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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?

#421

Post by throw5959 »

saagarjha wrote: post #419
throw5959 wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Roughly every fifth flight they call my name, but I never missed a flight because of late arrival.

Do you only fly through small airports? I can't see how you would possibly guarantee not getting stuck in security at least sometimes

90% yes. I don't live nor work in the major hubs, sometimes I fly through as a stopover though (in EU you don't need to go through security again). I do this on purpose - often there are several airports about the same distance from my destination, so I just pick the least used one.

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

#422

Post by mitthrowaway2 »

mnky9800n wrote: post #412
mitthrowaway2 wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's possible that would gradually start to change, starting around rail stations.

That requires the area around rail stations to be built for pedestrians and bicycles, not cars. That doesn’t seem to be the case in many places in America.

Places can change! American cities were built for pedestrians in the '20s, and Dutch cities were built fir cars until the '90s.

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

#423

Post by UranusDuzen »

dspillett wrote: post #341
bpye wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I spent a couple weeks travelling by train across Europe a few years ago on an Interrail pass. I found sleeper cabins were generally pretty comfortable, though you do have to pay extra for them. If you were just sleeping in a seat then yes I can believe you felt awful the next day.

I travel by train regularly in the UK and it isn't unusual to take up to 8 hours to get anywhere :) The closest I've been to a sleeper in recent decades has been five hours on a cold station because cancellations & delays have meant missing the last onward connection of the day so waiting for the first morning service (there are supposed to be provisions for that by way of providing accommodation or replacement taxi…

[dead]

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

#424

Post by throw__away7391 »

TowerTall wrote: post #420
throw__away7391 wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I’d arrive in a new city each morning feeling refreshed because of the train’s sleeping accommodations. Oh man this has definitely not been my experience! Last I tried this I booked a "VIP" sleeper car with a private bathroom/shower, and it was anything but. The constant shaking of the train side to side coupled with a bunch of young American girls running up and down the halls screaming to each other all night mea…

the key is earplugs

and bring my own water I guess

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

#425

Post by rcbdev »

cenamus wrote: post #332
gcanyon wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious what you intend by your comparison to the Russian train system -- Russia has more distance to cover/is more spread out, but the U.S. has over twice as many miles of track. I'm pretty confident that that comparison doesn't hold if we compare passenger rail miles, but I think the point is that the track is there in the U.S., it's just that few people here find passenger rail compelling as an alternative to…

The US also has over 2x as many people and wayyyy more wealth

The quality of life, in times of peace, does seem comparable to that of rural U.S.. Adding to that, U.S. households are orders of magnitude more personally indebted than Russia.

I don't buy the "wealth" argument. A nation's wealth says little about how wealthy, in practice, its residents are.

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

#426

Post by rcbdev »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #146
sloowm wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can thank all local train operators for this. They have been fighting a shared ticketing system tooth and nail at the European level and the weak politicians in Europe who don't push for a shared system. There is a legislative proposal but that will take years and operators are going to try and get around it: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/legislative-train/spotlight-J...

What is the rationale for fighting a unified system? A unified system would make it easier to travel by train, which should in theory encourage people to do so more . Is this a problem of the operators within each country not wanting to be unified with each other because then they'd have to compete more directly? Or is this actually the operators between countries fighting over it for some reason?

They'd have to adopt transparent pricing across the union.

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

#428

Post by yownie »

ricardobayes wrote: post #150

What a shame we don't have yet a high-speed line between Lisbon and Madrid. Two "sibling" countries, intertwined Iberian history and heritage, yet to travel between the capitals it's a 17-hour journey passing through Lisbon, Porto, Vigo (Galicia) and then Madrid.

https://www.seat61.com/international-trains/trains-from-Madr...

3 switches but still doable, overnight direct train was shut down after COVID unfortunately

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