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Stable 1.2 Gigabit/s Internet achieved in moving train in Switzerland

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Re: Stable 1.2 Gigabit/s Internet achieved in moving train in Switzerland

#271

Post by ovi256 »

mafuy wrote: post #225
Aeolun wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, so there’s some positive externalities too ;) It’s not healthy for Europe to be so dependent on the US, as has been proven over the past 4 years.

Europe also does not stir up as much conflict in the world as the US does, isn't it? So they are less in need of defense.

The biggest EU defence needs are two: securing oil ingress from the Middle East and securing resource ingress from Africa. Without the US 5th fleet, Iran or any other regional power could shut down oil ingress, pitching the EU into a sizable (-30%) GDP recession. Instability, of which there is plenty in the Middle East, could do the same.

Same for Africa, with the added threat of Chinese competition for the same resources. Without those raw materials (minerals, uranium, some oil and gas) European manufacturing doesn't have a future. Hence the constant French and American interventions to stabilize various African states and their tight relations with their governments.

Re: Stable 1.2 Gigabit/s Internet achieved in moving train in Switzerland

#272

Post by mullsork »

jensneuse wrote: post #75

Meanwhile in Germany you constantly lose your internet connection outside of large cities.

Or if you're in Berlin, you lose your internet connection inside the large city as well. Seems to have improved greatly in the last two or three years though.

Re: Stable 1.2 Gigabit/s Internet achieved in moving train in Switzerland

#273

Post by maccard »

cmdshiftf4 wrote: post #97
ubanholzer wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Flying is just too cheap for the environment. 1 EUR per km for car/plain and 0.4-0.5 by train should be the minimum.

Only the rich should be allowed leave their home town! Back to work, peasants!

I don't think this attitude helps; the parent poster has a point. Jet fuel isn't taxed, yet trains pay the full fuel duty (and even electric trains pay some other duty costs).

Re: Stable 1.2 Gigabit/s Internet achieved in moving train in Switzerland

#274

Post by samoa42 »

jensneuse wrote: post #75

Meanwhile in Germany you constantly lose your internet connection outside of large cities.

thb it is very dependent on the location.

ie. i get good 4g signal in most of the forests in bavaria but no signal at all in the lobby of my local hospital.

Re: Stable 1.2 Gigabit/s Internet achieved in moving train in Switzerland

#275

Post by RajuVarghese »

atmosx wrote: post #248
ggm wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't think you would be willing to pay the amount of taxes you would need to, to completely redo the railways haha. This premise feels wrong: The Swiss, German, Chinese, Spanish experience is that people pay to have high speed rail services, and the G20 economies in that list pay high marginal rates of taxes just fine, for this outcome. The "you" here is conditionally the "you" of current social mores America. I…

I find that perplexing about US politics in general. Any proposal on taxes and social benefits, throws off people that at a first glance shouldn't. Maybe large part of the voting base are millionaires.

There are 11 million millionaires in the US which is approx 3.3% of the population. Polls show that many more people expect to become millionaires real soon. In fact, 60% expect to become wealthy during their lifetimes. The optimism that one sees in the US is commendable but it reflects itself in the resistance to taxing the rich. After all, why would you vote to increase taxes if it is going to negatively affect you in a few years. In reality, very few actually become rich.

Edit: link to a recent article on how many US persons expect to get rich/wealthy/millionaires ... https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/13/how-much-money-americans-thi...

Re: Stable 1.2 Gigabit/s Internet achieved in moving train in Switzerland

#276

Post by ht85 »

rho4 wrote: post #268
ttul wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm quite sure Swiss taxes are lower than US taxes. A married person earning CHF 100,000 in Zurich with three kids will receive CHF 92,000 after tax and including the "family allowances", or thereabouts. In Washington State, a married person making $100,000/yr will take home only $83,666.

I'm Swiss, programming tax declaration and calculation software. Your example seems to take into account only the social security deduction. The ~92000 will indeed appear in your bank account, but at the end of the year you will have to pay income and wealth tax on that. Switzerland is one of a few countries where taxes are not automatically deducted from your salary (except for expats and some cornercases). You are…

I think the 92k is correct for net income, breakdown would be something like:

    Gross salary: 100k
    Family allowance: ~300 x 3 x 12 = ~10.8k
    Salary deductions (unemployment, retirement, social insurances): ~11k
    Taxes: ~8k

Re: Stable 1.2 Gigabit/s Internet achieved in moving train in Switzerland

#277

Post by __boos »

dodobirdlord wrote: post #233
ashtonkem wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Evidence from Europe and Asia shows that this is probably wrong. People in those areas strongly prefer high speed rail for trips that are less than 3-4 hours long, and begin to switch over to airplanes beyond that.

High speed rail generally goes a bit faster than 300km/h. At that speed a lot of things are less than 4 hours away. Chicago is a bit less than 4 hours from NYC at that speed, as is Seattle from San Francisco. San Francisco to Seattle is obviously not a great candidate for a high speed rail line because it doesn't pass through much of interest, but it gives a good sense of the scale.

With train you can have the tesla experience i.e. not driving and reading, watching movies, working, eating on train restaurant while moving at 350 KM/h.

In Europe we use them because you can go about 10 minutes before a train leave and carry as much as luggage do you need, plus they are usually cheaper.

Re: Stable 1.2 Gigabit/s Internet achieved in moving train in Switzerland

#278

Post by RajuVarghese »

nhf wrote: post #12
singhrac wrote: post #4

I would honestly pay significantly higher taxes if we could get Swiss-quality train service in parts of the US (and especially if they have good internet). When I traveled Boston to NY in the past, compare my flight experience vs Amtrak. Flight: - Take $25 Uber to airport and get there 1 hour early to go through security and wait. - Fly to JFK (1h 20m) - land, wait to get off, go through terminal again, then take $50…

One interesting thing about the Swiss system is they've prioritized reliable connectivity and frequent service over high-speed service. They do have some higher speed rail, but nothing even as fast as their neighbors in France or Germany. I feel like we have a thing for high speed rail here in the US as an aspirational goal, but maybe we should be aiming for reliable regional connectivity as a first step. Austin to S…

I hope that the Swiss will stay level-headed and not get into high-speed trains. Reliable connections are far better for more people. The opposite example I would like to present is the high-speed Berlin-Munich train line. It has gobbled up a lot of the railway budget. According to Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin%E2%80%93Munich_high-spe...] this was the most expensive transportation project in Germany. In my opinion it would have been better to bring the rest of the infrastructure up to a higher standard.

Re: Stable 1.2 Gigabit/s Internet achieved in moving train in Switzerland

#279

Post by mschuster91 »

ThePhysicist wrote: post #265
singhrac wrote: post #4

I would honestly pay significantly higher taxes if we could get Swiss-quality train service in parts of the US (and especially if they have good internet). When I traveled Boston to NY in the past, compare my flight experience vs Amtrak. Flight: - Take $25 Uber to airport and get there 1 hour early to go through security and wait. - Fly to JFK (1h 20m) - land, wait to get off, go through terminal again, then take $50…

It's hard to understand for me why there even isn't any high-speed train service between large metropolitan areas in the US. As an example, in 2016 I took the train from New York to Montreal. The distance is only about 600 km, but the train ride took almost 12 hours! Part of that was due to the border checks of course, but even during the part in the States the train tucked along really slowly and had to stop multipl…

> which have priority over passenger trains it seems

Historical reason: the rails were built by freight companies and not by the government like in most of Europe. For them, passenger trains are, at best, an afterthought that doesn't matter.

Re: Stable 1.2 Gigabit/s Internet achieved in moving train in Switzerland

#280

Post by kortilla »

Retric wrote: post #222
dtwest wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Building such a network is less economically feasible in America compared to Europe or China because of America's suburban sprawl. First, it'll cost more to build because you'll need to clear out a route of suburban housing to get between any two cities. Second, the population density of the US is less concentrated, which makes getting to the station take longer, and improves the relative attractiveness of other tran…

US population density is hardly the issue for two reasons, first nobody wants high speed rail in Alaska. But secondly high speed rail is between cities not every little podunk town. Linking Richmond, DC, Baltimore, NYC, Boston is a single 550 mile high speed rail line, which connects over 10% of the entire Americana population.

Sounds good. Don’t make us over in California pay for it though.
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