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The longest train journey in the world in 2021

jonworth.eu

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Re: The longest train journey in the world in 2021

#11

Post by telesilla »

jasonkester wrote: post #7

It occurs to me that I've done nearly every leg on this route at some point. Except of course taking a different route through china and Vietnam since that high speed link through laos didn't exist 20 years ago. I did that Thailand night train back and forth to Surat Thani at least a half dozen times back when I'd spend my winters there. It's probably my favorite of the bunch for sheer atmosphere. It's a shame that n…

Last time I took the high speed train they left us a reminder on the ticket about how much less carbon the travel was with them. I wondered then, why was it still cheaper to fly? I took the train that time for convenience as it was direct but not much cheaper.

Re: The longest train journey in the world in 2021

#13

Post by sborra »

telesilla wrote: post #11
jasonkester wrote: post #7

It occurs to me that I've done nearly every leg on this route at some point. Except of course taking a different route through china and Vietnam since that high speed link through laos didn't exist 20 years ago. I did that Thailand night train back and forth to Surat Thani at least a half dozen times back when I'd spend my winters there. It's probably my favorite of the bunch for sheer atmosphere. It's a shame that n…

Last time I took the high speed train they left us a reminder on the ticket about how much less carbon the travel was with them. I wondered then, why was it still cheaper to fly? I took the train that time for convenience as it was direct but not much cheaper.

There's much less competition (if any) in rail travel for any given route.

Re: The longest train journey in the world in 2021

#14

Post by thriftwy »

You don't need to take a metro in Moscow to change between Petersburg and Vladivostok trains. Two terminals are located 50m apart. So, from Vyborg, just take a train to Moscow. Or go to Tver and get on any eastbound train, going to Kazan or Samara or Ryazan for that matter, if you want to skip Moscow entirely.

The advertised Vyborg-Tver train is a scenic route which runs once in a blue moon.

Re: The longest train journey in the world in 2021

#15

Post by leroy_masochist »

I've been planning a trip pretty similar to this for years, and like to think that I would have done it in summer 2020 had COVID not happened (my planned route is Skye-Bali and involves a couple of ferries so not 100% train).

I cosign everything in the OP article regarding logistics, current availability, the Vientiane Gap, etc. The only thing I'd note is that there's a different route available that is about 1000km shorter, via Barcelona-Nice-Milan-Venice-Vienna-Bucharest-Istanbul-Baku-Astrakhan-Almaty-Urumqi-Kunming-etc.

I've done nearly the full Trans-Siberian and while it's a cool experience (esp if you speak Russian and can talk with people on the train), watching pine trees go by gets boring after day 3. I personally think that if you're going to commit to a Europe-Asia train trip, it's better to take the scenic route.

The even more exciting option will be when China finishes the Dushanbe-Kashgar and Lhasa-Chengdu railways. That will facilitate an absolutely epic ride through the top of the world.

Re: The longest train journey in the world in 2021

#16

Post by privong »

thriftwy wrote: post #12
privong wrote: post #3

Some comments from ~10 days earlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29570640

That's a different text with classical pre-COVID route.

This newer HN post includes an anchor link to a specific section of the page about COVID impacts, but it's the same page/text.

Re: The longest train journey in the world in 2021

#17

Post by emteycz »

sborra wrote: post #13
telesilla wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last time I took the high speed train they left us a reminder on the ticket about how much less carbon the travel was with them. I wondered then, why was it still cheaper to fly? I took the train that time for convenience as it was direct but not much cheaper.

There's much less competition (if any) in rail travel for any given route.

Definitely not the case in EU and where so, it's only because of governmental inference in the market. Czechia deregulated few years ago and instantly (literally the first day the deregulation came into effect) there was 10+ new rail travel companies operating on basically every conceivable route.

Re: The longest train journey in the world in 2021

#18

Post by Symbiote »

sborra wrote: post #13
telesilla wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last time I took the high speed train they left us a reminder on the ticket about how much less carbon the travel was with them. I wondered then, why was it still cheaper to fly? I took the train that time for convenience as it was direct but not much cheaper.

There's much less competition (if any) in rail travel for any given route.

There's also no tax on jet fuel.

A high speed train almost always has a lower speed competitor, although it may be run by the same company.

Re: The longest train journey in the world in 2021

#19

Post by sandworm101 »

telesilla wrote: post #11
jasonkester wrote: post #7

It occurs to me that I've done nearly every leg on this route at some point. Except of course taking a different route through china and Vietnam since that high speed link through laos didn't exist 20 years ago. I did that Thailand night train back and forth to Surat Thani at least a half dozen times back when I'd spend my winters there. It's probably my favorite of the bunch for sheer atmosphere. It's a shame that n…

Last time I took the high speed train they left us a reminder on the ticket about how much less carbon the travel was with them. I wondered then, why was it still cheaper to fly? I took the train that time for convenience as it was direct but not much cheaper.

Infrastructure. A train isn't just a vehicle but thousands of miles of track that must be maintained. The higher the speed, the greater the cost to build and maintain that track. Airplanes need runways, but those are a pittance to maintain compared to rail lines. Land is also 2d finite resource that must be dedicated to rail travel. Airspace is 3d.

Re: The longest train journey in the world in 2021

#20

Post by 999900000999 »

tombh wrote: post #5

Over a 6 month period in 2016 I did London to Beijing by train. I blogged/tweeted the The Trans Siberian leg of it https://tombh.co.uk/tweets-from-trans-siberia

How much was it.

From your tweets, looks like most people were friendly, if I was to do this, I think I'd rent an entire room though.

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