*In Europe
The "revolution" in the article is almost exclusively localized to Austria, to be very precise
it's led by ÖBB but in more places than Austria
The night train revolution has been hailed as an alternative to airplanes
51–60 of 95 posts
Re: The night train revolution has been hailed as an alternative to airplanes
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I regularly take the Amtrak Crescent overnight to visit family down south. With two people (my wife and I), a roomette has been about on par with air travel pricewise the last couple of times we've traveled. Total privacy, comfy accomodations, internet access, meals and snacks included. I'd really like to travel by train sleeper car, but I just can't justify it as transportation (rather than as "an experience") giv…
> I'd really like to travel by train sleeper car, but I just can't justify it as transportation What an odd comment. It gets you where you're going, the same as any other form of transportation. For a long time it was the default way people took long distance trips. I don't take it repeatedly for the "experience". I take it because it's a more pleasant way to travel at roughly the same price point. Do you also consid…
> Again, with two people, it's been about the same price the last few times we've done it.
What rates are you finding? Because in my experience just earlier this year, while moving cross country, I found that an Amtrak across the US costed exorbitantly more than an airplane ticket, and comes with a dozen times as many transfers. It was cheaper still to just say screw it and rent a uHaul the entire way.
Re: The night train revolution has been hailed as an alternative to airplanes
#53I went on one with a bed (6 people) some years ago from Berlin to Vienna and it was a nightmare (OEBB Nightjet). It stopped several times and there were constantly people getting in and out of bed, storing suitcases, getting dressed etc.
Yeah you have to get a personal/dual cabin ($$$) or travel with people you know otherwise it's a gamble.
As for the stops you get used to it, I couldn't sleep during my first night train trip, after 5+ I know sleep like a baby. I haven't used planes in a few years too, and for my use case it's actually cheaper/more convenient than planes
Re: The night train revolution has been hailed as an alternative to airplanes
#54In Europe these night trains are useless IMO. Air travel within Europe is cheap and easy, night trains are far more expensive, slow and run unreliable schedules sometimes, and they often don’t even take you to places you want to go. In America though, night trains would be awesome, since air travel is expensive, hellish, and the country is built in a way that the destinations most people will want to go to are alread…
> Air travel within Europe is cheap and easy, night trains are far more expensive, slow and run unreliable schedules sometimes, and they often don’t even take you to places you want to go. And of course their solution to this isn't to try to improve the trains. It's to ban flying between anywhere that trains exist! In case it isn't clear, this isn't a hypothetical: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36046764
* only between a couple cities
* except for private jets
* in fact except anything that would give this ban teeth, since Macron's cabinet members all end up working for shady companies afterward
Re: The night train revolution has been hailed as an alternative to airplanes
#55I regularly take the Amtrak Crescent overnight to visit family down south. With two people (my wife and I), a roomette has been about on par with air travel pricewise the last couple of times we've traveled. Total privacy, comfy accomodations, internet access, meals and snacks included. Yeah, it does take longer, but frankly I find air travel to be stressful and uncomfortable. The longer travel time is worth it to me…
I've flown first class. Whether it counts as nicer or not probably depends a lot on your preferences.
The actual service provided on a first class plane flight is definitely more classy. Everything in the plane is more likely to be in perfect repair, with no signs of wear and tear like you see on Amtrak's aging Superliners. And the flight attendants are more likely to give you "first-class" treatment than an Amtrak porter in small ways like more consistently using "ma'am" and "sir" when they talk to you. None of that is consequential to me, but I realize it's worth calling out because my rust belt sensibilities are maybe tuned a bit differently from others'.
If you don't mind things being a bit less polished, though, a Roomette is physically more comfortable than a first-class seat in almost every way. It's quieter, you can get up and walk around as much as you want. You don't have to deal with airports and airport security. You can close your door and make a phone call without bothering anybody. You can close your door if you don't want to listen to your neighbor's conversation. You can close your door and watch a movie without headphones. There's an actual table so you can play a proper card game with your traveling partner. etc.
Re: The night train revolution has been hailed as an alternative to airplanes
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
People want to move fast. Planes are great for this. Freight has no opinion about speed. Trains are great for this. Reducing the total amount of freight that has to be moved, and moving as much of it to rail as possible, is the easiest improvement we can make. I think the US falls short sometimes because of the unwillingness to admit of excessive first class things that can help subsidize cheaper options.
> People want to move fast. This hypothesis doesn’t explain why international (night) trains are booming again in Europe.
Because a fast train is about as fast as a plane on short flights once you add in security and all the little waits, plus getting to the airport of departure and from the airport of arrival.
Re: The night train revolution has been hailed as an alternative to airplanes
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I regularly take the Amtrak Crescent overnight to visit family down south. With two people (my wife and I), a roomette has been about on par with air travel pricewise the last couple of times we've traveled. Total privacy, comfy accomodations, internet access, meals and snacks included. I'd really like to travel by train sleeper car, but I just can't justify it as transportation (rather than as "an experience") giv…
> I'd really like to travel by train sleeper car, but I just can't justify it as transportation What an odd comment. It gets you where you're going, the same as any other form of transportation. For a long time it was the default way people took long distance trips. I don't take it repeatedly for the "experience". I take it because it's a more pleasant way to travel at roughly the same price point. Do you also consid…
>> I'd really like to travel by train sleeper car, but I just can't justify it as transportation
> What an odd comment. It gets you where you're going, the same as any other form of transportation. For a long time it was the default way people took long distance trips.
But far slower than air travel, which I imagine is a big reason why air travel displaced it.
> Do you also consider road trips or long bus rides to be not transportation?
I don't take the bus, but when I drive, it's cheaper than flying (or flying + car rental).
>> given the prices.
> Again, with two people, it's been about the same price the last few times we've done it.
But it's slower, so the time-cost is higher.
Re: The night train revolution has been hailed as an alternative to airplanes
#58What I really miss sometimes is a different approach: offer trains that can take me really far (e.g Warsaw - Paris, Berlin - Madrid), but allow me to take my car with me on the train. This way, I can enjoy the comfort of the sleeping wagon, give the kids space to move around, and I do not need to rent a car at the destination, which is very expensive and is not-my-car.
I think there are some trains like this. But unfortunately it is rare. Even for bicycles, ÖBB NightJet has just 3 places (with exception Vienna-Amsterdam, that has more).
Re: The night train revolution has been hailed as an alternative to airplanes
#59I regularly take the Amtrak Crescent overnight to visit family down south. With two people (my wife and I), a roomette has been about on par with air travel pricewise the last couple of times we've traveled. Total privacy, comfy accomodations, internet access, meals and snacks included. Yeah, it does take longer, but frankly I find air travel to be stressful and uncomfortable. The longer travel time is worth it to me…
I've flown first class. Whether it counts as nicer or not probably depends a lot on your preferences. The actual service provided on a first class plane flight is definitely more classy. Everything in the plane is more likely to be in perfect repair, with no signs of wear and tear like you see on Amtrak's aging Superliners. And the flight attendants are more likely to give you "first-class" treatment than an Amtrak p…
I've done numerous trips with both experiences, and this aligns with my experience as well.
Re: The night train revolution has been hailed as an alternative to airplanes
#60>At least that’s the theory – and why the new wave of night trains are being touted as one way to replace short or even medium-haul flights across Europe and the US. I am sure in the US it is and will always be talk. Train service in the US is terrible compared to what is in the EU. It will never happen. Maybe this will work in Boston where the subways run a 3 MPH (~5kph) due to ignored repairs over the past 30/40 ye…
> Train service in the US is terrible compared to what is in the EU. And train service in the EU is terrible compared to Japan. If EU/US trains ran like Japanese Shinkanzen then there would be exactly zero need for night trains. You would board a clean train, that departed on-time, and whisked you along the countryside, reaching your destination hundreds of miles/kilometers away in 3–4 hours. Before the pedants arriv…
> Before the pedants arrive, yes I am aware there are some night trains in Japan, but they constitute 0.0000001% of Japanese train services, and are mostly a fun-tourism thing.
Sorry, it's actually 0.000001%.
- A. Pedant