6 ms·

Being from India (where the rail system is awesome, even though its not high speed), having extensive traveling experience in Europe and an avid hater of drivin

by ujjwalg 17y ago

Being from India (where the rail system is awesome, even though its not high speed), having extensive traveling experience in Europe and an avid hater of driving, I love the fact that something is happening in this area in US. When I came to US, I was surprised to see the only modes of traveling being driving or flying. My friends told me its because the auto lobbying in US is so powerful that they don't let any public transportation system to develop. I believed them. I am not saying it is true but I cannot figure out a reason why public transportation system across US sucks and even though this venture is highly cost intensive, IMO, it will be well worth it. Also, I dont understand people who prefer driving 8 hours, rather than sitting in a train, stress free and can actually use their time to work/read/socialize.

randallsquared 17y ago
I far prefer driving to riding a train (or flying, except for the first and last 20 minutes). Sitting in a train is not stress-free, for one thing. There are all these people around you, who you can't just ignore completely, and yet with whom you are not friends. It's like being at a party where you know no one, and parties are hard enough to deal with even if you know everyone at them. Secondly, there's not really enough room to work unless you can do your work on a phone; even if there were enough room for a decent-sized laptop between you and the seat in front, you'd still have to put everything away and get up whenever the people away from the aisle wanted out, which is every 15 minutes or so, seemingly. This problem also exists for reading. Also, when you're driving, there's always the possibility of stopping at something that interests you, or taking a different route. You are in control of your own movement, in a way that you aren't at all in a train, where you can't realistically choose to do something differently. Even a comfortable jail is still jail (though Amtrak, at least, is no more comfortable than business-class flying), and while you might choose to put yourself in a traveling jail for 12 hours, the lack of freedom to choose differently halfway through will, of course, wear on you. I took a train when I moved from Alabama to the DC metro area last year, and I quickly realized I should have flown. There was absolutely nothing to recommend the experience over flying, which is very similar, except much shorter and somewhat cheaper (and Amtrak, the train I took, is subsidized, so a train that actually reflected its true cost in the ticket price would be, at current standards, an economy-class experience with a luxury-class price).
- tptacek 17y ago
  This seems completely backwards to me --- I've gotten real work done every time I've ridden the Acela, and I can't think of a single line of code I've ever written on a plane.
  - randallsquared 17y ago
    Well, my own trip was stressful, cramped, and otherwise uncomfortable, and I wouldn't bother to repeat it. If I really needed to spend that time coding and had no option but to do it while en route, I'd much rather spend it mostly in an airport. I've never actually done any coding while on a train or a plane, though I have while riding shotgun in a car across the West, while my wife-at-the-time drove. :)
    - tptacek 17y ago
      It sounds like you took a legacy Amtrak train (does Acela go south of DC?). There is no comparison between Acela and standard Amtrak.
  - Kadin 17y ago
    I am with you; I ride the northeast corridor frequently (both on the Acela and the regular regionals) and I've gotten hundreds of hours of work done while clanking along at (average) 45MPH. The key advantages Amtrak has over a plane, in terms of getting work done: * Every seat has a 120VAC outlet * There's no cellphone prohibition Now the latter can be somewhat obnoxious if you end up in a car of people who spend the whole trip yelling into their phones, but I always sit in the "Quiet Car," if one exists, to prevent this. And then I tether my phone to my laptop to use its internet connection, and I can do all my work from the train. (The connection drops going through the Hudson River tunnels and in a few other places, but in general there's coverage all the way down.) A 6-hour train trip is for me almost always more productive than a (theoretically) 1.5-hour plane flight, because I can spend virtually all of the train trip working, and not screwing around waiting in line, going through security, etc. The way I normally schedule it, flying requires me to give up a half-day of work, while I'll put in a regular day's work from the train. The equipment is outdated (and has a certain "Amtrak aroma" to it that makes me want to shower immediately afterwards) and it would be great if that 6-hour train trip only took 3 or 4, but they've already got the airlines beat along the NEC, as far as I'm concerned.
protomyth 17y ago
For a goodly chunk of the USA, driving is the only way to get around. Roadways are a lot cheaper option for a lot of areas.
- whimsy 17y ago
  It was not always this way.
  - protomyth 17y ago
    well, the roadways were preceded by cart/horse paths, but I don't think rail was ever the cheapest option. A dirt road is pretty cheap.

by ujjwalg 17y ago

randallsquared 17y ago

I far prefer driving to riding a train (or flying, except for the first and last 20 minutes). Sitting in a train is not stress-free, for one thing. There are all these people around you, who you can't just ignore completely, and yet with whom you are not friends. It's like being at a party where you know no one, and parties are hard enough to deal with even if you know everyone at them. Secondly, there's not really enough room to work unless you can do your work on a phone; even if there were enough room for a decent-sized laptop between you and the seat in front, you'd still have to put everything away and get up whenever the people away from the aisle wanted out, which is every 15 minutes or so, seemingly. This problem also exists for reading. Also, when you're driving, there's always the possibility of stopping at something that interests you, or taking a different route. You are in control of your own movement, in a way that you aren't at all in a train, where you can't realistically choose to do something differently. Even a comfortable jail is still jail (though Amtrak, at least, is no more comfortable than business-class flying), and while you might choose to put yourself in a traveling jail for 12 hours, the lack of freedom to choose differently halfway through will, of course, wear on you. I took a train when I moved from Alabama to the DC metro area last year, and I quickly realized I should have flown. There was absolutely nothing to recommend the experience over flying, which is very similar, except much shorter and somewhat cheaper (and Amtrak, the train I took, is subsidized, so a train that actually reflected its true cost in the ticket price would be, at current standards, an economy-class experience with a luxury-class price).

tptacek 17y ago
This seems completely backwards to me --- I've gotten real work done every time I've ridden the Acela, and I can't think of a single line of code I've ever written on a plane.
- randallsquared 17y ago
  Well, my own trip was stressful, cramped, and otherwise uncomfortable, and I wouldn't bother to repeat it. If I really needed to spend that time coding and had no option but to do it while en route, I'd much rather spend it mostly in an airport. I've never actually done any coding while on a train or a plane, though I have while riding shotgun in a car across the West, while my wife-at-the-time drove. :)
  - tptacek 17y ago
    It sounds like you took a legacy Amtrak train (does Acela go south of DC?). There is no comparison between Acela and standard Amtrak.
- Kadin 17y ago
  I am with you; I ride the northeast corridor frequently (both on the Acela and the regular regionals) and I've gotten hundreds of hours of work done while clanking along at (average) 45MPH. The key advantages Amtrak has over a plane, in terms of getting work done: * Every seat has a 120VAC outlet * There's no cellphone prohibition Now the latter can be somewhat obnoxious if you end up in a car of people who spend the whole trip yelling into their phones, but I always sit in the "Quiet Car," if one exists, to prevent this. And then I tether my phone to my laptop to use its internet connection, and I can do all my work from the train. (The connection drops going through the Hudson River tunnels and in a few other places, but in general there's coverage all the way down.) A 6-hour train trip is for me almost always more productive than a (theoretically) 1.5-hour plane flight, because I can spend virtually all of the train trip working, and not screwing around waiting in line, going through security, etc. The way I normally schedule it, flying requires me to give up a half-day of work, while I'll put in a regular day's work from the train. The equipment is outdated (and has a certain "Amtrak aroma" to it that makes me want to shower immediately afterwards) and it would be great if that 6-hour train trip only took 3 or 4, but they've already got the airlines beat along the NEC, as far as I'm concerned.

protomyth 17y ago

For a goodly chunk of the USA, driving is the only way to get around. Roadways are a lot cheaper option for a lot of areas.

whimsy 17y ago
It was not always this way.
- protomyth 17y ago
  well, the roadways were preceded by cart/horse paths, but I don't think rail was ever the cheapest option. A dirt road is pretty cheap.