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In my opinion the main "low hanging fruit" Europe has with trains are international birders, especially if they're trying to compete with flying. Trains in Pol

In my opinion the main "low hanging fruit" Europe has with trains are international birders, especially if they're trying to compete with flying. Trains in Poland work great, trains in Germany work pretty well but every train I've taken between Poland and Germany has been delayed. The standard thing is that while you're in Poland they claim the delay is because of previous delays in Germany and while you're in Germany they blame delays from Poland. If you're trying to do something more advanced like get across Germany to Belgium or France & eventually the UK the it gets quite annoying.

pixl97 3y ago
>Germany and while you're in Germany they blame delays from Poland. Both can be true at the same time. Developing enough capacity to avoid non-blocking train systems and bunching is a difficult issue.
ddek 3y ago
German trains wishing to enter Switzerland need to wait at the border so the DB’s, err, _erratic_ scheduling doesn’t perturb the much more rigorous Swiss system. My experience of German trains is one train arriving on time, to find my connection is delayed, but actually leaving earlier because the same train 1h before was 54 minutes late and I could get that instead.
- foofie 3y ago
  > German trains wishing to enter Switzerland need to wait at the border so the DB’s, err, _erratic_ scheduling doesn’t perturb the much more rigorous Swiss system. I'm rather skeptic of this take. Railway operators provide services by reserving track sections and train stations in specific time windows which take into account travel speed and scheduling. Rail track capacity is typically reserved for periods of over a year. If german trains run on time in Germany and swiss trains run on time in Switzerland, then it sounds like germany's trains being delayed when entering swiss lines is an impedance problem caused by the way the swiss infrastructure manager is handling german trains.
  - maxwell22 3y ago
    70% of German trains that arrive at their destination are “delayed” (30 min or more). A train that never arrives is not counted as delayed. About 30% of German trains do not arrive at their destination. In Switzerland, the stats are single low percentage digits. After multiple ultimatums, Switzerland stopped allowing German trains into Switzerland. The most popular connection between Switzerland and Germany (Zurich-Munich) has been kept but is now operated by Switzerland even though most of the ride is in Germany. This is shameful and a lose-lose for all parties, but necessary.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
    - lolc 3y ago
      I doubt your stats, where'd you get them from? And there are multiple connections per day from Germany to central Switzerland. Take the Hamburg-Interlaken ICE for example.
enaaem 3y ago
Just built a separate international network, with its own separate system and tracks. The way Japan handles complexity is through redundancy. Japan runs both really old trains, hyper modern high speed rail and everything in between. Each system runs on separate tracks, are from different companies, and are not interconnected. This can be a lesson on how to run complex systems in general.
- DrNosferatu 3y ago
  Enaaem: It already works that way. The Iberic Peninsula has a different rail gauge from Central Europe, but - in parallel to Iberian Gauge - is building and expanding its TGV network, which is in the Central European gauge. So, a secondary network.
  - porompompero 3y ago
    Thus was seen by many as a waste when built, but really it works better than in Germany in terms of quality of experience.
- The_Colonel 3y ago
  Why not build parallel tracks, but with the same gauge? > This can be a lesson on how to run complex systems in general. This sounds like cargo culting. Japan has great train system, it has to be because of separate gauges!
  - throwup238 3y ago
    > Why not build parallel tracks, but with the same gauge? Jevon's paradox [1] probably. The most profitable part of the rail system will grow to crowd out and interfere with the rest. By keeping it different gauges, they all operate independent of each other's incentives. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox
    - The_Colonel 3y ago
ivan_gammel 3y ago
In December I could not even buy tickets online to a train from Berlin to Warsaw because DB website is terrible. Had to cancel my trip — this is really a shame, that EU cannot fix cross-border connectivity.
- bondant 3y ago
  Couldn't you book with another ticket seller? Like trainline.eu?
  - ivan_gammel 3y ago
    I tried Omio and one more, but this specific direction was not available there via train. DB website was simply showing an error at the last step. A month later, by the moment error was gone all tickets appeared sold.
    - eigenket 3y ago
      If you run into the problem again try the website of the Polish trains pkp.pl. You'll probably have to Google translate some stuff but it works well.
      - octacat 3y ago
        There is an english version. But pkp site loves to give you errors and timeouts too.
- snthd 3y ago
  You can buy from Polish Railways too. https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/berlin-to-warsaw-by-train.htm#How_to_buy_tickets https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/berlin-to-warsaw-by... The EU seemed (2021) to be working on it https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_21_6701 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_...
  - octacat 3y ago
donalhunt 3y ago
Did Prague to Brussels in one day (~ 12 hours) in 2010 and everything just worked. One connection in Frankfurt airport (it has a train station) and it was cheaper than flying. Will need to check how I bought the ticket but do know it was bought as a single ticket. Good thing I left early in the morning because the later trains to Germany all got stuck in heavy snow downfalls. \o/

pixl97 3y ago

>Germany and while you're in Germany they blame delays from Poland. Both can be true at the same time. Developing enough capacity to avoid non-blocking train systems and bunching is a difficult issue.

ddek 3y ago

German trains wishing to enter Switzerland need to wait at the border so the DB’s, err, _erratic_ scheduling doesn’t perturb the much more rigorous Swiss system. My experience of German trains is one train arriving on time, to find my connection is delayed, but actually leaving earlier because the same train 1h before was 54 minutes late and I could get that instead.

foofie 3y ago
> German trains wishing to enter Switzerland need to wait at the border so the DB’s, err, _erratic_ scheduling doesn’t perturb the much more rigorous Swiss system. I'm rather skeptic of this take. Railway operators provide services by reserving track sections and train stations in specific time windows which take into account travel speed and scheduling. Rail track capacity is typically reserved for periods of over a year. If german trains run on time in Germany and swiss trains run on time in Switzerland, then it sounds like germany's trains being delayed when entering swiss lines is an impedance problem caused by the way the swiss infrastructure manager is handling german trains.
- maxwell22 3y ago
  70% of German trains that arrive at their destination are “delayed” (30 min or more). A train that never arrives is not counted as delayed. About 30% of German trains do not arrive at their destination. In Switzerland, the stats are single low percentage digits. After multiple ultimatums, Switzerland stopped allowing German trains into Switzerland. The most popular connection between Switzerland and Germany (Zurich-Munich) has been kept but is now operated by Switzerland even though most of the ride is in Germany. This is shameful and a lose-lose for all parties, but necessary.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - lolc 3y ago
    I doubt your stats, where'd you get them from? And there are multiple connections per day from Germany to central Switzerland. Take the Hamburg-Interlaken ICE for example.

enaaem 3y ago

Just built a separate international network, with its own separate system and tracks. The way Japan handles complexity is through redundancy. Japan runs both really old trains, hyper modern high speed rail and everything in between. Each system runs on separate tracks, are from different companies, and are not interconnected. This can be a lesson on how to run complex systems in general.

DrNosferatu 3y ago
Enaaem: It already works that way. The Iberic Peninsula has a different rail gauge from Central Europe, but - in parallel to Iberian Gauge - is building and expanding its TGV network, which is in the Central European gauge. So, a secondary network.
- porompompero 3y ago
  Thus was seen by many as a waste when built, but really it works better than in Germany in terms of quality of experience.
The_Colonel 3y ago
Why not build parallel tracks, but with the same gauge? > This can be a lesson on how to run complex systems in general. This sounds like cargo culting. Japan has great train system, it has to be because of separate gauges!
- throwup238 3y ago
  > Why not build parallel tracks, but with the same gauge? Jevon's paradox [1] probably. The most profitable part of the rail system will grow to crowd out and interfere with the rest. By keeping it different gauges, they all operate independent of each other's incentives. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox
  - The_Colonel 3y ago

ivan_gammel 3y ago

In December I could not even buy tickets online to a train from Berlin to Warsaw because DB website is terrible. Had to cancel my trip — this is really a shame, that EU cannot fix cross-border connectivity.

bondant 3y ago
Couldn't you book with another ticket seller? Like trainline.eu?
- ivan_gammel 3y ago
  I tried Omio and one more, but this specific direction was not available there via train. DB website was simply showing an error at the last step. A month later, by the moment error was gone all tickets appeared sold.
  - eigenket 3y ago
    If you run into the problem again try the website of the Polish trains pkp.pl. You'll probably have to Google translate some stuff but it works well.
    - octacat 3y ago
      There is an english version. But pkp site loves to give you errors and timeouts too.
snthd 3y ago
You can buy from Polish Railways too. https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/berlin-to-warsaw-by-train.htm#How_to_buy_tickets https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/berlin-to-warsaw-by... The EU seemed (2021) to be working on it https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_21_6701 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_...
- octacat 3y ago

donalhunt 3y ago

Did Prague to Brussels in one day (~ 12 hours) in 2010 and everything just worked. One connection in Frankfurt airport (it has a train station) and it was cheaper than flying. Will need to check how I bought the ticket but do know it was bought as a single ticket. Good thing I left early in the morning because the later trains to Germany all got stuck in heavy snow downfalls. \o/