181–190 of 206 posts
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They do get made at national level. That's because, for example, what to build is decided at national level, then they bid for EU funding as part of financing of the project. Basically yoy bid to get some of your money back...
Yes - the final decision whether the money gets spent is at the EU level. Which is much better than at the Austrian politics level.
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> You don't hear that much about great engineering projects today Here's a great engineering project: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorne_test_tunnel
Serious question about hyperloop trains running in a vacuum. How do you cool the carriages?
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Doesn't Flixbus cap their fleet to 100 km/h? I'd be surprised if that's higher than the average speed of most intercity trains. Graz–Vienna is admittedly a bit of a special case, since the railway tunnel there isn't finished yet, so I could see cars/buses being faster. (The train makes up for that in views, though ;)
>Doesn't Flixbus cap their fleet to 100 km/h? And the train is even slower than that. Let that sink in. >Graz–Vienna is admittedly a bit of a special case Special case at being ripped off when flights from London, Paris or Berlin across the continent are cheaper than trains from Graz to Vienna. >The train makes up for that in views, though ;) It really doesn't when you factor in the ticket prices. Some people who are…
A large part of Austria is the Alps, that poses special challenges for trains. That's why these base tunnels are so important. Funny you ignored the comment about the Semmering tunnel being built, and how it will help with the travel time on that section.
Flights are so cheap because they are subsidized (primarily the fuel), and their CO2 emissions are just swept under the rug. There is also this problem of not having enough high speed cross-country trains, and even if they exist, you usually have to change trains and book tickets separately for each country. The EU has a plan to improve on this in the next 20 years.
> trains on that route are typically full of loud obnoxious people talking on their phone on speaker mode, who don't have courtesy for others so it ruins any enjoyment of sightseeing unless you have good noise cancelling headphones.
Yes, because Ryanair or Wizzair flights never have loud obnoxious people...
Its sister tunnel - the Semmering Base Tunnel [0] - is scheduled to be completed in 2030. These two combined greatly reduce the travel time from Vienna to Graz and Klagenfurt (combined 1h 15m time saving). You don't hear that much about great engineering projects today, yet it's still an incredible feat to build those. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semmering_Base_Tunnel
Holy cow... 16.7 Hertz[1] power? At first that's a really odd sounding choice to this Hoosier. Turns out it's 1/3 of standard 50 Hz in Europe. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15_kV_AC_railway_electrificati...
My high school physics is not sufficient to really understand it.
Actually, the tunnel itself was only 17 years: 1998: Start of construction of the Koralm Railway 2008: Start of construction of the Koralm Tunnel 2018: Breakthrough Koralm Tunnel 2020: Final Koralm tunnel breakthrough 2025: This announcement ( https://orf.at/stories/3414173/ in German) https://infrastruktur.oebb.at/en/projects-for-austria/railwa...
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They actually used that in the US as well for railways. I remember a post years ago on the Classic Computer Mailing List from someone who said that their father had worked on the railways and pointed out that the "high bay" station lighting all ran off 3-phase 16.7Hz power. Apparently it looked okay at ground level but was quite disconcerting when you looked up and saw the lights flickering in patterns of three.
Early AC electrification systems in the US were typically 25Hz, not 16.7Hz. Parts of the northeast corridor still use 25Hz electrification.
This is the first time I've read anything in English about Kärnten and Steiermark. Styria and Carinthia are impressive names. It's as if the Roman Empire were still there.
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Another one between Italy, Austria and by extension Germany is scheduled for 2032 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brenner_Base_Tunnel
Isn't Italy a little geologically unstable? I'd be a bit nervous, going through a long tunnel, in a region known for vulcanism and earthquakes.
A tunnel is actually the least likely to shake; if you shake a jello with fruit inside it, the surface moves a lot but the interior fruit won’t move all that much.
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Flixbus definitely exists in Austria, but people generally take the train, which is much faster and more comfortable. There are various discount membership plans available that sometimes pay for themselves after just one round-trip or even one-way ride, and on the most popular connections there's now a private operator competing with the state-owned railway. A yearly flat-rate ticket for intercity trains is also rela…
>Flixbus definitely exists in Austria, but people generally take the train, which is much faster and more comfortable. Not always true. The Graz-Vienna(Airport) trip is often quicker by flixbus than by OBB train. Trains in Austria are quite slow , often travelling at the same speed as cars on the highway or often times even slower.
Austria is the only European country I've been to that doesn't have cheap affordable intercity buses. Seemingly none at all. It was kind of strange... Does anyone know why? The only options to get around was the expensive train system - and anyone I asked was bewildered why I would want to take a bus.. Maybe next time I should look in to carpooling or some other options. How do low income people get around typically?…