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I was on a 3 hour Shinkansen trip that was 2 minutes late and the staff profusely apologized when we arrived. I have also been on a cross US Amtrak trip that w
by kyleblarson 5y ago
I was on a 3 hour Shinkansen trip that was 2 minutes late and the staff profusely apologized when we arrived.
I have also been on a cross US Amtrak trip that was literally 30 hours late and they rationed food and the staff became increasingly rude and unhelpful.
- Naga 5y agoSame here in Canada. I used to take the train between Montreal and Toronto frequently and I don't actually remember it ever being on time. It usually was 30-60 minutes late, since Via Rail shared rail with freight trains, but had a lower priority so it often needed to wait.
- Overtonwindow 5y agoI must commend the Berlin transit system. Except for the occasional strike, I found it to be extremely efficient, clean, and rather polite. Especially the trams.
- jmercouris 5y agoDid you and I live in the same Berlin??? The S Bahn is literally always late.
- Overtonwindow 5y agoI have a strange compulsion to leave for things much earlier than I need to, and I arrive early always. I honestly didn’t notice, looked down of the platform and checked when the next train was coming, and wait. The tram was fantastic, I took it every day and really liked it. I was there for three months in the fall.
- jmercouris 5y agoI see. I lived almost a decade in Berlin, and both in west and east. I cannot say enough good things about the trains. However I will not say they are always on time!
- Overtonwindow 5y agoI lived in the Washington, DC area for ten years and used its train system every day, and it pales in comparison to Berlin. I've also tried New York City, San Francisco, Paris, Sydney, Moscow, and Atlanta, and Berlin was just top notch. I envy you immensely. The cleanliness, politeness of its passengers, above and under, it was just wonderful.
- martopix 5y agoI've heard very many complaints about Deutsche Bahn though. On the other hand here in Switzerland trains are crazy good, perhaps not as much as Japan, but if you have a 5 minutes connection you can normally assume you'll make it.
- spacechild1 5y agoDeutsche Bahn is notorious for being late or having technical problems. It's like a running gag. Everytime I have to take a train in Germany, I make sure to have at least 1-2 hours between connecting trains/flights. And yes, Japanese trains are crazily accurate. Not only are they (almost) always perfectly on time, they also stop exactly at the position that is indicated on the platform, so you can line up and wait right in front of the train door.
- cogman10 5y agoIn Wales, I've had a train scheduled for every hour that has both just not shown up and has ran straight through the station without stopping (lol). Pretty awesome watching the train you've been waiting for just sort of keep going :D. (The magic of newtown Wales!)
- dzhiurgis 5y agoIIRC buses in London do that when they are overfilled. The worst is tho running and rushing and then finally making it into train car that turns out to be going completely wrong direction.
- dfxm12 5y agoIt's easy to apologize profusely for something that is well within expectations. On the other end of that spectrum, I can also empathize a bit with an increasingly unhelpful crew of a 30 hour late train. Yeah, you don't have to be rude about it, but at some point, there's simply a decreasing amount of help that can be given.
- mcguire 5y agoAnd I'd imagine everyone on board was becoming rude and unhelpful.
- throaway46546 5y agoAmtrak sucks so bad.