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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?

#321

Post by EdiX »

LAC-Tech wrote: post #309
aetherson wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If New Zealand is a western country do you consider Canada to be the middle east?

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

#322

Post by ascorbic »

vel0city wrote: post #276
ascorbic wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/dfw-airport-destinat... So the top destinations out of Dallas are Atlanta, Denver, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Austin, Phoenix, Houston, Orlando, Chicago, and New York. So HSR would potentially be competitive with maybe two of the top 10 destinations when comparing to air travel for DFW. I'm a proponent for the Texas HSR projects, but I don't think it's going to really radically ch…

Right. HSR isn't meant to replace all long distance travel. European cities still have very busy airports, and just look at the Ryanair route map: https://www.ryanair.com/en/cheap-flight-destinations. HSR would be ideal for DFW, Austin and Houston, where a triangular route would be very competitive, and I'd imagine would have very high passenger numbers and would replace a lot of plane and car journeys.

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

#323

Post by kuon »

This is so bad when compared to Japan.

I don't mean that to be mean, but there is so much improvement possible. I hope it will improve. I live in Switzerland and I cannot use public transport most if the time because there isn't any.

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

#324

Post by LAC-Tech »

EdiX wrote: post #321
LAC-Tech wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If New Zealand is a western country do you consider Canada to be the middle east?

I never took the term "western" to be purely geographical

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

#325

Post by eCa »

bloak wrote: post #100
jillesvangurp wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Literally happened to me yesterday on the way back to Berlin. I arrived 2 hours late. In fairness there was what was labelled "a personal accident" on the track, which is a euphemism for somebody jumping in front of a train. Which unfortunately happens and needs to be dealt with properly and is not really something anybody can do much about. But delays are fairly common on that particular route (Berlin-Amsterdam). Th…

> "a personal accident" on the track, which is a euphemism for somebody jumping in front of a train Removing a body from the track shouldn't take long, of course. The problem is if you need to do detailed forensics because it might have been a murder. At least, I am guessing that's the reason that sometimes a line stays closed for a long time with a lot of police vehicles parked in the vicinity (here in England), whe…

In addition to the sibling comment, it is also generally a requirement that the crew is changed before the train can continue, which also takes a while.

As an aside, I was once on a train that hit a deer-sized animal while going through a cutout, which caused the now dead animal to bounce back and hit the side of the train. The first car had blood smeared all over. When we rolled into the next station, there was a collective dropping of jaws among the people waiting to board. Yes, there was an announcement once they had boarded that it wasn’t a person.

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

#326

Post by jenadine »

bpye wrote: post #220
thatcat wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maintenance cost and fuel costs are considerably lower for trains, why would they cost the same amount?

Lower emissions as well, which, I would hope we all care about.

Why should we? The difference is a drop on the ocean for the climate. While choosing convenience/price has a immediate impact on yourself. The rational choice at the individual level is not to care for such things. Actions has to be taken at the political level.

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

#327

Post by BlarfMcFlarf »

pembrook wrote: post #262
drtgh wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://jalopnik.com/did-musk-propose-hyperloop-to-stop-cali... At the time, it seemed that Musk had dished out the Hyperloop proposal just to make the public and legislators rethink the high-speed train. He didn’t actually intend to build the thing. It was more that he wanted to show people that more creative ideas were out there for things that might actually solve problems and push the state forward. With any luck…

Ahh the smoking gun...another conspiracy theory? Trying to convince internet leftists that a cabal of Evil Capitalists are not behind all of the worlds ills is like trying to convince internet right wingers that most vaccines work.

I don’t really care what is in Elons heart. The lesson learned is the same regardless: ignore the nonsense gadgetbahns dreamed up by business people and focus on the real proven technologies in use already around to world.

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

#328

Post by JoshTriplett »

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…

First class varies by train. Most often, though, it means fewer seats packed into the same space; for instance, often coach has a 2/2 configuration (2 seats on each side), while first class has a 2/1 configuration. First class also more often has seats facing each other with a table.

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

#330

Post by ant6n »

physhster wrote: post #184
ant6n wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The state railways have large exited night trains as a form of transport, due to economics, although it’s a much more sustainable form of transportation compared to aviation. Since Europe has a liberalized market in the rail sector, some startups are trying to fill the gap. European sleeper operates a night train on the route Brussel-Amsterdam-Berlin-Prague, using old rented rolling stock. I’m involved with Luna Rail…

I've been wondering how long it would take for a startup to figure out how to build train cars for cheaper than the incumbents. I know it's hard, but not as hard as building airplanes... As long as the authorities agree to certify them, and I could see a lot of corruption there.

The unit economics for Night trains are in the operation. U want your cars to minimize operating cost, which may actually make the asset costs more expensive (at least at first).
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