3 ms·
Travel time by train is mostly about how many stops [edit: legs] you need (which add through wait times) and what part of the network you're on: Brussels/Cologn
by pgeorgi 11y ago
Travel time by train is mostly about how many stops [edit: legs] you need (which add through wait times) and what part of the network you're on:
Brussels/Cologne, which is used on the London/Cologne route was only usable up to 60km/h or so 7 years ago. That part took nearly as long back then as the entire LON/CGN trip does now.
Paris - Stuttgart - Nuremberg (580km) takes 6h51 including one hour between connections in Stuttgart.
Berlin - Stuttgart (591km) has a 5h34 direct connection.
Frankfurt - Bern - Milano (~700km) takes 7h47 including 30 minutes in Bern
OTOH, Frankfurt - Cologne (for which a dedicated high speed rail route was built nearly 20 years ago) is about 200km in 1h04.
- mschuster91 11y ago> Travel time by train is mostly about how many stops you need (which add through wait times) The wait times are not the big problem - the problem is the time needed to decelerate and accelerate the train at each stop. E.g. a freight train of 1.200 tons needs 1km from 100 km/h to 0, and a high-speed passenger train, e.g. ICE 3, needs 3.3km from 330 km/h to 0.
- pgeorgi 11y agoSorry, I picked the wrong term. Not "stop", but "leg".
- godzilla82 11y agoWhat about the terrain? If it were possible to go from sf to la without the elevation changes, they would have made the road by that route.
- pgeorgi 11y agoTerrain also plays a part. Frankfurt-Milano crosses the Alps, and it's slower (per distance) than the other examples.