3 ms·

They are absolutely not popular. I've never heard of them, despite having both family and friends who went on yearly car trips across (one or more of) Spain, Fr

by piaste 4y ago

They are absolutely not popular. I've never heard of them, despite having both family and friends who went on yearly car trips across (one or more of) Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, and Denmark. Looking into it, it seems they were popular decades ago, but they've been all but shut down by the 2010s due to unprofitability, and only a handful of seasonal routes remain now. Though who knows, if gas prices keep increasing, they might enjoy a brief resurgence for a decade or so until enough people have switched to EV. But it will take quite a bit of an increase. I looked at the longest route, 1300km Hamburg-Verona (which would actually interest me!) and it costs 400 to 600€, depending on the date. That's well over twice as much as the current gas prices, even being generous; while I guess it includes sleeping arrangements, you could stay in a very fancy hotel with the money you saved.

_nalply 4y ago
Huh? They are popular here. There's a high mountain pass with a glacier being in the way, the Lötschenpass. There's only a hiking path over it. A few kilometers to the west, there's another high mountain pass, the Gemmipass that has an extremely steep drop to the south such that in medieval times not even a mule track was possible. People avoided the rockfaces by going over an even higher saddle to which they got on by a steep grassy ridge. Today there's a cable car and hiking path blasted into the rocks, somewhat like the path to Angel's Landing in Zion National Park. Up to today there are no roads over that mountain range between the Cantons of Bern and Valais for about 100 km. Only the Lötschberg railroad tunnel. People from the eastern part of Valais "have trains you can just drive your car into". I myself have a customer card of the railroad operator because it's the most direct way to the south, and we go about once a month. They also offer transportation through a second mountain pass to Italy. After 35 minutes of driving and after one hour of relaxing we enjoy Italy's dolce vita. There are other railroad operators taking cars. I know one in the Canton of Grisons, and between France and England there's another one.

by piaste 4y ago

_nalply 4y ago

Huh? They are popular here. There's a high mountain pass with a glacier being in the way, the Lötschenpass. There's only a hiking path over it. A few kilometers to the west, there's another high mountain pass, the Gemmipass that has an extremely steep drop to the south such that in medieval times not even a mule track was possible. People avoided the rockfaces by going over an even higher saddle to which they got on by a steep grassy ridge. Today there's a cable car and hiking path blasted into the rocks, somewhat like the path to Angel's Landing in Zion National Park. Up to today there are no roads over that mountain range between the Cantons of Bern and Valais for about 100 km. Only the Lötschberg railroad tunnel. People from the eastern part of Valais "have trains you can just drive your car into". I myself have a customer card of the railroad operator because it's the most direct way to the south, and we go about once a month. They also offer transportation through a second mountain pass to Italy. After 35 minutes of driving and after one hour of relaxing we enjoy Italy's dolce vita. There are other railroad operators taking cars. I know one in the Canton of Grisons, and between France and England there's another one.