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It occurs to me that I've done nearly every leg on this route at some point. Except of course taking a different route through china and Vietnam since that hig

It occurs to me that I've done nearly every leg on this route at some point. Except of course taking a different route through china and Vietnam since that high speed link through laos didn't exist 20 years ago. I did that Thailand night train back and forth to Surat Thani at least a half dozen times back when I'd spend my winters there. It's probably my favorite of the bunch for sheer atmosphere. It's a shame that night trains in general are vanishing these days. You used to be able to do Europe without ever staying in hostels, hopping the longest train you could find each night and waking in a new city. Now you can go back and forth between Paris and Venice, and that's about it.

ishtanbul 5y ago
I did cologne to vienna this summer and it was lovely. Look up nightjet
woile 5y ago
I read that the EU is planning on giving high priority to trains, including night trains. https://www.cntraveler.com/story/europe-is-undergoing-a-sleeper-train-renaissance https://www.cntraveler.com/story/europe-is-undergoing-a-slee... I would really like to be able to use one of those
- sschueller 5y ago
  They are bringing them back. Switzerland has also started Zürich to Amsterdam again just last month. They are using trains from the 70s as they currently do not have newer night travel equipped rail cars but are planning on adding a lot more routes. The Austrian rail ÖBB has been running nightjets for a while also from Zürich. Although quite expensive the night rail has become very popular again.
telesilla 5y ago
Last time I took the high speed train they left us a reminder on the ticket about how much less carbon the travel was with them. I wondered then, why was it still cheaper to fly? I took the train that time for convenience as it was direct but not much cheaper.
- sborra 5y ago
  There's much less competition (if any) in rail travel for any given route.
  - Symbiote 5y ago
    There's also no tax on jet fuel. A high speed train almost always has a lower speed competitor, although it may be run by the same company.
  - emteycz 5y ago
    Definitely not the case in EU and where so, it's only because of governmental inference in the market. Czechia deregulated few years ago and instantly (literally the first day the deregulation came into effect) there was 10+ new rail travel companies operating on basically every conceivable route.
- sandworm101 5y ago
  Infrastructure. A train isn't just a vehicle but thousands of miles of track that must be maintained. The higher the speed, the greater the cost to build and maintain that track. Airplanes need runways, but those are a pittance to maintain compared to rail lines. Land is also 2d finite resource that must be dedicated to rail travel. Airspace is 3d.

ishtanbul 5y ago

I did cologne to vienna this summer and it was lovely. Look up nightjet

woile 5y ago

I read that the EU is planning on giving high priority to trains, including night trains. https://www.cntraveler.com/story/europe-is-undergoing-a-sleeper-train-renaissance https://www.cntraveler.com/story/europe-is-undergoing-a-slee... I would really like to be able to use one of those

sschueller 5y ago
They are bringing them back. Switzerland has also started Zürich to Amsterdam again just last month. They are using trains from the 70s as they currently do not have newer night travel equipped rail cars but are planning on adding a lot more routes. The Austrian rail ÖBB has been running nightjets for a while also from Zürich. Although quite expensive the night rail has become very popular again.

telesilla 5y ago

Last time I took the high speed train they left us a reminder on the ticket about how much less carbon the travel was with them. I wondered then, why was it still cheaper to fly? I took the train that time for convenience as it was direct but not much cheaper.

sborra 5y ago
There's much less competition (if any) in rail travel for any given route.
- Symbiote 5y ago
  There's also no tax on jet fuel. A high speed train almost always has a lower speed competitor, although it may be run by the same company.
- emteycz 5y ago
  Definitely not the case in EU and where so, it's only because of governmental inference in the market. Czechia deregulated few years ago and instantly (literally the first day the deregulation came into effect) there was 10+ new rail travel companies operating on basically every conceivable route.
sandworm101 5y ago
Infrastructure. A train isn't just a vehicle but thousands of miles of track that must be maintained. The higher the speed, the greater the cost to build and maintain that track. Airplanes need runways, but those are a pittance to maintain compared to rail lines. Land is also 2d finite resource that must be dedicated to rail travel. Airspace is 3d.