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I'm on a vacation in Italy and just used one this morning from Florence to Bologna with Trenitalia. A lot of positive things: The ride was 35 minutes long, doe
by gokhan 9y ago
I'm on a vacation in Italy and just used one this morning from Florence to Bologna with Trenitalia. A lot of positive things: The ride was 35 minutes long, doesn't include any security theater, you can arrive the station 10 minutes before the departure and hop in a couple of minutes, comfortable, roomy, from city center to almost city center, and many more. And the train continued to all the way to Turin, visiting many cities including Milan in 2-3 hours. Cost was 16ish euros, I guess (deducing from a total payment for four people).
Doing the same though air travel would add at least a total of 2-3 hours for the whole thing. Don't know about the cost comparison but the user satisfaction is there.
- aerovistae 9y agoFrankly the lack of security frightens me. It's only cool til someone stands up on your car and pulls out an AR. Then suddenly it's "what were they thinking." Happened in France, fortunately with no casualties...
- mvid 9y agoSo should every building have scanners and metal detectors? What makes a train different?
- aerovistae 9y agoYou can't escape a train very easily by comparison to a building.
- s0rce 9y agoYou can't escape a crowded train station, especially when underground or a skyscraper when you are on a higher floor. This type of situation can't be controlled everywhere without constantly living in fear. There just isn't any point in trying and usually the security is pointless theatre anyways.
- martinald 9y agoShould we add security for buses too then?
- aerovistae 9y agoIt could be argued, I think, yes. I do understand your point, it is something I ponder often.
- wtfishackernews 9y ago>It's only cool til someone stands up on your car and pulls out an AR. This is the case for any crowded public space. It is unavoidable.
- imgabe 9y ago> It's only cool til someone stands up on your car and pulls out an AR It continues to be cool for the thousands of other trips that day and the millions of other trips afterwards where that doesn't happen. Better to build a society that doesn't create people who feel the need to mow down a train car full of people than to treat everyone else like a criminal a priori.
- aerovistae 9y agoI agree 100%, but I don't think we're in that society yet.
- audunw 9y agoAnd what would the cost/benefit analysis of adding security be? Not just the cost of security staff and equipment, but from slowing everyone down and the implicit economic impact on society. Not taking this into account is immoral, because those resources could potentially be spent saving peoples lives in more efficient ways. Terrorism is extremely rare way of dying. I'm extremely skeptical that this accounting will even show a benefit for airport security, but I don't think airport security is mainly about stopping terrorists. It's about controlling what people bring on board the plane, as there's a lot of things that could inadvertantly cause trouble on a plane. The same can not be said for trains to the same degree. Also, planes themselves can be used as effective weapons if taken over. Don't think that goes for trains, especially where they're electrified.
- barsonme 9y agoThalys train attack? It was an AKM, not an AR. A simple metal detector would've caught a long gun, even with incompetent security personnel. By only allowing small "carry on" bags in the passenger carriages (storing larger "checked" bags in a separate freight car) the attack space is limited to what can fit in a handbag or backpack. It won't catch everything, but wrt terrorist attacks trains are safer than airplanes. You don't need to go full TSA and make grandma take off her shoes or racially profile people to have decent security.