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

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

chronotrains.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

301–310 of 428 posts

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

#301

Post by Tijdreiziger »

donalhunt wrote: post #164
caseyy wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the same as I was reading the comment you're responding to. Arriving rested after public transport? Get a load of that guy :) Not sure how anyone does that, but of course it would be nice to learn this dark magic.

First class sleeper cabins would count. Definitely not equivalent to a hotel room but better than a couchette. The definitely ran between Germany and the Netherlands in the 00s because I took at least one trip that way.

IIUC you have these options:

* couchette (6 couchettes per cabin, less comfort)

* 2nd class bed (3 beds per cabin)

* 1st class bed (same as 2nd class, but 2 beds per cabin)

* 1st class private bed (same as above, but without roommate)

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

#302

Post by bowmessage »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #288
Beijinger wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I’d arrive in a new city each morning feeling refreshed because of the train’s sleeping accommodations." Aeh, where were you travelling? Many countries did not have sleeper trains. Don't get me wrong. I did the same, travelling at night in trains, and it saved me a night in a hotel. But I did not arrive well rested, I arrived train wrecked.

I traveled by sleeper train in india, around 2010. They had beds, but every time I woke up, there were 3-4 Indian dudes that had come into our cabin and climbed on my bed to get some shut eye. It wasn't threatening or anything, just a wild experience and insightful lesson in cultural differences

Strange men climbing into one’s bed sounds very threatening to me..?

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

#303

Post by ghaff »

yumraj wrote: post #179

Question: many of these could be day trips, if train schedule permits, if one is trying to cover many cities during a single trip. I know it’s not an ideal way to visit Europe, but just humor me please. What’s a good city to make the base, which has good connectivity with as many different cities in different countries as possible, and is a good destination in itself?

I'd probably agree on Paris. Maybe Berlin. But Paris is probably a better choice for historical reasons.

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

#304

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

bongodongobob wrote: post #290
PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Today the US has 3-5X less population density than any country with high speed rail. This may be true when averaged across the entire country (or even just the lower 48). But it is absolutely not true if you consider various zones of the country as candidates for good rail service. Several such zones exist, among them: 1. the north east corridor, perhaps one of the largest and densest conurbations in the world 2. t…

I will speak to the Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, Minneapolis/St Paul region. Rail is not going to happen until you don't need a car in those cities. Chicago you could do, but the others are not pedestrian friendly. Anyone traveling within that region will have a 95% chance of already owning a car. Unless the train gets you from Chicago to Minneapolis in an hour, people are just going to drive. The risk with car renta…

For the record, I live in a tiny village in New Mexico.

Also for the record, the overwhelming majority of the US population lives in metropolitan areas, not rural ones.

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

#306

Post by ajmurmann »

thatcat wrote: post #132
likeabatterycar wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

China, Russia, and India have high speed rail. Can you cite the reasons that these large countries are capable of building high speed rail while the US is not? Where is the recent innovation in US air travel? It has gotten considerably worse over the last 30 years. Supersonic passenger flights stopped in 2003 around the same time that TSA added hours to every flight.

As others have pointed out Russia didn't have high-speed rail. The reason is related to the real reason the US doesn't have it. It's of course density. Relevant US cities are much further apart. You practically need hsr to make it practical at all which prevents incremental improvement of the train system. I hear that's different on the east coast (I've spent very little time there) but it certainly sets culture when for most of the country trains are a bad option.

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

#308

Post by ajmurmann »

rpearl wrote: post #233
likeabatterycar wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I think it's relevant that Shanghai and Beijing are 5x the size of SF and Seattle while construction cost are a significant upfront barrier and don't go down much by needing to service fewer travelers.

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

#309

Post by LAC-Tech »

aetherson wrote: post #248
LAC-Tech wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2.5 times faster than any train in my wealthy, western country.

I don't know which wealthy, western country you live in, but to be clear in the US Acela trains get up to 150 mph (241 kmh) -- admittedly in a short section, but with other sections that have a top speed of 135 mph (217 kmh). The entire route from Washington to New York has an average speed ( including stops ) of 90mph (140 kmh). Should Acela be faster? Probably! But people should be clear-eyed about what the reality…

New Zealand. You know that place americans fantasize about moving to when the newly elected president has the wrong colour tie. Trains are 80km/h max.

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

#310

Post by monkeywork »

mitthrowaway2 wrote: post #293
aetherson wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, the recent innovation in US air travel is that the TSA no longer adds hours to every flight. Like, is it maddening that we're curing a self-inflicted problem? Sure, of course it is. But the railfan community is also stuck in 2010. Every flight I've been on in the last 10 years I've walked through a metal detector, not a scanner, I've kept my shoes and belt on, my laptop in my bag. It's like 2000 all over agai…

Still, we don't put airports in the middle of built-up downtown areas, and for good reason. You usually have to hail a taxi or bus from an airport, whereas you can step out of a (good) train station and be right where you want to be.

Boston, San Diego, and Wash DC all have airports roughly 3 miles outside their main core. Toronto (YTZ) has an airport less than 2 miles.
Post reply on HN