Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Midnight train from GA: A view of America from the tracks as airports struggle

apnews.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 145 posts

Re: Midnight train from GA: A view of America from the tracks as airports struggle

#21

Post by dylan604 »

hdgvhicv wrote: post #12
dylan604 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I deliberately chose a low mpg value. Most people are driving SUVs what I assumed 20mpg would be safe. My car averages about 26mpg. I have no insight into how many kilometers per liter UK cars get, but the translated £/litre to $/gallon has always shocked me at the price paid on that side of the pond. If Americans had to to pay the same rate, we'd have better mpg ratings as well.

I paid £1.45 a litre on Friday my average, which I tend to treat as about 14p a mile or 18c a mile. I’m not sure why I’d deliberately burn more fuel regardless of the price. Literally setting fire to cash for nothing. That would be $120 for your trip to Georgia, about the same price as in the US despite fuel being $7.30 a gallon equivalent in the uk.

I don't know where you're coming with deliberately here as if that's something I chose. I'm not familiar with cars getting 43mpg in the US. Maybe some hybrid, but that's definitely not the norm on this side of the pond. Even when I had a Corolla, which was the highest rated car I've ever driven, did not get 43mpg.

Your "deliberate" sounds a lot like victim blaming here.

Re: Midnight train from GA: A view of America from the tracks as airports struggle

#22

Post by PostOnce »

homeonthemtn wrote: post #2

Whoa, forget the train, folks check out this website. This is active??

Active and beautiful, I can start reading without having to scroll down, which I have to do on the AP site.

I miss when the web looked like this, and pages were documents instead of applications.

We built the wrong web, we needed two, one for documents, and one for applications, but we built this rube goldberg contraption instead.

Re: Midnight train from GA: A view of America from the tracks as airports struggle

#23

Post by dylan604 »

uyzstvqs wrote: post #17
dylan604 wrote: post #6

Delta has round trip flights from ATL->WAS for ~$800 TFA train round trip shows $306 without a private cabin. TFA already mentioned the time differences. The googs says it's 638miles doable in 9.5hours. Say an average of 20mpg at $4/gal (I have no idea what current rates are in that part of the country) needs 32gals for $128 one way or $256 to come back. Of course someone needs to drive it. The train definitely looks…

What? I can book ATL WAS round trip for $74 with Frontier, $184 with Delta. With a checked bag $168-254.

it's what my look up specifically for this comment gave me using Delta's website. I tried booking for 3/30 - 4/02 roundtrip. I went with Delta as that was specifically called out in TFA. Deliberately limiting the variables. Besides, I'd be in a really desperate situation to choose Frontier.

Re: Midnight train from GA: A view of America from the tracks as airports struggle

#24

Post by bryananderson »

GenerWork wrote: post #18
adjejmxbdjdn wrote: post #10

> The train is still longer, and time is money, we are taught. But certainty has value, too, even if it means at 11:29 p.m. departure. Unfortunately this is misleading. Outside of the Northeast Acela corridor, there is no certainty in train travel in the U.S.. Although legally passenger trains are now supposed to have right of way over freight trains, in practice that’s just not the case. So a 14.5 hr train journey c…

I believe Brightline in Florida has ownership of its tracks from Cocoa to Orlando.

It does not, but it has a sane scheduling agreement with the railroad which the railroad actually respects.

This is a common misconception because Brightline’s parent company Florida East Coast Industries shares heritage with Florida East Coast Railway, but the companies were split in 2007.

Re: Midnight train from GA: A view of America from the tracks as airports struggle

#25

Post by dylan604 »

tzs wrote: post #16
dylan604 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I deliberately chose a low mpg value. Most people are driving SUVs what I assumed 20mpg would be safe. My car averages about 26mpg. I have no insight into how many kilometers per liter UK cars get, but the translated £/litre to $/gallon has always shocked me at the price paid on that side of the pond. If Americans had to to pay the same rate, we'd have better mpg ratings as well.

That's way too pessimistic. Among SUV drivers in the US the biggest segment is compact SUVs (think Toyota RAV4 or Honda CR-V). Then midsize (like Toyota Highlander or Hyundai Palisade), subcompact (Mazda CX-30, Hyundai Kona), then full sized (Chevy Tahoe, Ford Expedition). RAV4 non-hybrid is around 35 mpg highway. CR-V 34 mpg highway. In midsize, Highlander is 29 mpg highway, and Palisade is 25 mpg highway. In subcom…

Great, but it's still 9.5 hours of time on the wheel. Train/plane eliminates that. So even if it is 1/3 cheaper in fuel, it's something that needs to be considered.

Re: Midnight train from GA: A view of America from the tracks as airports struggle

#26

Post by standardUser »

superultra wrote: post #7

I’ve taken this line - as many have and do all the time. Ride it once and you’ll realize why it’s the better way to travel in every way but cost and time - and both of those are a result of the United State unwillingness to fully fund something like Amtrak. As the author states traveling by train just a more pleasant experience. I should note that even though there is technically wifi on every Amtrak train, it’s cell…

Years ago I tried to book a train from San Francisco to Chicago as part of a trip I had planned but found it to be more expensive and, more significantly, a multi-day journey instead of a few hours. If you happen to be an American living near one of the useful passenger rail lines, and desire to go to one of the few destinations it can take you to quickly and affordably, more power to you. But most Americans live nowhere near a useful rail system.

Re: Midnight train from GA: A view of America from the tracks as airports struggle

#27

Post by aziaziazi »

superultra wrote: post #7

I’ve taken this line - as many have and do all the time. Ride it once and you’ll realize why it’s the better way to travel in every way but cost and time - and both of those are a result of the United State unwillingness to fully fund something like Amtrak. As the author states traveling by train just a more pleasant experience. I should note that even though there is technically wifi on every Amtrak train, it’s cell…

I’m curious if a classic starlings antenna works at 100-300 km/h with occasional rotation, or will it need to be mounted on a targeting motor on top of the train?

Re: Midnight train from GA: A view of America from the tracks as airports struggle

#28

Post by ghaff »

I’m hoping it won’t be necessary but, if TSA is fundamentally broken with an international transfer through Dulles I will seriously consider taking the train from a union Station to Boston.

Honestly surprised how many TSA people are still working without pay. I wouldn’t in their shoes. Maybe if TSA just basically shutdown commercial aviation in the US it would lead to some progress.

Re: Midnight train from GA: A view of America from the tracks as airports struggle

#29

Post by xvedejas »

adjejmxbdjdn wrote: post #10

> The train is still longer, and time is money, we are taught. But certainty has value, too, even if it means at 11:29 p.m. departure. Unfortunately this is misleading. Outside of the Northeast Acela corridor, there is no certainty in train travel in the U.S.. Although legally passenger trains are now supposed to have right of way over freight trains, in practice that’s just not the case. So a 14.5 hr train journey c…

A couple of the lines I ride in California have decent on-time rates (mostly I ride the line formerly known as the San Joaquins)
Post reply on HN