5 ms·
How far can you go by train in 5 hours? (interactive map)
- shindeyash28 1y agoThis is great! Now I can find out how many countries I can visit in a day by train efficiently
- amelius 1y agoI just wish they made the range 8h instead of 5h. (Maybe someone can find the point where it can be changed in the Javascript code.)
- JoshTriplett 1y agoLikewise. Or 12h, even.
- NitpickLawyer 1y agoThe most has to be something like minmaxing borders between benelux + de + fr + ch + it and then head east / north-east as much as possible, right?
- ajd555 1y agoAny idea why Spain and Portugal have such small isometric zones? An obvious factor is the mountains in the North, but I'm surprised there isn't easier access between the Iberian peninsula and France
- tiagod 1y agoSevere lack of investment. While Spain was building one of the largest high-speed train networks in the world, we were closing down existing lines and building enormous highways.
- KK7NIL 1y agoThe Iberian peninsula uses its own track gauge.
- Anduia 1y agoYes, it is the mountains. Tunnels are very expensive. The French TGV lines only reach the Spanish border at Hendaye on the west coast and Perpignan on the east. The fast line to Barcelona is quite recent. In northern Spain, there is a slow train line that connects Barcelona with Galicia called the "tren estrella," but it stops everywhere and uses old infrastructure, so it is slow. Traveling to Madrid is always fast with the newer AVE lines, and more are being built. No idea about Portugal. I guess that it is the same situation, and those routes are covered by buses.
- yokaze 1y agoWell, Spain is fairly sparsely populated in the interior compared to France or Germany: https://maps-spain.com/maps-spain-geography/spain-population-map https://maps-spain.com/maps-spain-geography/spain-population... Then you have the Pyrenees between the Iberian peninsula and France. Aside from being mountainous, also fairly low population density, and rather poorer regions to the point that you'll find abandoned villages. So, the only sensible connections are along the Mediterranean (Catalonia) or the Atlantic coast (Basque Country). Another reason is that Spain has high-speed rails only since the nineties. IRC, just in the recent years, there was a high-speed connection built to the Basque Country (from Madrid). From the Basque Country you can go to France with a light rail. So, the only high-speed connection is along the Mediterranean. In a way, it's a center/periphery problem. France is prioritising connections from/to Paris, Spain from/to Madrid. Unless either side improves the network at their side of the border, it also makes limited sense to improve yours. The EU is funding that.
- silvestrov 1y agoIreland does not seem to work. Interesting that Spain and Portugal seems so disconnected.
- sva_ 1y agoFor the German trains I would add the qualifier "theoretically" or "with a lot of luck" considering the high chance of delays.
- SoftTalker 1y agoSame in the US. If you take Amtrak (particularly west of Chicago) there's a fair chance that at some point you will travel zero distance in 5 hours.
- jcutrell 1y agoThis could be modeled with stdev
- shermantanktop 1y agoFor commute visualization, this is great but of course real commutes require more time at either end. The train part of the commute is usually the least awful part - it’s the unreliable transit and pedestrian-unfriendly terrain that grinds your soul to a nub.
- xnx 1y agoAlso doesn't account for time waiting for the train, which could be hours late at night.
- elcapitan 1y agoI find the new version of the site more practical, as you can enter stations: https://www.chronotrains.com https://www.chronotrains.com I always thought of this visualization type as kind of a gimmick, but recently used this site for planning a vacation. I was visiting one place in the middle of the country and wanted to find some time efficient way to travel to "some coast" as the second part of that journey, inside the UK. The travel time was very much dependent on the specific main lines rather than geographical distance, so that was very helpful.
- pil0u 1y agoPast discussions: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42530332 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42530332 8 months ago - 648 points - 412 comments https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32537382 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32537382 Aug 21, 2022 - 80 points - 42 comments
- xnx 1y agoIt's a little hidden, but Google Maps (web version) has a walking or driving travel time feature under: Layers -> More -> Travel time
- pil0u 1y agoThis submission's link is https://old.chronotrains.com/ https://old.chronotrains.com/ There is now with a search feature https://www.chronotrains.com/ https://www.chronotrains.com/
- TheChaplain 1y agoIt's _very_ optimistic. It states 6:01 for going from my parents to my home, in reality it's over 8 because switching trains is rarely within 10 minutes.
- GuB-42 1y agoIt would be interesting to layer it with an elevation map. We can almost make out the contours of the mountain ranges. For example if you look at France, there is like a big hole in the middle of the southern half of the country, that all train lines seem to avoid. That's the Massif Central mountain range, the largest of the country and a sparsely populated area. Same idea with the Apennines in Italy. Compare to relatively flat countries like Germany and Poland where it is much more uniform. You could use a population density map too, but if a low population area is flat, express trains tend to go straight through them instead of avoiding them, which give some spotty coverage rather than none at all as it is the case in mountainous areas.
- BrandoElFollito 1y agoThis would be interesting indeed, but I did not see such a discrepancy. I tried a few cities around Massif Central (starting with Clermont Ferrand) and the coverage is not bad. By not bad I mean that there is a way to reach the places bu choosing cities around the region. I did not say that it is easy :)
- M95D 1y agoI wish it had data available for Japan and China.