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Where can you go in Europe by train in 8h?
- mihaaly 2y agoAwful UX! : /
- Am4TIfIsER0ppos 2y agoAnd run the risk of being set on fire. Seriously how long will it be before that happens over here? There's already been an incident of a person throwing a bucket of excrement over someone on the metro here. Not to mention the dude I saw wiping his wart covered feet all over the seat.
- Fnoord 2y agoI went from Belgrade to Aachen about 15-20 years ago. It cost me more than my plane ticket from Dusseldorf to Belgrade (though I got robbed/scammed at Belgrade). From Belgrade to Croatia the old DB train went 60 km/hour. It did have power sockets. I was nearly alone. Then came the evening in Croatia, the train went quicker than 60 hm/hour, people boarded (youth with backpacks), and sleep got a bit more tough. Near Ljubljana and Wien there were very bright lights at the station, and more people boarded till the 6 seater was overburdened with people trying to sleep yet take care of their belongings. The whole trip took near 24 hours. But if I was with a partner, it would have felt a whole lot more safe, so that is my recommendation: go with a friend and make sure you set checks & boundaries beforehand.
- uwagar 2y agoor chain ur luggage to some iron loops found under the seats?
- Fnoord 2y agoDon't remember, I put one laptop bag around ny middle, and larger backpack I put my legs into. However, it can be removed by a knife and opened if enough are in on it plus those not sleep. With a friend you can take guard turns.
- svilen_dobrev 2y agohehe.. Varna-Sofia (Bulgaria, ~450km) is 7h.20m.. on good days, eh, nights.
- pahn 2y agoI made an art installation on this question once: https://bildsignal.de/p_derweil https://bildsignal.de/p_derweil "derweil is an interactive video installation correlating time, space and big data to provide tailor-made instructions on how to get lost. Materials: Google Directions and Streetview APIs, JavaScript, NW.js, cables.gl, Involt, Arduino IDE, computers, thermal paper, plastic, metals, wood." (I doubt I could still run this today, though. I used some kind of 'hack' to bypass Google Streetview API limitations and I'm pretty sure they fixed this ages ago… ;D)
- balderdash 2y agoI’m surprised that specialized routes in the us haven’t gotten more traction. I think the Heathrow express is brilliant example of this (depending on what terminal your flying from) it’s almost always faster than driving, it gets you into central London, it’s cheaper, and there are no connections/ transfers. It boggles my mind that their isn’t an equivalent in the us (say a DIRECT rail link to terminals at EWR, JFK, LGA and manhattan. My experience with rail travel in the us, is (outside the NE corridor / Acela: 1) trains do not depart/arrive at convenient locations, 2) go too slowly[1], and often are not very price/time competitive [2]. 1. I believe the Pennsylvania Railroad Congressional train averaged about the same speed as the Acela DC>NY in 1940’s -1960’s 2. DCA>LGA 12/31 is $202 ~2:40 door to door time, Acela is $255 and is ~3:15 door to door.
- nixass 2y agoDupe https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32276017 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32276017
- zahma 2y agoParis to Berlin is now about 8h. I thought it’d be shorter. I also think Paris to Milan is approximately the same time.
- dredmorbius 2y agoFor grins and/or cringes, I'd like to see a similar site for the US. There are a few cities with reasonably good commuter-rail service which might compare with some of the European cities. Other than that distance/hour will be a small fraction of that in the EU. Comparisons with China and Japan might also be illuminating. There are historical isochrone travel maps of the US, also ironically strongly influenced by railroad development, see: <https://railroads.unl.edu/documents/view_document.php?id=rail.str.0241 https://railroads.unl.edu/documents/view_document.php?id=rai...> <https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~248429~5516150:Plate-138--Transportation--Rates-of https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~2...>
- niutech 2y agoThere are time travel maps which not only trains, but also cars or bikes: https://commutetimemap.com/map https://commutetimemap.com/map and https://app.traveltime.com https://app.traveltime.com
- portaouflop 2y agoIn Germany not so far because the train will be 2+ hours late
- jillesvangurp 2y agoLiterally happened to me yesterday on the way back to Berlin. I arrived 2 hours late. In fairness there was what was labelled "a personal accident" on the track, which is a euphemism for somebody jumping in front of a train. Which unfortunately happens and needs to be dealt with properly and is not really something anybody can do much about. But delays are fairly common on that particular route (Berlin-Amsterdam). They use really old trains and they break down once in a while. Or the track is down for maintenance. Or whatever. Most of my journeys in the last three years there's always something. Before that it was more reliable.
- portaouflop 2y agoPrivatisation was a mistake - it’s only gone downhill since they are able to make profit and cut costs. We need to get essential services such as public transport back under state control or the quality will continue to deteriorate
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- ben_w 2y agoAgreed. Learn the lesson from the UK, who did privatisation first* and have witnessed things much worse than the current state of German trains (which are still *excellent* in comparison, and I say that as one who moved from the UK to Germany in 2018). * or "harder", to the extent that German rail privatisation never went as far as in the UK. I understand there's a constitutional requirement here in Germany for government majority ownership of the rail system — I wish it were so in the UK
- zelos 2y ago
- bitschubser_ 2y agoIf you now could just book a train between these cities on a common european platform (or local transportation provider...)... one could dream... just booking a train and getting a quote crossing multiple borders (without interrail) is just a nightmare :(
- 0xFF0123 2y agoDoesn't trainline support some of Europe now?
- sazor 2y agoTrainline support most of the Europe. Used it from Poland to Portugal, not much of a hassle. It does miss some regional train tickets which could be found on local platforms but major lines are covered fine.
- postepowanieadm 2y agoWow, that's some voyage. How was it?
- sazor 2y agoThe worst part is Germany as usual. Had to change some trains with buses on Gdansk-Berlin route. Other than that it was quite good and on schedule. I’ve used railpass so it was also cheap enough. My longest voyage was Moscow-London back in the days when Moscow-Berlin and Moscow-Paris trains existed (pre-covid).
- atoav 2y agoAs someone who often crosses the borders between Germany, Austria and Italy it is basically: 1. Enter my route at ÖBB (Austrians), DB (Germans) and Trenitalia (Italians) and see who is cheapest 2. Book one ticket for the whole trip
- MoreMoore 2y ago
- Svip 2y agoTitle shared on HN left me somewhat disappointed. The actual time appears to be "Where can you go by train in 8h?", though that's somewhat less clear. It only seems to include central stations of larger cities, though I was hoping for a list of shortest travel times between stations in Europe, as more of a thought/data experiment. Or put another way; which two train stations in Europe have the least distance between them? Anyway, the shared feature is neat, but seems to be somewhat iffy once you get out of the bigger cities. If a route has 2 or more connections, it seems to struggle to show them. While true to its message, I still feel the restriction of 8 hours misses sleeper trains, where travel time is less essential compared to daytime trains. It's cute for discoverability, but for a specific train search, I would definitely defer to bahn.de, which basically includes all train stations in Europe.
- withinboredom 2y agoMy one and only sleeper train experience involved being woken up at 3am by police with guns to check passports. Never again.
- casenmgreen 2y agoWhich route was this?
- lionkor 2y agoMy one and only 6 hour sleeper train was in Russia. It was cozy, amazing views at night, and they wake you when your destination is coming up. I think when you share anecdotes like yours, its good to share anecdotes like mine, to balance it out :)
- leobg 2y agoWhich route? Does it still exist?
- chupasaurus 2y ago6 hours is too short for any special trains (i.e. #001/2 is Moscow - St.Petersburg 8 hour night train) so you can expect that at any route, also attendants have to wake up passengers by a rule. Added: GP is probably talking about a train that didn't cross a border.
- aprilthird2021 2y agoThere is a website I love for seeing how to get almost everywhere in Europe by train: https://www.seat61.com/ https://www.seat61.com/
- ricardonunez 2y agoHe is a legend.
- elygre 2y agoAnd it gives details about everything you could imagine. It’s a gold mine for train travel through Europe!
- DEEP-MELTDOWN 2y ago[dead]
- kgeist 2y agoI don't understand how it works. First time clicking on Poland, it showed a kind of a heat map around some city. Then I click on another location and nothing happens. OK, there's a "back" button, I go back, click on the map again in a different place and... nothing happens. No heat map. At some point in frustration I accidentally move the mouse while clicking and the map rotates upside down. Don't know, is it me, my browser, or there's something about the UI.
- MoreMoore 2y agoSite is probably just overloaded and it's not responding properly because of it.
- alistairSH 2y agoSelect a start city/station. The heat map is destinations within the selected duration. If you pick Paris, most major cities in Western Europe are within 8 hours. Pick Madrid, far fewer destinations are marked.
- numpad0 2y agoFocus moves after first click. Second click shows route from first click to second click. You have to clear both "where from" and "where to" box on left top to return to heatmap mode.
- lysace 2y agoYeah - this UX has the potential to be dramatically improved. I also went through that investigational phase. Needing to do that is a very clear sign of a UX that's suboptimally designed, IMO.
- OJFord 2y ago> the potential to be dramatically improved. I haven't seen the site you're describing, but that's a brilliantly optimistic spin of a line!
- DoneWithAllThat 2y agoSince train fans always like to point this out when it comes to flying: this is how far you can get in 8 hours on the train. It doesn’t include the time to get to the station, the buffer time you need (if your train leaves at 0700 you can’t plan to get there at 06:59), and the time to travel from the destination station to your actual destination. Actual travel time for an 8 hour train ride is probably at least closer to 10 hours if not more.
- pjmlp 2y agoAlso luggage, not all wagons are built to accommodate the typical set of plane luggage, unless one is a hand baggage traveller.
- Scrapemist 2y agoHow is this different when flying?
- madcaptenor 2y agoIf anything it’s less of an issue with trains than with flying - time from the street to the vehicle and vice versa is smaller with trains, and train stations are generally less remote than airports.
- ghaff 2y agoIt's not but a lot of people tend to write it off for trains because it's often city center to city center with no security. So it can be (usually is) at least less overhead.
- Kwpolska 2y agoYou can board a train within a few minutes of the departure time. You can just enter the train station and walk to the train you want to take. Train stations tend to be in the city center, where it’s very easy to get to. Boarding an airplane ends a long time before the planned departure time. You need to go through security and border control. Airports tend to be in remote locations.
- 2y ago
- helsinkiandrew 2y agoAnother interactive map called chronotrains was discussed here in 2022, the original site is no longer available so I'm not sure if it is the same project just monetized. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32276017 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32276017 (439 comments) In my view the previous version easier to use and more fun. Some similar projects: https://www.mapnificent.net/ https://www.mapnificent.net/ https://app.traveltime.com/ https://app.traveltime.com/
- Doohickey-d 2y agoAnother one; where you can get to without changing trains, and how long it takes: https://direkt.bahn.guru/ https://direkt.bahn.guru/
- pbhjpbhj 2y agoIs this actual train journeys, including time traversing stations, or is it concatenated journey times? I think it might be the former, as Bristol to Paris was 4h40, Bristol to Reims was 5h52, but Paris to Reims was 46 mins. Similarly, Brussels to Cologne/Koln 1h48, Brussels to Berlin 6h05, but Berlin to Koln 4h02. Not much different, but still enough to pique my curiosity. FWIW the city straplines/blurbs were in English for me but the discount details [adverts?] were in French. Seems to be based on https://github.com/juliuste/direkt.bahn.guru https://github.com/juliuste/direkt.bahn.guru, the issues of which note quite a few missing stations.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- ianbicking 2y agoI notice if you look at Madrid it includes all of Spain and none of Portugal, and similarly from Lisbon. I assume this is because the schedules don't line up, because it wouldn't really make sense in terms of physical distance.
- pjmlp 2y agoThere are hardly any connecting trains between both countries. The connection to Vigo happens a few times a day, with regional trains, and to Madrid it is at most twice a day, if it runs. Then the regular CP strikes, delays and canceled trains. It isn't by chance that most families have cars, if we rely on trains and bus alone, better have enough time for travelling by land.
- ricardonunez 2y agoAbout 20 years ago I was in Portugal and remember it was a TGV project that didn't take off. It was supposed to connect to Madrid I believe. I imagine that politics and money created this issue.
- pjmlp 2y ago
- ctenb 2y agoThe geographical information is not 100% accurate. E.g. it labels "Enschede" as being in Germany, but it's in the netherlands. Cool app though.
- helpfulContrib 2y agoEnschede is serviced by German rail operators though, so that might be a reason. In fact a lot of trains in this region of the world are operated by neighboring countries ..
- mattashii 2y ago> Enschede is serviced by German rail operators though Yes, there is a train service to Germany, but the majority of the connections from Enschede are to/from the Netherlands. > In fact a lot of trains in this region of the world are operated by neighboring countries If a service to Germany causes the whole station to be labeled as German, the website might just as well label Berlin as Czech, or Brussels as Dutch: CZ (Czech national railway) has train services that extend to at least Berlin, and NS (Dutch national railway) has trains to Brussels.
- helpfulContrib 2y ago[dead]
- hagbard_c 2y agoA rather incomplete list, at least for those starting from Sweden which only seems to allow access to neighbouring Scandinavian countries according to it. Well, no, I regularly - about once a month - take a train from there to the Netherlands, via Denmark and Germany. Given the presence of a Book through Deutsche Bahn button for all trips I'd expect that option to be available but alas, it's Denmark or bust.
- yoavm 2y agoYou take a train from Sweden to the Netherlands in 8 hours? From where in Sweden? I've done the Stockholm - Amsterdam route a couple of times, and it's usually closer to 16 hours.
- Symbiote 2y agoAmsterdam is 11 hours from Copenhagen, so from Malmø it's an extra 40 minutes or so.
- hagbard_c 2y agoNo, not in 8 hours, in something between 15 and 21 hours. What is missing in the list is the fact that you can be in Hamburg in about 8 hours, give or take a bit. In other words the fact that you can be 'on the continent' within the given timeframe.
- Kwpolska 2y agoApplying some leeway to the numbers would make this a nicer experience. There are some destinations which are e.g. 3 hours 2 minutes away — they only appear when 4 hours are selected, but it would make more sense to show them in the 3h bucket.
- jonplackett 2y agoThink we killed it - needs to add some caching!
- betaby 2y agoMeanwhile in Canada https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/via-rain-passengers-stuck-1.7311176 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/via-rain-passengers-...
- WXLCKNO 2y agoI'm amazed nobody left that train except for medical emergencies.
- tills13 2y agoI think in our defense there is simply not enough people and towns to support a rail network like this. A shame, really, 'cause a WestJet flight from Victoria to Calgary is way more expensive than it needs to be and don't even get me started about cross-country flights. I would accept if Via rail was cheaper. I have been looking at those cross-country trips and it's literally $4k CAD per person. I get that it's accommodation, too, but still.
- CalRobert 2y agoVia rail is commonly excoriated by not just bikes. The baggage policy seems especially pointless.
- bpye 2y agoNearly two thirds of Canada's population live within the Windsor-Quebec City corridor - some 40 million people. Similarly Vancouver, BC - Portland, OR has relatively high population density. Population is not the reason for rail failing here.
- tills13 2y agoOk sure but when I say Canada I am talking about the entire country. I support a cheap, fast line connecting Toronto with its populated neighboring cities. And sure, something between Vancouver and Portland would be fine. But it is not feasible to, for example, connect Vancouver and Toronto with rail. In Europe, you can take rail from London to Athens. I want that in Canada but you have to go through vast amounts of nothingness to do so. Population IS the reason for rail failing here.
- Simon_O_Rourke 2y agoWould like to see an option for highlighting sleeper train routes. Eight hours sitting on a hard plastic seat is not the same as that in a bed.
- tzury 2y agoAbout 20 years ago, I visited most of Europe’s major cities over the course of a two-month trip, traveling primarily by night train. Each overnight ride saved me the cost of a hostel or guesthouse, and I’d arrive in a new city each morning feeling refreshed because of the train’s sleeping accommodations. There used to be a similar service between Toronto and Montreal (both directions), where the train would pause for several hours midway so passengers would arrive at around 7:30 a.m. well-rested. I’ve taken that route as well, and it’s remarkable how much you see while traveling by train. You pass through countless towns, villages, and beautiful scenery—experiences you simply can’t get from flying.
- inglor_cz 2y agoI like trains, but I was never refreshed and well-rested after a night journey in a sleeper car. It just twists and jumps too much (extra points for curvy tracks where you end up with your head slightly downwards from your body half of the time), plus many railway stations on the way have way too loud announcements, plus the border police likes to check even when it theoretically shouldn't (Schengen). I just can't manage to get deep uninterrupted sleep in such conditions.
- ant6n 2y agoThe state railways have large exited night trains as a form of transport, due to economics, although it’s a much more sustainable form of transportation compared to aviation. Since Europe has a liberalized market in the rail sector, some startups are trying to fill the gap. European sleeper operates a night train on the route Brussel-Amsterdam-Berlin-Prague, using old rented rolling stock. I’m involved with Luna Rail (in Berlin), which is trying a more technical approach around rolling stock design to improve unit economics to make Night trains profitable. There’s also a startup in the US, dreamstar, whose primary effort appears to be about getting track rights for now (something that’s not such a big concern in Europe - here the barrier is rolling stock).
- endless1234 2y agoI'm sure you know of this, but just sharing the map for others: https://projectmapping.co.uk/Reviews/Resources/Europe%20night%20trains%20Juri%20Maier.jpg https://projectmapping.co.uk/Reviews/Resources/Europe%20nigh... The situation is a lot better today than 10 years ago or so, largely thanks to ÖBB Nightjet. But yep, it's not only state railway companies anymore, as can be seen on the map
- magicalhippo 2y agoNowhere[1], if you're in Norway. I jest a little, but it's so bad here we've started to call it "bus replacement service" when the train is not cancelled, rather than "rail replacement service" when the train is cancelled. [1]: https://www.nrk.no/norge/full-togstans-i-hele-norge-grunnet-kommunikasjonssvikt-1.17182780 https://www.nrk.no/norge/full-togstans-i-hele-norge-grunnet-...
- spinningarrow 2y agoIs that a recent thing? I’ve taken trains several times of the last few years and always had an overwhelmingly positive experience.
- magicalhippo 2y agoIt's gotten quite a lot worse in the past few years. In 2023 one quarter of all trains were delayed or cancelled. The gov't hasn't allocated enough for maintenance for several decades, and we're paying the price now. The National Audit Office recently released[1] a scalding report about it. [1]: https://www.riksrevisjonen.no/rapporter-mappe/no-2023-2024/styresmaktene-sitt-arbeid-med-a-redusere-forseinkingar-og-innstillingar-pa-jernbanen/ https://www.riksrevisjonen.no/rapporter-mappe/no-2023-2024/s...
- awiesenhofer 2y ago> The gov't hasn't allocated enough for maintenance for several decades, and we're paying the price now. Ah yes, the german approach.
- bpye 2y agoIt does amuse me somewhat that every country believes they have the worst train network, the UK is no different.
- sixothree 2y agoThese things always make me jealous of the travel privilege people have compared to where I live. By car there is nothing interesting within 6 hours of my house.
- jbverschoor 2y agoWaiting for the snarky comments about the Dutch NS so I don’t have to make them :)
- switch007 2y agoI think every Dutchie who moans about their trains needs to spend a month in the UK LOL. I'm jealous of Dutch trains! 4 hour journey in peak time from Maastricht to Gronigen for 30 EUR without advance purchase? Incredible. 40% discount in off-peak times and weekends for 67 EUR/year? Bargain. We have a 33% discount option which is available to everyone but it is only for trains in the south of England (there lots of others for young people, elderly people, disabled people etc) Very, very simple fare system in comparison to ours. Great connections from Schipol. I know it's not perfect - there are strikes, very busy trains etc.
- lostlogin 2y agoEven the worst European system looks good compared to New Zealand. We just started a 32 day closure of all train lines in Auckland, the first of 96 planned for the year. They aren’t far off needing press releases for when trains a running. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/537619/auckland-rail-shutdown-begins-what-you-need-to-know https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/537619/auckland-rail-shu...
- edwinjm 2y agoYou can complain about the Dutch NS, but in most countries, it’s way worse. Some numbers people from other countries can only dream about: punctuality less than 5 minutes: 89.7% punctuality less than 15 minutes: 97.0%
- derhuerst 2y agosimilar project: https://www.trainconnections.com/ https://www.trainconnections.com/
- fforflo 2y agoPeople living in central/western Europe: You have no idea how fortunate you are to be able to hop on a train and ride to another major city in a few hours. We mortals of the southeastern Europe feel detached from the rest of the world. Yeah, I know German trains occasionally are late, but I remember standing on the platform in Munich, envying those who could travel to Madrid or Brussels without going to the airport—security checks, yada.
- ChumpGPT 2y agoIt sounds romantic until they cancel your train or it is hours late, missed transfers, dirty cabins, etc. It's all a crap shoot on whether you get a nice train and everything goes smoothly. I've traveled by train in Germany, Poland, Czechia, Austria, Hungary, Ukraine, etc. Driving your vehicle is the best way to go if you want to enjoy the sights on the way.
- ekianjo 2y ago8hours without counting for delays and missed connections, something that the SNCF routinely experiences.
- pjmlp 2y agoOnce it took me a full day Paris - Geneva, which included travelling back to Paris when we were about midway, only to return to Geneva when about 100km close to Paris, stopping in the middle of nowhere to get the bar refilled, as everyone went there, and a voucher to use in another TGV travel within one year. The official reason, some powerline issue.
- bigblind 2y agoBeing visually impaired, I love the independence that the public transport network in Central Europe gives me. I live in the Netherlands, and frequently visit my parents in Belgium. I've also visited friends in Germany, all without relying on a sighted companion for transportation.
- ricardobayes 2y agoWhat a shame we don't have yet a high-speed line between Lisbon and Madrid. Two "sibling" countries, intertwined Iberian history and heritage, yet to travel between the capitals it's a 17-hour journey passing through Lisbon, Porto, Vigo (Galicia) and then Madrid.
- switch007 2y agoSiblings who can't stand each other and turn their backs to each other
- russellbeattie 2y agoIt looks like they're constructing a high speed route from Madrid to Badajoz to be finished by 2030, with the goal of extending to Lisbon. [1] I lived in Madrid for a few years... It's hard to get anywhere from there by train outside of Spain, though it's definitely easier now than it used to be thanks to the high speed train to Barcelona. 1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madrid%E2%80%93Extremadura_high-speed_rail_line https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madrid%E2%80%93Extremadura_h...
- Rendello 2y agoI saw that and thought it was a shame the line would take 15+ years, then I remembered what year it's about to be.
- yownie 2y agohttps://www.seat61.com/international-trains/trains-from-Madrid.htm#Spain-Portugal https://www.seat61.com/international-trains/trains-from-Madr... 3 switches but still doable, overnight direct train was shut down after COVID unfortunately
- benhurmarcel 2y agoIt’s a shame they removed the night train too. I took it a few years ago, it was convenient.
- Beijinger 2y agoWithout checking, Brussels is probably your best starting point. You should be able to reach: Frankfurt, London, Paris, Amsterdam and many more.
- Beijinger 2y agoObviously: https://www.seat61.com/ https://www.seat61.com/
- yumraj 2y agoQuestion: many of these could be day trips, if train schedule permits, if one is trying to cover many cities during a single trip. I know it’s not an ideal way to visit Europe, but just humor me please. What’s a good city to make the base, which has good connectivity with as many different cities in different countries as possible, and is a good destination in itself?
- ascorbic 2y agoParis is probably your best bet by those criteria.
- yumraj 2y agoThanks
- ascorbic 2y agoI'd also recommend seat61.com, which is the best source of info on international train travel. This page is relevant to your interests: https://www.seat61.com/international-trains/trains-from-Paris.htm https://www.seat61.com/international-trains/trains-from-Pari...
- yumraj 2y agoThis is a fantastic resource. Appreciate it..
- ghaff 2y agoI'd probably agree on Paris. Maybe Berlin. But Paris is probably a better choice for historical reasons.
- ulrischa 2y agoIn Germany: Nowhere because the Deutsche Bahn is late again: https://www.dw.com/en/germany-a-third-of-long-distance-trains-delayed-in-2023/a-67964403 https://www.dw.com/en/germany-a-third-of-long-distance-train... https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/oct/14/its-the-same-daily-misery-germanys-terrible-trains-are-no-joke-for-a-nation-built-on-efficiency https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/oct/14/its-the-sam...
- starbugs 2y agoWell, nowhere wouldn't be that bad actually. At least, you wouldn't be that far from home. In practice, you go somewhere. But you usually end up in some place in the middle of nowhere in between your departure point and your destination. Also, it's freezing and the next train (which of course doesn't arrive on time) will be overloaded - that is, if you're lucky. Most of the time, there won't even be a train but a "replacement bus service" which commonly is a single small bus that about 200 people try to board simultaneously after they waited for about an hour and a half. The whole torture is accompanied by awkward excuses like "unexpected staff shortage", "technical disruption", "signal repairs", or "delay due to earlier journey" which you can look at in an app that tends to not work while you wait and freeze. Bonus: If all else fails, you can play "Bahn Bingo" while you reflect on the experience of your trip: https://www.bahnbingo.de/ https://www.bahnbingo.de/
- LAC-Tech 2y agoI clicked a city, and I have no idea how to "un click" it. I tried refreshing the page as well. It's stuck with the first city I clicked on.
- alexott 2y agoFor Germany it’s far from reality… it shows from Paderborn to Dortmund in less than hour, but usually it’s good if you get there in two hours by train…
- mlok 2y agoFor some reason the result page keeps reloading indefinitely, and it renders the site unusable on Brave/iOS :(
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- TheRealPomax 2y agoYou might want to make that a little more biassed towards major train stations in regions with dense train networks. I wanted to see how far I could get from Amsterdam, but it kept localizing me to hyper-local stations like Duivendrecht or Zaandam, which isn't super useful =)
- hibikir 2y agoThe data needs refreshing: The time from my hometown in Spain to Madrid is almost 2 hours shorter than it claims, as a new line has opened. Ti might also be missing how new companies have recently caused speedups in other routes by skipping stations altogether: A stop on a high velocity train can be over 20 minutes if it has to go from full speed to zero and back again
- dinkblam 2y agowhy not create the same things for cars? would be great if you could see where you could go in 1/2/3 hours from your location. no current map or navigation service seems to be of help here
- mtmail 2y agoIt's computational more complex (thus expensive): more types of vehicles, more potential roads to travel, traffic or road limitations (maximum speed, width, allowed access). There's niche players like https://playground.traveltime.com/isochrones https://playground.traveltime.com/isochrones . Technical term is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isochrone_map https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isochrone_map [Edit] https://withinhours.com/ https://withinhours.com/ seems easy to use
- arkensaw 2y agodepends on the country. if you're in Ireland, only Ireland or a tiny bit of the UK
- arkensaw 2y agoI had a chance to travel by rail from Amsterdam to Belgium and I chose a first class ticket, hoping to experience some real luxury (I've never travelled first class anywhere before) It was very disappointing. We had to wait on an exposed end of the platform away from regular commuters. When I boarded it was no more luxurious than a regular train. I got a meal which consisted of a sandwich which was, I swear, a 1" x 4" sliver of bread with broccoli pesto on it, and another piece on top. not even a full sandwich. I also got a lukewarm cup of coffee and a yoghurt.
- bgnn 2y ago1st class for such a distance isn't for luxury but for more space. You should check before buying anything.
- JoshTriplett 2y agoFirst class varies by train. Most often, though, it means fewer seats packed into the same space; for instance, often coach has a 2/2 configuration (2 seats on each side), while first class has a 2/1 configuration. First class also more often has seats facing each other with a table.
- tlubinski 2y agoThey just launched a new high-speed train from Berlin to Paris with a travel time of 8 hours: https://apnews.com/article/germany-france-berlin-paris-highspeed-train-d8456ccc8f446c147eedb7d2b1759a65 https://apnews.com/article/germany-france-berlin-paris-highs...
- tigershark 2y agoYeah, less than from Milan to my city still in Italy…
- rachelgunn 2y ago[dead]
- aziaziazi 2y agoFor those that think it’s impossible for the USA because of the density or geography or oil economy, please have a look at that map: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transport_in_Russia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transport_in_Russia edit: traveled with the transiberian as a tourist, it was full of workers, business man, students, whatever, hopping on and of in different places for connections or destinations. Best human experience ever in all three classes. Edit2: definitely not high speed. I think that’s a better way of life.
- yeputons 2y agoMoreover, I've never heard of a long-distance passenger train being delayed or cancelled in Russia. Granted, I mostly knew about major trains to major destinations from Moscow/Saint Petersburg. Not a single person I knew had a plan for "the train is cancelled/delayed". Like, forgetting ID is more likely. I've heard it's a USSR legacy where passenger trains had much higher priority than even freight trains. Flight cancellations or delays - sure, they do happen. Local trains even in these major cities do get delayed (around 2-5 minutes is typical, very rarely up to 30 minutes) or cancelled. Delays are in the moment, cancellations are typically announced a day or two in advance, as I was told. "11 trains are late for at least two hours" makes regional news.
- DiogenesKynikos 2y agoEast of the Mississippi, the population density of the US is not that much lower than that of the EU, anyways. Within some relatively large regions of the US, such as the Northeast Megalopolis, the population density is higher than most of Western Europe.
- pxmpxm 2y agoRevealed preference. Usage of train travel (public transit in general) goes down with income, and people in the US have an order of magnitude more disposable income versus Russia. The take rate of air conditioning in subsaharan Africa is far lower compared to similar-climate places like Florida, but I wouldn't use that fact to posit that sans-AC is somehow better.
- kindeyoowee 2y ago[flagged]
- kuon 2y agoThis is so bad when compared to Japan. I don't mean that to be mean, but there is so much improvement possible. I hope it will improve. I live in Switzerland and I cannot use public transport most if the time because there isn't any.
- afiodorov 2y agoVilnius Riga connection missing