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Where can you go in Europe by train in 8h?

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Re: Where can you go in Europe by train in 8h?

#231

Post by sakjur »

GuB-42 wrote: post #193
Beijinger wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. It was called Interrail. You had to have an EU Passport to buy this ticket. And be below 26 years of age. I think it still exits.

It still exists: https://www.interrail.eu/ You don't have to be younger than 26 to buy one, not anymore, but it is cheaper if you are. If you are a EU citizen, it gets you free, unlimited travel by train in most European countries. If you are not a EU citizen, there is the Eurail pass that is similar. But that's the theory. In practice there are important limitations: - You can't use it in your home country, except f…

For non-Europeans: https://www.eurail.com/en

There are some home country limitations for Interrail, but I’m not really sure why the passes are still kept separate beyond that. It seems Eurail and Interrail are mostly identical beyond the residency/anti-residency requirements.

Re: Where can you go in Europe by train in 8h?

#232

Post by mtmail »

dinkblam wrote: post #228

why not create the same things for cars? would be great if you could see where you could go in 1/2/3 hours from your location. no current map or navigation service seems to be of help here

It's computational more complex (thus expensive): more types of vehicles, more potential roads to travel, traffic or road limitations (maximum speed, width, allowed access). There's niche players like https://playground.traveltime.com/isochrones . Technical term is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isochrone_map

[Edit] https://withinhours.com/ seems easy to use

Re: Where can you go in Europe by train in 8h?

#233

Post by rpearl »

likeabatterycar wrote: post #126
yndoendo wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would travel more around the USA if we had a decedent high-speed rail system. Spent too much time flying, red-eyes, and driving for work, 7-12+ hours one way, and hate those modes of transportation. They may get you from point A to B but your time is wasted along with the enjoyment of the trip. Unfortunately the Oil industry won over the politicians in the USA with donations, legal bribes, and they prevent the buil…

Can you provide sources for the Big Oil conspiracy you cite? Because nationwide high speed rail isn't as easy - or practical - as you think. California hadn't been able to build a train a fraction of that distance without delays and squandering massive amounts of money. The PNW has been unable to build it from Portland to Vancouver. The US is many times larger than any European country or Japan. There are US states s…

> California hadn't been able to build a train a fraction of that distance without delays and squandering[??] massive amounts of money.

It costs money and time to build HSR. Fine. The J(N)R director who ran the shinkansen project literally lied to multiple levels of government to shield the (2x+) budget overruns. He resigned and then within a year of it opening he was given a medal for extraordinary contributions to Japan.

> Because nationwide high speed rail isn't as easy - or practical - as you think.

Who is claiming that it is easy? However, it is practical! It takes 6 hours to drive Tokyo to Osaka; it's 2hr by train. Trains leave every 5 minutes.

A west coast HSR network is just obviously practical! Beijing-Shanghai HSR is 1300km; SF to Seattle would be the same. It'd be 4-5h on a train. Right now it's 2.5 hours on a plane plus a recommended 1.5 hours for security and boarding plus transfers on each side--I'd rather take a high speed train If I could! SF to LA could be ~3h. 90 minutes on a plane plus lead time and transfer times and it's competitive. Again.

> There are US states similar in size to EU countries with comparable rail networks.

Oh, which ones?

Re: Where can you go in Europe by train in 8h?

#235

Post by arkensaw »

I had a chance to travel by rail from Amsterdam to Belgium and I chose a first class ticket, hoping to experience some real luxury (I've never travelled first class anywhere before)

It was very disappointing. We had to wait on an exposed end of the platform away from regular commuters. When I boarded it was no more luxurious than a regular train. I got a meal which consisted of a sandwich which was, I swear, a 1" x 4" sliver of bread with broccoli pesto on it, and another piece on top. not even a full sandwich. I also got a lukewarm cup of coffee and a yoghurt.

Re: Where can you go in Europe by train in 8h?

#236

Post by Panzer04 »

pembrook wrote: post #152
yndoendo wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would travel more around the USA if we had a decedent high-speed rail system. Spent too much time flying, red-eyes, and driving for work, 7-12+ hours one way, and hate those modes of transportation. They may get you from point A to B but your time is wasted along with the enjoyment of the trip. Unfortunately the Oil industry won over the politicians in the USA with donations, legal bribes, and they prevent the buil…

This is a false conspiracy narrative that belongs on Reddit in the r/fuckcars filter bubble. Sure, the automotive industry stood to benefit from the decline of rail travel in the US. But they didn’t really need to do anything for that to happen on its own. Reality is far less interesting than that. Turns out when you have tons of fertile land, even pre-industrialization your population tends to spread out a bit (the…

For what it's worth, I somewhat agree. High speed rail in particular is super expensive, and airplanes are surprisingly cheap and flexible in comparison.

Re: Where can you go in Europe by train in 8h?

#238

Post by bgnn »

arkensaw wrote: post #235

I had a chance to travel by rail from Amsterdam to Belgium and I chose a first class ticket, hoping to experience some real luxury (I've never travelled first class anywhere before) It was very disappointing. We had to wait on an exposed end of the platform away from regular commuters. When I boarded it was no more luxurious than a regular train. I got a meal which consisted of a sandwich which was, I swear, a 1" x 4…

1st class for such a distance isn't for luxury but for more space. You should check before buying anything.

Re: Where can you go in Europe by train in 8h?

#240

Post by ascorbic »

vel0city wrote: post #208
thatcat wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The proof is in the profits that result from a favorable and otherwise illogical set of choices. Who even cares about the details? The oil and related industries are notoriously corrupt, introducing lead into gas knowing the toxic effects among other policy choices aimed at reducing alternatives to cars such as: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_consp... Where's the logical argument against high…

The logical argument is even if you include my time in the airport on both ends it'll still be faster for me to fly from DFW to NYC or LAX than even the fastest trains of Europe, and probably still cost a comparable amount. If there was HSR between Houston and Dallas, sure I'd take that. Same for Dallas to Kansas City or something similar to that I'd love that. But that's about the distance where even the extra wait…

High-speed rail isn't meant for DFW to NYC distances. It's best for journeys of around 200-500 miles. So Boston-NYC-DC, or SF-LA. Or Houston-Dallas.
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