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Across Kazakhstan by rail

theguardian.com

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Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#61

Post by willyt »

iso1210 wrote: post #53
BoxOfRain wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Trains are very comfortable to travel in as well imho. Depends on the train, for example the British government had a "temporary" solution in the 1980s of putting train wheels on Leyland buses and using them as substitutes for proper trains in the poorer parts of the country. These were about as fast and comfortable as they sound and were only taken out of service for good this year. Honestly British rail travel in…

> it's usually very crowded and unreliable but it's also ruinously expensive Given there are many alternatives - including coach (national express + megabus), air, driving, and not going at all - in addition to competition on many lines (for example you can do Manchester-London in first class at high speed for £500 return, or you can choose to pay £45 return and spend an extra hour traveling), it can't be that expens…

Paris-Bordeaux is about 400 miles takes 2hrs, is regularly available off-peak for ~€30 booked a few hours in advance and the 2nd class seat is a spacious as a first class seat on a UK train. UK trains are slow and absurdly expensive for what you get.

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#62

Post by [deleted] »

iso1210 wrote: post #53
BoxOfRain wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Trains are very comfortable to travel in as well imho. Depends on the train, for example the British government had a "temporary" solution in the 1980s of putting train wheels on Leyland buses and using them as substitutes for proper trains in the poorer parts of the country. These were about as fast and comfortable as they sound and were only taken out of service for good this year. Honestly British rail travel in…

> it's usually very crowded and unreliable but it's also ruinously expensive Given there are many alternatives - including coach (national express + megabus), air, driving, and not going at all - in addition to competition on many lines (for example you can do Manchester-London in first class at high speed for £500 return, or you can choose to pay £45 return and spend an extra hour traveling), it can't be that expens…

[deleted]

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#63

Post by soared »

lmm wrote: post #6

I spent a few days on the train in Kazakhstan in 2012 - went Moscow-Shymkent-Almaty-Urumqi (on my way from London to Osaka). It was striking looking out across the steppe and seeing a line of telephone poles, and then a completely empty landscape all the way to the horizon. The baths in Almaty were wonderful too. Edit: the kind of scene I'm talking about: https://www.amazon.co.jp/photos/share/8PiwLfaaWMNCyULYDTAvy1..…

The descriptions in this thread and your photo are interesting because you don’t need to travel all the way to Kazakhstan/etc like most commenters. In Wyoming/Colorado/Idaho/Montana you can drive for tens of hours and see the exact same thing!

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#64

Post by anticodon »

maeln wrote: post #55
anticodon wrote: post #49

Traveled several times across Kazakhstan by rail and my impressions are quite the opposite. You wait to arrive to your destination for days and nothing changes outside the window: just the same scenery with endless sand or steppes with no sign of trees or animals or people. Probably the most boring experience I had in my life. Funny how western media can't resist poking the dead enemy at every occasion: > Adylet: ‘An…

> Well, if you'd really talk to people, you'd find out that significant percent of population still mourns the Soviet Union and they have all the reasons to. It really depends where and who you ask. You probably not going to find any sympathy for the USSR in central Europe. But it is true that in Russia and central Asia, you still find people, those who were mostly kids/teenager during the "golden-age" of the USSR, w…

You will find people that mourns Soviet Union in all parts of the former USSR and among all age groups.

Just like the opposite opinion.

But percent of people mourning USSR would be quite big. This has nothing to do with western stereotypes about dreadly life in USSR (mostly invalid propaganda) or various dictators (can you, without checking Wikipedia/Google, name the president of Kazakhstan, and say if it is a authoritarian or "democratic" place?).

USSR was destroyed for a number of reasons but none of the reasons had anything to do with the goal to improve life of USSR citizens.

One goal was to destroy a global economic competitor. Another goal was to open huge new market to the western corporations (both goals achieved by shutting down and destroying all the USSR industry almost overnight). Third goal was for the crooks to be able to become super-rich and be able to pass the inherited power and money to the offspring.

All these goals mean that life of the ordinary person in the former USSR states was to become much worse than before. And it happened as everyone born before 1991 knows out of unpleasant and sad experience.

But my comment wasn't about that. It was about that the West is still so afraid of the USSR it still tries to kick the USSR in every article even if it is not really relevant.

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#65

Post by anticodon »

maeln wrote: post #55
anticodon wrote: post #49

Traveled several times across Kazakhstan by rail and my impressions are quite the opposite. You wait to arrive to your destination for days and nothing changes outside the window: just the same scenery with endless sand or steppes with no sign of trees or animals or people. Probably the most boring experience I had in my life. Funny how western media can't resist poking the dead enemy at every occasion: > Adylet: ‘An…

> Well, if you'd really talk to people, you'd find out that significant percent of population still mourns the Soviet Union and they have all the reasons to. It really depends where and who you ask. You probably not going to find any sympathy for the USSR in central Europe. But it is true that in Russia and central Asia, you still find people, those who were mostly kids/teenager during the "golden-age" of the USSR, w…

> You probably not going to find any sympathy for the USSR in central Europe.

The most funny thing is that when they recently conducted a survey in Baltic states, percent of supporters of the USSR was so big, that it surpassed percent of supporters of the USSR e.g. in Russia.

This created quite a big fuss. :)

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#67

Post by jcims »

Ansil849 wrote: post #16
zhte415 wrote: post #8

A related YouTuber: https://www.youtube.com/c/baldandbankrupt He treks around former soviet countries (mainly) on his own creating commentary travellogs.

I tried watching a couple, and the guy just comes off as an insufferable douchebag. Acting like a twat and mugging for the camera. edit: having watched a couple more videos, this just reinforces my theory that the most popular youtube channels are also the most mediocre. This guy's formula is basically 'travel to $random_CIS_country; check-in to a hotel; go on a short walking tour within a few blocks of the hotel whi…

There's another solo youtube traveler with nearly the same vibe. In both cases I think part of the issue is that they are too connected to the camera and not to the people around them, so they just seem disinterested.

It bums me out because I'm looking at doing quite a bit of solo traveling in the next few years and would like to capture some of it for my family and friends, but if I come across anyway like this it's going to be a major fail. I posted some from a recent trip and didn't appear or say a word in any of the videos and it was received reasonably well, but the audience isn't exactly like to say 'bro stop being a douche' lol.

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#68

Post by yeetaccount »

jakub_g wrote: post #36

Semi-related: I've been to Uzbekistan before pandemic with friends. It was very fun. Country is modernizing fast but has some remnants of the old era, which make a fun mix. Very nice people; at the same time, the controls on rail stations are airport-like, with x-raying people and the baggage, triple checking the tickets etc (but it seems mostly pro-forma). What was surprising is that they have very modern high-speed…

> x-raying people

mmWave or X-ray?

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#69

Post by iso1210 »

willyt wrote: post #61
iso1210 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it's usually very crowded and unreliable but it's also ruinously expensive Given there are many alternatives - including coach (national express + megabus), air, driving, and not going at all - in addition to competition on many lines (for example you can do Manchester-London in first class at high speed for £500 return, or you can choose to pay £45 return and spend an extra hour traveling), it can't be that expens…

Paris-Bordeaux is about 400 miles takes 2hrs, is regularly available off-peak for ~€30 booked a few hours in advance and the 2nd class seat is a spacious as a first class seat on a UK train. UK trains are slow and absurdly expensive for what you get.

Well HS2 is a belated attempt to start building a high speed, high capacity network, about 30 years later than France, and look at the trouble that brings.

There is no public appetite in the UK for more rail capacity, or for faster services, so the only way to control numbers and prevent people from being (mostly) left behind is to increase costs on the busiest services.

This is fortunate too, the UK does not want to subsidise rail to the same extent as france -- Rail subsidies per passenger km (in euro-cents)

Netherlands: 14.7

France: 15.7

Italy: 19.1

Germany: 21.4

The UK in comparison is 6.75.

Re: Across Kazakhstan by rail

#70

Post by eynsham »

88840-8855 wrote: post #28
deanclatworthy wrote: post #21

All the sentimental comments here around travelling by train make me wonder if Europe is just not good at this. I did the interrail about eight years ago and some of the worst nights sleep were had on the cramped bunk cabins. Arguments over air conditioning (too cold low down, too hot up top), people staying up late when you want to sleep, bad hygiene etc. Even the night trains to the north of Finland which are seen…

China's approach seems to be one of the best: bullet train soft sleeper, capsule-like design, individual windows. https://youtu.be/DAOYz8FcDiQ Japan has also nice sleepers, but they are not bullet trains, plus, way way more expensive, and not a mass phenomenon.

The trains you link to only go at 150km/h to minimise noise, so using ⩾300km/h-capable rolling stock might be a bit of a waste.
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