.

In contrast, the sleeper train is easy: be at Munich Hbf at 2240, grab a few burgers for late night snack binges and beers to share with your roommates, enter the train at 2250, it leaves at 2252, empty the crate of beers and the burgers, fall asleep, wake up at 07:45, go for a shower, eat breakfast, arrive at 08:50 well rested in Hamburg.

Re: The night train revolution has been hailed as an alternative to airplanes

#30

Post by orwin »

baz00 wrote: post #22
traceroute66 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I recently had to go to Edinburgh. It was £235 standard class to get a train that takes several hours. UK rail is truly depressing. In Japan you can take a Shinkanzen from Tokyo to Hokkaido, 4.5 hours, 800km (appx 500 miiles) for 20,000 Yen (£108) first class or 11,000 Yen (£60) standard class. And that is walk-up fare for "right now", you can use an app to get advanced fares. And I can assure you those 4.5 hours w…

Agreed. Japan is exceptionally good I agree. Europe not so much. Germany's rail system is a shit show for example. I had to get a taxi to a car hire place a couple of times there.

Italian, Swiss and French rails are great. Spain is a bit behind but is closing up fast.
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