Haha, DB also does this with foreign delays. I've been in a German train starting in Amsterdam that left 5 mins late - they mentioned it at every stop until Munich.
It's a problem of reliability. If you need to be at work at 08:00 and your train is regularly late or getting cancelled, you can't take the train to work.
Not to mention even a small delay could mess up the timing of taking the next bus/train. For not too busy routes it could mean waiting in the cold for half an hour.... If that next bus has a good delay you could be there for almost an hour. (Totally not speaking from personal experience)
When I lived in New York there was a place I’d go sometimes that required 2 trains and a bus. On the weekdays it took about 40 minutes, but on weekends with the cumulative effect of less frequent service it was typically 2 hours, or longer depending on how quickly the first train came.
Japan is the MVP here. I live there and I literally have never seen a train not arrive exactly at the scheduled time. However "public" transport is privately owned so... Uh... Yeah, tradeoffs.
Must pe nice. Here I was about to add that you can’t take a train to work if you might have to stay a bit late, but trains outside rush hour are one hour, then two hours apart, and stop way too early
I've been in Vienna from time to time, and it's pretty good, 365€/year for the pass that gets you buses, trams and subways with unlimited access and no turnstiles anywhere, you just go and enter
Schedules follow work hours and go from a subway every 2 minutes during peak hours to one every 15mins late at night
You have night line buses for weekdays and on Saturday night public transport doesn't shut down
Coverage is good, you almost always have a bus or tram line less then 5 minutes of walking
There are bike sharing places with 20 bikes each ~1km apart and they cost 60 cents for half an hour, or e-scooters in the designed locations which are basically everywhere (but being owned by companies they cost so much more then everything else)
Honestly, the perspective of what constitutes a functioning public transit system depends a lot on what you have as a point of reference.
I'm portuguese but I lived in Germany for 5 months during which I used exclusively public transports and bikes. Central Europeans complain a lot about Deutsche Bahn and indeed during this time I saw a few strikes, delays and suppressions. However, transports were still much more reliable and much more frequent than I'm used too so I could never really consider it problematic, although my Central European friends complained a lot.
I take the light rail into work from the suburbs of Seattle into downtown. Trains run every 7-8 minutes. They're expanding it in all directions now. Only downside is that a lot of homeless ride the train because it's cold as heck on the streets. That's a societal problem though, not an issue with the train.
As an American, this is exactly correct. The last time I tried to take Amtrak the train literally did not show up and they told us they had no way to contact it and didn't know where it was. After waiting many hours with no change in status I finally gave up. The last time I actually rode Amtrak it was multiple hours late and cost about the same as a plane ticket.
I think watching Jet Lag let's you see the full breadth of transit systems pretty well, because the whole game relies on it. Japan is amazing. A lot of Europe is good enough that you can get around, some great and some not so great. The US is so bad I don't think either team bothered taking a train when they did the show there.
Not to downplay any of the myriad problems here in the USA, but I think many of us are trying to believe that a better world is possible and this sometimes leads to unrealistic views of how much better things are abroad. Sometimes.
But I am hopeful that this country is increasingly humiliated for at least a couple of decades.
We deeply apologize that it took the train 49 seconds to arrive. We have prepared notes for your boss in case you're late, and there will be a half page ad in tomorrow's paper confirming our CEO has committed seppuku to atone.
there's always one when you need to cross the tracks.
This, but you ever notice that it's pretty much never passenger trains? This efficient mode of transportation is largely designed for and used by industry rather than for travel or commute. The exception is within big enough cities like DC and NYC to get from one side of the city to the other or anywhere between. Sure there are some trains that go between cities, but they're largely unreliable because passenger cars yield to industrial freight, and so people are less inclined to opt for them over planes or cars, and so there are fewer trains available to go wherever you're going in the window you're trying to go. So you book a flight instead.
I'd take a long train ride over a road trip any fucking day. I don't understand anybody who would rather drive than chill and read a book or play games or watch movies or nap.
This, but you ever notice that it’s pretty much never passenger trains? This efficient mode of transportation is largely designed for and used by industry rather than for travel or commute.
Yet massive amounts of goods are shipped long-distance via truck anyway, clogging up highways and polluting far more per-ton and per-mile moved.
Exactly, it's not that the US doesn't have trains, there are plenty. Lots of relatively small towns have rails going to or through them. The problem is that only a tiny fraction of them are passenger rail.
As an American, I don't have access to trains, buses, bike lanes, sidewalks or even a shoulder on the road. The last time I tried to walk home from the tire shop two miles away, three people stopped to offer me a ride because it is that dangerous. I live inside the 275 loop that runs around Cincinnati.
Yeah, my “Public Transit” option on google maps is entirely greyed out. This is my daily commute to work:
It’s always entertaining to see the Europeans go “lol just ditch your car, it has to start somewhere” like it wouldn’t require me to move my entire family across town, (and pay 3x as much rent to live in the city…) Like I don’t even have the option of taking public transit, because there are no connecting lines between my home and my job. Literally none. The nearest bus stop is almost as far away as my job, and it’s in the opposite direction.
And to be clear, that 2+ hour walk would be on a highway with no sidewalk. I’d be dead on day 1. If I wanted to avoid the highway, the walk would be closer to 4.5 hours; The highway is the only direct path.
To be fair, Google Maps sucks ass in this regard. If you ever visit Europe, never EVER trust it for public transit information. Always look on the native apps and websites.
Google Maps regularly offers me routes that either don't exist anymore, not at that time or day of the week, unnecessarily require a group taxi somewhere or are simply extremely inefficient. Instead of a 95min travel it wanted me to go for a route that took 145 minutes the last time (luckily I knew it was bullshit).
Even FOSS apps that may acquire travel data through rather novel means will provide more accurate information than the billions of dollars available to Googles car heads.
It actually found some useful routes in Scotland that the bus website couldn't tell you about - e.g. where there's no direct route somewhere, but you can go to a place near the junction of some routes and wait for a bus in the other direction.
I live in Utrecht, one of The Netherlands' larger cities. I don't even have a car anymore. I can reach any place in the city by cycling in 15min max. Planning a trip with Google maps often shows cycling to be as fast or even faster than by car. Amsterdam by train is 30min, train leaves every 10min. I can take my bike in the train or take a public transportation bike from any train station. Cars are stupid.
I lived a year in Nijmegen when I was younger, and later another year in Duesseldorf, so what you're describing isn't foreign to me. But where I live now there are no options other than car. If you don't own one you need a friend with one or an Uber.
Damn, that sucks. I never have to worry about traffic, I have no time delay when traveling during rush hour by bike. More people on bikes means less cars, less traffic jams. I don't understand why other countries move away from cars, there are only benifits and no downsides switching to a stronger public transit and cycling infrastructure. It unclugs traffic so businesses have faster travel times, there are less accidents, the city is cleaner, there is more room to build as there is less need for parking space, road maintenance is cheaper, the cities get a better feeling for being in as people are invited to be in the streets instead of their cars. There's more room for greenery, which has a mental benifit as well as rainwater management. Kids can play on the streets safely again instead. It's not hard to do. Rotterdam was rebuilt after the second world war when it was wiped from the map by German bombing. They built it up like American cities, completely car focused. They completely changed it to bike friendly because of accidents and clogging, making a very shitty city a very nice one.
How easy is it for you to take your bike on the train in that area? I was visiting Utrecht recently and was really surprised they only allowed 2-3 bikes on the entire train (off peak hours too).
I avoid rush hour because people are annoying. I usually have no issue with bringing my bike, most of the times there are a few bike areas on each train and when it's 5 instead of 3 while people can still pass the hallway no one would care about it. But it's just as easy to use a bike from NS (national railway), they are at every station and it's cheap. A folding bike is free to take by train, I might buy an electric one in the future.
Although there are many improvements to be made, like international euro rail connecting the capitals, better prices, a reliable DB and most importantly EU standard track system, I love our euro rails.
But I've gotta confess, the fact the US train is called Marc is kinda cool.
"Hey, I wonder where Marc is. Is he coming?"
"Nah men, Marc is completely derailed again. He burned down an entire town and he's toxic AF."
MARC is unfortunately only a regional train for Maryland, and he is very limited on the weekends.. The national passenger train system is called Amtrak.
DB doesn't hold a candle to VIA Rail. Germans and Europeans in general like to mock DB, and with reason, but as a Canadian, I'm still so very jealous of DB.
Due to [these] restrictions, 80 per cent of trips suffered delays of more than 10 to 15 minutes in February between Quebec City and Windsor, where the majority of Via trains operate. In January, 67 per cent of trains were late on the same corridor. Delays have been even greater between Quebec City and Ottawa this year, affecting 94 per cent of trains last month and 86 per cent in January.
DB uses this novel trick to avoid delays: they simply don't count trains that don't run at all as delayed. And then they also sometimes cancel trains for being delayed. They simply turn the train around before reaching it's final stop so at least it's somewhat on time running the other way.
The problem with trains is they are public (under)founded. The rich and powerfull with political influence don't want working public transportation because less carsales, oil, gasoline etc.
Which explains why Musk prevented a high speed train in the US with his hyperloop. We all need to buy EV"s which have most of the downsides of traditional cars.
When we could have clean, fast and comfortable public transportation.
DB is still 100% owned by the federation, it's only organised privately. Trouble is they expected it to turn a profit, to do that DB had to run its infrastructure into the ground, invest abroad, get into fucking trucking, you name it. Don't get me wrong there's nothing wrong with operating rail/road interface warehouses, but when a rail company is building a logistics warehouse without rail connection you know something's deeply fishy. Meanwhile, the Autobahn network got plenty of tax money pumped into it. And those DB profits.
The failure is 110% political, decades of car-brained infrastructure ministers, "but won't someone think about the car producers and their workers". Bipartisan issue. In US terms: UAW and Blackrock vs. Amtrack. Guess who's winning the lobby battle, difference being in Germany people actually like trains.
I'm considering it should be a private company where the state/city is the majority owner.
Also i'm guessing that the public transport only makes sense in cities, and inter-city. Not so much on the countryside in small villages. There cars are more efficient.
Agree 100%. But where I live politicians always seem to focus more on giving tax cuts than maintenance and improving trains. The people should not accept it, but.. Tax cuts!
American here - I recently started taking the train to go to work! Previously I couldn't due to no trains scheduled for the return home trip after my shift was over, but after getting a new schedule, I got on board the train! So far in the past two months, I've already had a few instances of the train being delayed or missing it entirely. One day, the train was delayed by 30 minutes and stated they would be held for an unknown amount of time to put out a fire on the tracks at a station ahead - drove into work that day. Another day, the train was delayed by 5 minutes. Outside of that, I was late to the train by like 5 minutes and it left without me (still adjusting to early morning schedule).
So far, I like taking the train much more than driving the car.
Of course the trains leave without you if you are 5 min late.
It will leave without you if you are 30 seconds late. Hell, it will even leave if you are 5 seconds late unless they see you running and are feeling extra nice.
I’m Polish but I also made the switch to use public transport instead of my car, even though it’s not the cheapest once you’re not a student anymore. I feel better though knowing how much fuel I save by not driving in traffic for 1.5h 4 days a week. The other thing is that the money goes to the city so I will likely benefit from it in some way
True, although this aspect is actually an area where I prefer driving. I find it relaxing to zone out my thoughts and just focus on what’s ahead of me with my favorite music. Depending on time of day, trains here are a bit tough to study in due to how many people there are
I was late for a hair appointment because I missed the bus, and I swear they wrote it down in my file because every time I went back, for the next year they were like "So... Did you come by bus today?"
Also yeah no problem if your train doesn't come once - but if it happens more than once it's going to reflect badly even though it's out of your control. You'll start to get the comments "You should take the earlier one!" I travelled by bus with 2 transfers to college and it was ROUGH.
I used it every time it happened, very rarely when I just slept in. My boss also came by S-Bahn so he was late from time to time as well. Of course if we had an important meeting or a customer appointment we came in a whole hour early, to compensate for 3 train failures, which never happened. But if you came 20 minutes late on a regular Tuesday nobody cared that much (boring office IT job).
My understanding is that leaves contain some compound(s) that, when wet and under the extremely high pressures that train wheels provide, becomes one of the most effective lubricants we know about. In other words, the brakes literally won't do anything because you'll slip-n-slide your way at the same speed you were going before.
Sounds like the Irish version of the german winter chaos. The very moment the first snowflake drops it's total chaos, trains being terminated left and right due to an old railway switch that still saw Adolf freezing shut again.
Where is this magical European place with trains that are only .5sec delayed? Our public transit authority considers train "on time" if they're no more than 20min late...and still, less than 80% of trains are "on time"...
From my small experience as an a American. Netherlands had some really reliable transit. Never had a problem in France though definitely not as nice as Netherlands. Italy was definitely hit and miss depending on the city but loved the high speed rail from Naples to Rome. Germany was reliable during October Fest so I assume at least Munich is reliable if it was good at that time. Though I wouldn't say I used much in Germany.
Other countries I've been to but I'll just list cities for these because I didn't go much anyone else for them: Prague, Budapest, Vienna
I can't say there was a single country/city here that had transit that was worse than the best transit in the US. Was it all perfect? No. But compared to fucking Amtrak that literally has to stop for hours at a time while we wait for other freight trains to pass. Literally multiple times during a single train ride.
Some countries may not be the first meme. But what major city in Europe has worse local transit than say Chicago or New York? Or worse heavy rail than Amtrak? Just honestly asking.
I don't think anything could be worse than Amtrak.
You mentioned 4 - 5 EU countries, even major cities. You are missing other 22 countries. Not going too far like mentioning Romania, but have you ever tried Renfe en Madrid? Hehehe it fails many times
On the contrary, when I lived in the US on Long Island, a part of the country where people warn life without a car is impossible, I had a great transit experience. Buses were generally on time, modern and equipped with live tracking, and the trains were great too.
I know LI’s relative poor transit options are mostly in comparison to other areas in the Northeast, which is a densely populated region. I imagine my experience would be totally different in the Midwest or the Prairies. And that’s especially true for trains – LI is awesome in that regard
As an American living in a region with halfway decent (by American standards) public transit, I feel like I hear more comments aligned with the European side than the American side. If public transit has literally any downsides, that's justification enough to drive for so many people.
Although the US and Europe are nearly identical in area, Europe's population centers are far more uniformly distributed. Big cities in America are mostly around the edges, with a vast, sparsely populated area in the middle. Most intercity train service in America is in that fringe, where the spacing between cities is more like in Europe.
True, but the post is about trains being on schedule (or showing up at all), not about speed. I wasn't saying US trains service is as good as European.
No, it's not a value judgement of any kind. Imagine that - just making an observation with no implications or underlying opinion to swipe left/right on. What a concept.
Sure, intercity will never work in the US. Except on both coasts. And upper Midwest. And in a couple mountain and high desert areas. Dammit, that’s like 70% of the population
BMW's are famously known to be in the workshop more often than on the road. My friend's BMW had a type of self-cleaning oil. All he has to do is top off the oil once a month. Just ignore the stain on the parking lot, it's not oil.
They are very sensitive and do require to regular cleanings and oil changes
But saying that they are less reliable since our regulations are so much stricter, no less to say that they less lasting is not only the silliest fucking thing I have heard all tuesday but objectively false
European cars generally last much longer than American vehicles
They are very sensitive and do need periodic cleanings and oil changes, but its really nothing you can’t do on your own?
But saying that they are less reliable since oir regulations are so much stricter, and to say less lasting is not only the silliest fucking thing I have heard all tuesday but objectively false
European cars generally last much longer than American vehicles
The railroad here is a bad joke at this point, mainly due to shutting down the organization that was responsible for maintainence and shoving it into another agency that has no clue. As a bonus the new agency doesn't even do the repair work themselves but hires contractors at the lowest bidder. So stuff breaks constantly, which causes delays.
At this point just getting the rail network to "normal" standards would cost billions. Let alone expanding it to cope with current traffic levels.
To be fair, most higher density areas in Sweden have fairly good infrastructure for public transit. The national railways are a disgrace, but that mostly affects long distance travel. Mostly. Short to medium distance commute works fairly well everywhere I’ve tried it.
Meanwhile in Japan: Train is 30 seconds late "here's a letter for your employer explaining why you were only 29 minutes and 30 seconds early for your 8 hour shift that will inevitably have an additional 8 hours of unpaid overtime tacked on to it."
BMW, VW and Mercedes. The German Bundesbahn was perfect then the CDU, CSU and FDP killed it due to lobbyism. Now, the politicians suck the cocks of the CEOs of the mentioned companies.
SPD and Grüne always say that the Deutsche Bahn needs more money, but they had the chance between 98 and 05. Did they change something? No there was not enough money according to them.
Not even the biggest thing that beautiful trio ruined. Their lobbying and Mutti Merkel's politics were the main contributors to the Hungary problem. So if you want to know why common defense policies get vetoed or why is the Ukraine response is a shitshow, the root cause is that VW needed cheap exploitable workers.
Really? As an American who had never ridden a train before, I was impressed by Germany's public transit. I remember wishing we had such systems everywhere over here.
Honestly though, I'd prefer high speed mag-lev systems that run like clockwork.
I thought authoritarianism was supposed to at least make the trains run on time. Or maybe the dictator will just edit train schedules with his sharpie if anybody dares to ask.
The origin of that saying, the trains in Fascist Italy, were basically never on time. But the fascist government put great effort into telling people that, at long last, they were running on time, so it stuck.
Narratives dig deeper into cultural consciousness than reality itself.
no fast railways in the US at all, hyperloop delayed cali long enough til trump was able to stop it in his first term. it would solve alot of employment locaitons issues like biotech, and tech hubs. which are situated outside of major freeways and highways and major metro areas, even cars have a trouble navigating to.
Same here; I live across the world. Usually, I mean. As a visitor in Japan however, I can confirm that their public transit system is every bit as convenient and efficient as we've been lead to believe internationally. Believe the hype.
I sincerely wish you good luck and hope you can make the trip someday! Visiting Japan has been a life long dream for my wife and I, and we are having an amazing time here. I only wish we could stay.
Guess what, I am a taxpayer and you can't tell me what I "really don't" want. Do you think i have come here from the stone age to not know that infrastructure and services cost money?
The reason I said it is because there are alternatives which are significantly cheaper and more effective. Maglev is expensive, shit ROI and massive downsides over conventional high-speed rail, namely system complexity and maintenance. Short version: expensive AF.
Edit: I've made another comment below. Also the French TGV has proven it can go 575 kilometers per hour, why not make regular trains even faster? It would be cheaper, would achieve the same thing and keeps the benefits of regular trains. There are always multiple approaches to the same problem, and the flashiest solution is seldom the best.
I'm well aware that rail/wheel tech works well. However
It would be cheaper
is not true. High speed rail is precision engineering and what you gain from the reduced complexity of not having magnets on the rails is lost by the required precision to make trains as fast as you claim them to be. The cost for a Transrapid line was claimed to be pretty much on par with an ICE line, with trains carrying fewer people but on a higher frequency, so even that would have evened out. The advantage you claim, which is compatibility to existing rail networks, can be regarded as a disadvantage, too, as high speed trains suddenly compete for the same limited resource as all other trains in the network and are sometimes travelling quite slowly as they utilise the same, old rails because the pain of using the old network isn't big enough to make people build new high speed infrastructure. Add to that the issue of too many stops that are added for political reasons and high speed trains suddenly become less and less of a competitive player when it comes to international traffic. If there was another network that would simply be incompatible to existing ones, a lot of these issues wouldn't even arise. A Transrapid just wouldn't stop in Erkelenz, Züssow or Altenbeken and no overly confident mayor could even suggest it, simply because there wouldn't be the infrastructure. And that would be a good thing.
Also, the speed comparison is not that simple. You're comparing wheeled trains that took decades to evolve with the first generation of maglev trains and as far as I see, that's also the highest speed recorded, which isn't what they're allowed to do during regular operations. I highly doubt that there's no room for improvement to get faster for maglevs.
All that said, I'm well aware that "the train has passed". Europe uses wheels and I'm fine with that. I don't want to sound overly negative and I'm happy for every cm of rail that's built. It's just that high speed rail needs to up its game a bit if they want to compete with planes. Right now, they're still too slow. Next week I'll be in Italy for a conference... High speed trains would have taken 4 to 5 times as much time, so I ended up getting a plane ticket booked. That's a pity and had we built a maglev infrastructure 20 years ago, maybe it would have been better by now.
The estimated cost of construction of the maglev line in Japan is a bit less than 10% of the yearly U.S. military budget. The Northeast Corridor is about 10% longer, so let's round that to 11%. And I would be surprised if that infrastructure would not be used at least partially 100 years after construction.
Keep in mind that the proposal is to buy the technology from the SCMaglev people, which is something IIRC they indicated they were supportive of doing.
I am staunchly anti-maglev for different reasons. Firstly, it's incompatible with other systems. Building it is expensive as hell because of the awkward way you have to build the rails of magnets which the train will then glide upon. Since every centimetre of the train needs magnets to be floating above the rails, the trains themselves are incredibly short and expensive for their capacity. Short version, you need a lot more trains, which are significantly more expensive for the same capacity of a normal train. A hundred years sounds impressive, but for example, a railway tunnel with conventional rails has only the drive wire and the rails, which will need to be exchanged in the future. The tunnel itself can be easily used for hundreds of years most states calculate with 200 though. Speed isn't everything, capacity is. The Austrian railjet only drives 230 km/h because you don't need to make the train airtight, meaning for 2 million (2008 money) plus two eurosprinters (5 mil a pop, todays money) you get 500 meters of railjet, which can transport approximately 1,400 people. Also, the railjet can just be separated into two 250m trainsets and the go into two completely different directions. All of these are benefits that Maglev hasn't got. It's more expensive and can do less. But it does go fast, admittedly. But at what cost is this speed gained? And is it really the most important thing if 250 people can reach something twice as fast as a contemporary high-speed train? Also, the French TGV has proven it can go 575 km/h, So even in that regard, if you were to reduce it to the engines in the front and the back in a single passenger car, you basically have Maglev, but for a fraction of the price.
I would be surprised if the French TGV can go into tunnels at those speeds, or maintain them safely 24-7. Also, the 100 years figure is one I completely made up based on what I've seen from conventional trains, I have no idea how long maglev track actually lasts.
Also, the scmaglev is advertised to be able to hold up to 728 people in the 12 car configuration, and can probably reach high frequencies similar to the rest of the shincansen system.
Speed matters for people to actually want to use trains, and maglevs are supposed to be both much faster and even more comfortable than conventional rail. They are a proven technology by this point.
Yes, it's not cheap, but it has the ability to significantly improve rail service in the northeast, and as the richest country in the world surely we should be able to afford that.
The other argument I've seen is that we have to go through all of the trouble and lawsuits around obtaining a new right of way anyways, even for normal high speed rail, so we may as well put the best technology available there.
At least they alleviated the capacity problem of the system. But since you are talking about the USA, you have high quality rail treansport almost everywhere in the EU but the USA dismantled their own railway system and essentially reduced it to a trailing exhibition. Why should now a new system that is even more expensive, succeed, while the old system, which was real world tested for 200 years, was defunded and dismantled?
In my opinion, the real issue in the USA are the politics. As you said, speed and comfort is important for people who actually want to go somewhere, but driving a train where you just board it and set off is faster and more comfortable than a car, and at least more comfortable than an aeroplane. Again, the USA have destroyed what they had previously. Why should a new system fix this social problem? Because it is a social and not a technological problem, look at the EU. Also the company wanted to open commercially in 2030, they still lack the environmental feasibility study. Let's just call that date optimistic.
Genuinely, I want to be wrong about this, but the signs are there.
It's funny, but after traveling around Europe, I've learned one important lesson: avoid booking flights with short layovers! If the transfer time is less than 3-4 hours, you’re playing a risky game. Delays happen more often than you'd think, and in some cases, flights get pushed to the next day due to 'bad weather' (or other mysterious reasons). Better to have a buffer than to get stuck at the airport overnight!
This shit keeps me up at night while I play STALKER. America feels like the Zone sometimes; nobody's in control, there's a tendency to romanticize our shitty trashcore setting, everyone's just living get-rich-quick scheme to get-rich-quick scheme, and there's bloodsuckers and pigs everywhere. At least the zone is pedestrian-pilled.
San Francisco Bay Area resident checking in. I think we have some of the best public transit in the US, which is pretty shit compared to most urban areas in Europe and Asia. Our trains come frequently enough and are generally on-time but the coverage is pretty bad. Public transit in SF can be pretty unpleasant though.
Most of my country doesn't have trains. The only train on time goes to the airport, yes THE airport. Everything else is buss for train. And I purposely didn't mention the country but everyone from here knows it when they read buss for train.
ah yes when you get to the station and the announcements say "the next train to so-and-so has been cancelled, sorry for the inconvenience" Always a fun day
You clearly need to look at more train pictures
I am sure there are magnificent american trains but some american trains are probably ugly too
My point is: beauty is not bound by borders and there is so much out there
Buying BMW E46 with LPG is always a good idea. Small car (according modern standards) with great driving fun. Somehow you need to get to the train station, especially in rural areas.
Probably because of the reputation of BMW drivers in the US. And the reputation for cost and frequency of maintenance and repairs in the US. A lot of people have a thing against beamers.
Most people don't hate BMW's or their drivers, it's a joke that they're all stuck up a-holes. There's similar jokes for people driving Tesla's being oblivious (fascists too now lol), Nissan Altima drivers being incredibly reckless, Prius' for always going 15 under the limit in the passing lane, etc.
I saw an e46 323 for $2000 yesterday, it's also a cheap option here.
I get it though. I love driving cars, busses and trucks. It's a lot of fun. But the fun isn't worth the resources it takes to make, maintain and pollute.
Honestly. I wish my country wasn't sacked by the rich who "wanted to lower taxes" but only ended up decreasing the funding for essential services. Services the poor rely on more than the rich. Healthcare and public education mainly. If we didn't have vampires at the helm, we'd probably have more taxes going to public services. And heck, I would have loved our country to pay tax for "free" public transport. That would be so much more efficient, safe and affordable for everyone.
Because rn, my LPG chevrolet spark is more affordable than a train subscription. Gonna give my ol car to a family member though. She needs it more. Living in a rural area and needing to travel pretty far for her work. Public transport would be 1.5-2hrs travel while driving is about 45min.
OP is a mod banning anyone opposing his regime appologetics.
And I think your german fascist US bootlicking warmongering government is irresponsible. Worry about that
As a European I have to say, you are very optimistic about our train schedules.
The blind hope that somewhere in this world there is a functioning public transit system is all that keep me going some days. Let me have this
Tokyo I've heard. For sure not Europe. Halve of the scheduled trains didn't run today in Belgium.
Switzerland is pretty good at well with trains.
I heard they are so good that they point it out in announcements when a delay was caused by foreign trains (Looking at you Deutsche Bahn)
Haha, DB also does this with foreign delays. I've been in a German train starting in Amsterdam that left 5 mins late - they mentioned it at every stop until Munich.
They were just happy it wasn't them for once.
A swiss train operator excused the 30 sec delay
The german trains measure delays in 5 minutes intervals, everything under 5 minutes in punctual.
And if a train is canceled, it doesn't go into the delayed train statistics as delayed.
https://media.tenor.com/qRq6uenJInkAAAAM/think-smart-meme.gif
Oh true, I forgot that. Nice little talk by David Kriesel on that topic: https://media.ccc.de/v/36c3-10652-bahnmining_-_punktlichkeit_ist_eine_zier
That's still more trains than in the US
It's a problem of reliability. If you need to be at work at 08:00 and your train is regularly late or getting cancelled, you can't take the train to work.
Not to mention even a small delay could mess up the timing of taking the next bus/train. For not too busy routes it could mean waiting in the cold for half an hour.... If that next bus has a good delay you could be there for almost an hour. (Totally not speaking from personal experience)
When I lived in New York there was a place I’d go sometimes that required 2 trains and a bus. On the weekdays it took about 40 minutes, but on weekends with the cumulative effect of less frequent service it was typically 2 hours, or longer depending on how quickly the first train came.
To be fair they're striking because checks notes their special treatment is ending.
Only half were cancelled? Man, that sounds nice.
"Halve" isn't a word.
To "halve" something is a real thing. But I think the word wasn't used exactly right here..
Multilingual Belgian makes a mistake in English. I think we can give them a pass on this one.
Ukraine wasn't completely horrible... before 2022 :(
Japan is the MVP here. I live there and I literally have never seen a train not arrive exactly at the scheduled time. However "public" transport is privately owned so... Uh... Yeah, tradeoffs.
Given that it works so well, what are the negatives due to being private? Is it expensive to ride?
Yeah. It also stops running at around 11 or 12 so if you stay out late you just might find you can't get back home.
That's fine, just get drunk and sleep on the street.
Must pe nice. Here I was about to add that you can’t take a train to work if you might have to stay a bit late, but trains outside rush hour are one hour, then two hours apart, and stop way too early
I've been in Vienna from time to time, and it's pretty good, 365€/year for the pass that gets you buses, trams and subways with unlimited access and no turnstiles anywhere, you just go and enter
Schedules follow work hours and go from a subway every 2 minutes during peak hours to one every 15mins late at night
You have night line buses for weekdays and on Saturday night public transport doesn't shut down
Coverage is good, you almost always have a bus or tram line less then 5 minutes of walking
There are bike sharing places with 20 bikes each ~1km apart and they cost 60 cents for half an hour, or e-scooters in the designed locations which are basically everywhere (but being owned by companies they cost so much more then everything else)
Honestly, the perspective of what constitutes a functioning public transit system depends a lot on what you have as a point of reference.
I'm portuguese but I lived in Germany for 5 months during which I used exclusively public transports and bikes. Central Europeans complain a lot about Deutsche Bahn and indeed during this time I saw a few strikes, delays and suppressions. However, transports were still much more reliable and much more frequent than I'm used too so I could never really consider it problematic, although my Central European friends complained a lot.
I take the light rail into work from the suburbs of Seattle into downtown. Trains run every 7-8 minutes. They're expanding it in all directions now. Only downside is that a lot of homeless ride the train because it's cold as heck on the streets. That's a societal problem though, not an issue with the train.
If you're German, RIP in peace.
A German intern came to our american city and was flabbergasted that the trains here ran consistently.
I had a laugh since I always assumed it'd be the opposite.
As an American, this is exactly correct. The last time I tried to take Amtrak the train literally did not show up and they told us they had no way to contact it and didn't know where it was. After waiting many hours with no change in status I finally gave up. The last time I actually rode Amtrak it was multiple hours late and cost about the same as a plane ticket.
But, I bet the train didn't fall apart in air, and didn't crash because of overwhelmed ATC
Like, you lost the train? Did you look under the couch?
Peak moments of MÁV (Hungarian State Railways)
I think watching Jet Lag let's you see the full breadth of transit systems pretty well, because the whole game relies on it. Japan is amazing. A lot of Europe is good enough that you can get around, some great and some not so great. The US is so bad I don't think either team bothered taking a train when they did the show there.
It's funny (and accurate) that they keep getting fucked over by Deutsche Bahn.
I hear Italian trains are very timely?
Especially regionale ones used by people to commute for work
As an American, I would say the same...except about the American train schedules.
Not to downplay any of the myriad problems here in the USA, but I think many of us are trying to believe that a better world is possible and this sometimes leads to unrealistic views of how much better things are abroad. Sometimes.
But I am hopeful that this country is increasingly humiliated for at least a couple of decades.
Japanese transit users: "Don't worry, we can grab the next one. It will be here in 48 seconds."
We deeply apologize that it took the train 49 seconds to arrive. We have prepared notes for your boss in case you're late, and there will be a half page ad in tomorrow's paper confirming our CEO has committed seppuku to atone.
committed sudoku*
Whilst wearing a seifuku
Spock: Forty eight point three seven seconds, Captain.
And if your female, you'll get something else grabbed for free!
*except on one of the all-female trains
I think you may have Europe confused with Japan.
Deutsche Bahn will definitely proof that public transit in the EU isn’t necessarily…. there? Working? …
It's definitely better than nothing but it doesn't feel better than nothing.
Wait, you guys have trains?
Depending on whether the stars are right. Or whether you need to cross the tracks - there's always one when you need to cross the tracks.
This, but you ever notice that it's pretty much never passenger trains? This efficient mode of transportation is largely designed for and used by industry rather than for travel or commute. The exception is within big enough cities like DC and NYC to get from one side of the city to the other or anywhere between. Sure there are some trains that go between cities, but they're largely unreliable because passenger cars yield to industrial freight, and so people are less inclined to opt for them over planes or cars, and so there are fewer trains available to go wherever you're going in the window you're trying to go. So you book a flight instead.
I'd take a long train ride over a road trip any fucking day. I don't understand anybody who would rather drive than chill and read a book or play games or watch movies or nap.
Yet massive amounts of goods are shipped long-distance via truck anyway, clogging up highways and polluting far more per-ton and per-mile moved.
Truly the worst of both worlds! USA! USA! USA!
Exactly, it's not that the US doesn't have trains, there are plenty. Lots of relatively small towns have rails going to or through them. The problem is that only a tiny fraction of them are passenger rail.
Got it, always cross the tracks
Stand on the tracks to summon the train.
The train needs a human sacrifice
Oh yeah, we have so many trains. They go everywhere, we have a very comprehensive network of them
Oh wait... Did you mean passenger trains?
We have trains that have lethal derailments every year or so.
fast ones, we have slow ones, that are often on edge of collapse.
As an American, I don't have access to trains, buses, bike lanes, sidewalks or even a shoulder on the road. The last time I tried to walk home from the tire shop two miles away, three people stopped to offer me a ride because it is that dangerous. I live inside the 275 loop that runs around Cincinnati.
Yeah, my “Public Transit” option on google maps is entirely greyed out. This is my daily commute to work:
It’s always entertaining to see the Europeans go “lol just ditch your car, it has to start somewhere” like it wouldn’t require me to move my entire family across town, (and pay 3x as much rent to live in the city…) Like I don’t even have the option of taking public transit, because there are no connecting lines between my home and my job. Literally none. The nearest bus stop is almost as far away as my job, and it’s in the opposite direction.
And to be clear, that 2+ hour walk would be on a highway with no sidewalk. I’d be dead on day 1. If I wanted to avoid the highway, the walk would be closer to 4.5 hours; The highway is the only direct path.
That's so sad that it's just greyed out lol. Even google maps is like, nah you're fucked dude
To be fair, Google Maps sucks ass in this regard. If you ever visit Europe, never EVER trust it for public transit information. Always look on the native apps and websites. Google Maps regularly offers me routes that either don't exist anymore, not at that time or day of the week, unnecessarily require a group taxi somewhere or are simply extremely inefficient. Instead of a 95min travel it wanted me to go for a route that took 145 minutes the last time (luckily I knew it was bullshit).
Even FOSS apps that may acquire travel data through rather novel means will provide more accurate information than the billions of dollars available to Googles car heads.
It actually found some useful routes in Scotland that the bus website couldn't tell you about - e.g. where there's no direct route somewhere, but you can go to a place near the junction of some routes and wait for a bus in the other direction.
You’re another name for feline. And, I don’t mean kitty.
Do it.
(I'm an American BTW.)
I live in Utrecht, one of The Netherlands' larger cities. I don't even have a car anymore. I can reach any place in the city by cycling in 15min max. Planning a trip with Google maps often shows cycling to be as fast or even faster than by car. Amsterdam by train is 30min, train leaves every 10min. I can take my bike in the train or take a public transportation bike from any train station. Cars are stupid.
I lived a year in Nijmegen when I was younger, and later another year in Duesseldorf, so what you're describing isn't foreign to me. But where I live now there are no options other than car. If you don't own one you need a friend with one or an Uber.
Damn, that sucks. I never have to worry about traffic, I have no time delay when traveling during rush hour by bike. More people on bikes means less cars, less traffic jams. I don't understand why other countries move away from cars, there are only benifits and no downsides switching to a stronger public transit and cycling infrastructure. It unclugs traffic so businesses have faster travel times, there are less accidents, the city is cleaner, there is more room to build as there is less need for parking space, road maintenance is cheaper, the cities get a better feeling for being in as people are invited to be in the streets instead of their cars. There's more room for greenery, which has a mental benifit as well as rainwater management. Kids can play on the streets safely again instead. It's not hard to do. Rotterdam was rebuilt after the second world war when it was wiped from the map by German bombing. They built it up like American cities, completely car focused. They completely changed it to bike friendly because of accidents and clogging, making a very shitty city a very nice one.
How easy is it for you to take your bike on the train in that area? I was visiting Utrecht recently and was really surprised they only allowed 2-3 bikes on the entire train (off peak hours too).
I avoid rush hour because people are annoying. I usually have no issue with bringing my bike, most of the times there are a few bike areas on each train and when it's 5 instead of 3 while people can still pass the hallway no one would care about it. But it's just as easy to use a bike from NS (national railway), they are at every station and it's cheap. A folding bike is free to take by train, I might buy an electric one in the future.
I did this math recently. To walk to work would take me either a 2 hour walk, a 17 minute drive, or a 45 minute bus ride.
Transit outside the actual city, of any kind, is pretty abysmal.
Although there are many improvements to be made, like international euro rail connecting the capitals, better prices, a reliable DB and most importantly EU standard track system, I love our euro rails.
But I've gotta confess, the fact the US train is called Marc is kinda cool.
"Hey, I wonder where Marc is. Is he coming?"
"Nah men, Marc is completely derailed again. He burned down an entire town and he's toxic AF."
MARC is unfortunately only a regional train for Maryland, and he is very limited on the weekends.. The national passenger train system is called Amtrak.
Oooh, is he Swedish?
Well at least Marc never comes prematurely.
Just wait until BORT’s date with METRA, the sexy sounding voice assistant of trains
Don't forget BART and DART as well.
should have named them BORT and BURT
He live in Cananda you wouldn't know him...
Deutsche Bahn has entered the chat.
Too early
As a DB user: "ha!"
50 minutes late due to a door malfunction.
DB doesn't hold a candle to VIA Rail. Germans and Europeans in general like to mock DB, and with reason, but as a Canadian, I'm still so very jealous of DB.
DB uses this novel trick to avoid delays: they simply don't count trains that don't run at all as delayed. And then they also sometimes cancel trains for being delayed. They simply turn the train around before reaching it's final stop so at least it's somewhat on time running the other way.
...that's the shanghai maglev
edit: it was built by siemens though, so get a few euro wank points.
It's a nice train, that must be like the capital of Europe?
Don't give Xi any ideas
The problem with trains is they are public (under)founded. The rich and powerfull with political influence don't want working public transportation because less carsales, oil, gasoline etc.
Which explains why Musk prevented a high speed train in the US with his hyperloop. We all need to buy EV"s which have most of the downsides of traditional cars.
When we could have clean, fast and comfortable public transportation.
EDIT: Spelling.
That's not a problem with trains; that's a problem with the rich and powerful having political influence.
Agreed. Politicians should prioritize trains and public transport more. And bicycles while we're at it.
Which is why he
preventeddelayed a high speed train in the US. To my knowledge, they are still constructing it.Just checked: it's still underway. 119 miles currently under construction. From Bakersfield to Madera, with most of the rail near Madera completed.
Because everyone dreams of ending up in Bakersfield...
I think it's more the people of Bakersfield having a convenient means of escape.
Good to hear! Didn't know that. Good news.
Trains need to be public or you are gonna get a second DB (it enshittifies for some time now ;.;)
DB is still 100% owned by the federation, it's only organised privately. Trouble is they expected it to turn a profit, to do that DB had to run its infrastructure into the ground, invest abroad, get into fucking trucking, you name it. Don't get me wrong there's nothing wrong with operating rail/road interface warehouses, but when a rail company is building a logistics warehouse without rail connection you know something's deeply fishy. Meanwhile, the Autobahn network got plenty of tax money pumped into it. And those DB profits.
The failure is 110% political, decades of car-brained infrastructure ministers, "but won't someone think about the car producers and their workers". Bipartisan issue. In US terms: UAW and Blackrock vs. Amtrack. Guess who's winning the lobby battle, difference being in Germany people actually like trains.
I'm considering it should be a private company where the state/city is the majority owner.
Also i'm guessing that the public transport only makes sense in cities, and inter-city. Not so much on the countryside in small villages. There cars are more efficient.
Agree 100%. But where I live politicians always seem to focus more on giving tax cuts than maintenance and improving trains. The people should not accept it, but.. Tax cuts!
American here - I recently started taking the train to go to work! Previously I couldn't due to no trains scheduled for the return home trip after my shift was over, but after getting a new schedule, I got on board the train! So far in the past two months, I've already had a few instances of the train being delayed or missing it entirely. One day, the train was delayed by 30 minutes and stated they would be held for an unknown amount of time to put out a fire on the tracks at a station ahead - drove into work that day. Another day, the train was delayed by 5 minutes. Outside of that, I was late to the train by like 5 minutes and it left without me (still adjusting to early morning schedule).
So far, I like taking the train much more than driving the car.
Of course the trains leave without you if you are 5 min late.
It will leave without you if you are 30 seconds late. Hell, it will even leave if you are 5 seconds late unless they see you running and are feeling extra nice.
Never said it shouldn't! Just means it's running on time. Like I said, I'm still adjusting to the early schedule.
I owned a car in Toronto. I still took the train DT. Driving DT literally was longer then the train.
I’m Polish but I also made the switch to use public transport instead of my car, even though it’s not the cheapest once you’re not a student anymore. I feel better though knowing how much fuel I save by not driving in traffic for 1.5h 4 days a week. The other thing is that the money goes to the city so I will likely benefit from it in some way
And you also get a little bit of time to yourself! I use it to study for certs.
True, although this aspect is actually an area where I prefer driving. I find it relaxing to zone out my thoughts and just focus on what’s ahead of me with my favorite music. Depending on time of day, trains here are a bit tough to study in due to how many people there are
funny but inaccurate
i live in vienna. the train comes so often, nobody bothers to check the schedule anymore. just wait 2 mins, enter, go.
Same in Paris.
"What do you mean I have to wait 4 minutes for the next metro?"
Meanwhile in Belgium,
"I don't know where or when will I end up after I board the bus back home from work"
I am here to represent the germans. The country where the only thing we agree about is, how fucking shit our trains are
I havent seen one company where "train didn't come" isn't a valid excuse for bring late. Like, no further questions.
I was late for a hair appointment because I missed the bus, and I swear they wrote it down in my file because every time I went back, for the next year they were like "So... Did you come by bus today?"
Also yeah no problem if your train doesn't come once - but if it happens more than once it's going to reflect badly even though it's out of your control. You'll start to get the comments "You should take the earlier one!" I travelled by bus with 2 transfers to college and it was ROUGH.
I used it every time it happened, very rarely when I just slept in. My boss also came by S-Bahn so he was late from time to time as well. Of course if we had an important meeting or a customer appointment we came in a whole hour early, to compensate for 3 train failures, which never happened. But if you came 20 minutes late on a regular Tuesday nobody cared that much (boring office IT job).
There's a classic that Irish rail used to pull out of their bag of shite excuses until they got slagged to death over it:
Leaves on the track.
No joke. C'mon now lads. In fairness though the train service in Dublin and inter-city is pretty reliable and reasonable.
My understanding is that leaves contain some compound(s) that, when wet and under the extremely high pressures that train wheels provide, becomes one of the most effective lubricants we know about. In other words, the brakes literally won't do anything because you'll slip-n-slide your way at the same speed you were going before.
Sounds like the Irish version of the german winter chaos. The very moment the first snowflake drops it's total chaos, trains being terminated left and right due to an old railway switch that still saw Adolf freezing shut again.
Wait until you hear about German trains.
Can't be late if it doesn't arrive at all.
600 Minuten Später
Also quasi pünktlich
Portugals trains joined the chat
Wait till you hear about Bulgarian trains
You guys have trains?
Where is this magical European place with trains that are only .5sec delayed? Our public transit authority considers train "on time" if they're no more than 20min late...and still, less than 80% of trains are "on time"...
compared to my area where we don't even have busses, trains are a dream
Austria, apparently.
Which eu countries? Most of eu countries are on second meme
From my small experience as an a American. Netherlands had some really reliable transit. Never had a problem in France though definitely not as nice as Netherlands. Italy was definitely hit and miss depending on the city but loved the high speed rail from Naples to Rome. Germany was reliable during October Fest so I assume at least Munich is reliable if it was good at that time. Though I wouldn't say I used much in Germany.
Other countries I've been to but I'll just list cities for these because I didn't go much anyone else for them: Prague, Budapest, Vienna
I can't say there was a single country/city here that had transit that was worse than the best transit in the US. Was it all perfect? No. But compared to fucking Amtrak that literally has to stop for hours at a time while we wait for other freight trains to pass. Literally multiple times during a single train ride.
Some countries may not be the first meme. But what major city in Europe has worse local transit than say Chicago or New York? Or worse heavy rail than Amtrak? Just honestly asking.
I don't think anything could be worse than Amtrak.
You mentioned 4 - 5 EU countries, even major cities. You are missing other 22 countries. Not going too far like mentioning Romania, but have you ever tried Renfe en Madrid? Hehehe it fails many times
On the contrary, when I lived in the US on Long Island, a part of the country where people warn life without a car is impossible, I had a great transit experience. Buses were generally on time, modern and equipped with live tracking, and the trains were great too.
I know LI’s relative poor transit options are mostly in comparison to other areas in the Northeast, which is a densely populated region. I imagine my experience would be totally different in the Midwest or the Prairies. And that’s especially true for trains – LI is awesome in that regard
As an American living in a region with halfway decent (by American standards) public transit, I feel like I hear more comments aligned with the European side than the American side. If public transit has literally any downsides, that's justification enough to drive for so many people.
Although the US and Europe are nearly identical in area, Europe's population centers are far more uniformly distributed. Big cities in America are mostly around the edges, with a vast, sparsely populated area in the middle. Most intercity train service in America is in that fringe, where the spacing between cities is more like in Europe.
And yet we don't have true hsr in the northeast, where the big cities are...
True, but the post is about trains being on schedule (or showing up at all), not about speed. I wasn't saying US trains service is as good as European.
Yeah, I just see that said a lot and think its a bad excuse for having bad service.
Especially when we had much better service 100 years ago, with a fraction of the modern day population.
100 years ago was also before the era of profit hyper-optimization, which it turns out de-optimizes every other aspect of a thing.
Is this a “glass half full” thing? Can a non-existent train never be late or never be in time?
No, it's not a value judgement of any kind. Imagine that - just making an observation with no implications or underlying opinion to swipe left/right on. What a concept.
Sure, intercity will never work in the US. Except on both coasts. And upper Midwest. And in a couple mountain and high desert areas. Dammit, that’s like 70% of the population
Baby, people call me a 2-8-0 Locomotive. I can take you places that you never thought of.
I'm so hot, I'm constantly steaming. I'm generally a workhouse, carrying all that freight. Moving vast amount of passengers is no sweat for me.
If you want people getting off quickly, you want those young, third rail trains.
I'm all about keeping people on for the long haul. I'm all the journey over long distances.
First answer: neither: it runs on coal.
Second answer: 2, fireman and driver
BTW 2-8-0 means 2 leading wheels 8 driving wheels and no trailing wheels.
Like this bad boy:
Not in, behind
It's not like a BMW is more reliable.
Every BMW comes with a complimentary jar of blue electrical smoke. 💨
Does the blue electric smoke at least stay inside the jar while I'm leasing it?
Yeah, but you can be stuck in traffic in your BMW without needing to interact with the poors!
What the actual fuck are you talking about?
BMW's are famously known to be in the workshop more often than on the road. My friend's BMW had a type of self-cleaning oil. All he has to do is top off the oil once a month. Just ignore the stain on the parking lot, it's not oil.
They are very sensitive and do require to regular cleanings and oil changes
But saying that they are less reliable since our regulations are so much stricter, no less to say that they less lasting is not only the silliest fucking thing I have heard all tuesday but objectively false
https://kirbergmotors.com/6-reasons-why-european-car-brands-are-a-better-buy/#%3A%7E%3Atext=More+Longevity%2Cdrive+your+vehicle+for+longer.
I'm European. I'm not talking about American cars.
And it's also a joke with a bit of truth to it. They do require much more care so they're more often in the workshop than, say a Toyota.
If you can read than in my source you will see that no thats objectively not true
And if you think that danish cars are better than bmw-s then you are delusional
It's a common stereotype in America, I guess periodic inspections are too expensive and they skip them.
In Germany BMW are considered quite reliable. Expensive to maintain but reliable.
They are very sensitive and do need periodic cleanings and oil changes, but its really nothing you can’t do on your own?
But saying that they are less reliable since oir regulations are so much stricter, and to say less lasting is not only the silliest fucking thing I have heard all tuesday but objectively false
https://kirbergmotors.com/6-reasons-why-european-car-brands-are-a-better-buy/#%3A%7E%3Atext=More+Longevity%2Cdrive+your+vehicle+for+longer.
You clearly havent heard of swedish trains.
The railroad here is a bad joke at this point, mainly due to shutting down the organization that was responsible for maintainence and shoving it into another agency that has no clue. As a bonus the new agency doesn't even do the repair work themselves but hires contractors at the lowest bidder. So stuff breaks constantly, which causes delays.
At this point just getting the rail network to "normal" standards would cost billions. Let alone expanding it to cope with current traffic levels.
To be fair, most higher density areas in Sweden have fairly good infrastructure for public transit. The national railways are a disgrace, but that mostly affects long distance travel. Mostly. Short to medium distance commute works fairly well everywhere I’ve tried it.
[cries in Swedish]
Scandinavia has more in common with Canada when it comes to public transportation
Canada has high speed trains?
Their trains break down a lot and it’s a bigger joke
Meanwhile in Japan: Train is 30 seconds late "here's a letter for your employer explaining why you were only 29 minutes and 30 seconds early for your 8 hour shift that will inevitably have an additional 8 hours of unpaid overtime tacked on to it."
Deutsch Bahn would like a word.
I often take my car because it's so damn unreliable.
Not once, not twice, but three times I've sat on a train for 2+ hours without moving within the past 2 years.
working as intended. for several generations, the car lobby fills the management of deutsche bahn.
UK National Rail and the Franchise system: those are rookie numbers!
Germany's known for having terrible rail. Probably on account of BMW lobbying.
BMW, VW and Mercedes. The German Bundesbahn was perfect then the CDU, CSU and FDP killed it due to lobbyism. Now, the politicians suck the cocks of the CEOs of the mentioned companies. SPD and Grüne always say that the Deutsche Bahn needs more money, but they had the chance between 98 and 05. Did they change something? No there was not enough money according to them.
Not even the biggest thing that beautiful trio ruined. Their lobbying and Mutti Merkel's politics were the main contributors to the Hungary problem. So if you want to know why common defense policies get vetoed or why is the Ukraine response is a shitshow, the root cause is that VW needed cheap exploitable workers.
Really? As an American who had never ridden a train before, I was impressed by Germany's public transit. I remember wishing we had such systems everywhere over here.
Honestly though, I'd prefer high speed mag-lev systems that run like clockwork.
Germany's known for poor rail, America's known for no rail.
I thought authoritarianism was supposed to at least make the trains run on time. Or maybe the dictator will just edit train schedules with his sharpie if anybody dares to ask.
The origin of that saying, the trains in Fascist Italy, were basically never on time. But the fascist government put great effort into telling people that, at long last, they were running on time, so it stuck.
Narratives dig deeper into cultural consciousness than reality itself.
So it'll be the sharpie then.
no fast railways in the US at all, hyperloop delayed cali long enough til trump was able to stop it in his first term. it would solve alot of employment locaitons issues like biotech, and tech hubs. which are situated outside of major freeways and highways and major metro areas, even cars have a trouble navigating to.
So that's what a train looks like
Japan transit- Am I a joke to you?
American public transit varies widely, ranging from better than driving to comically horrible.
European trains varie from "very good" to "a guy wearing a full snail costume outran a train". True story that one, happened in hungary.
Here's the video proof
Trains specifically are bad on shared lielnes because passenger trains are lowest-priority rail traffic, so you can get delayed for days at a time.
Me When My metro train (Santiago) doesn't immediately arrive as soon as i touch the platform.
I'm literally riding the Shinkansen in Japan right now as I come across this meme.
Is that the one known for its reliability and stuff? Like, seconds-granularity reliability?
That very same one. It is also very fast and covers vast distances, yet the ride is smooth and comfortable.
Awesome, would love to try it sometime in my life. I live very far away unfortunately.
Same here; I live across the world. Usually, I mean. As a visitor in Japan however, I can confirm that their public transit system is every bit as convenient and efficient as we've been lead to believe internationally. Believe the hype.
🥹 Really is one of my bucket list items, to travel to the far east one day. Preferably Japan. Seems very beautiful.
I sincerely wish you good luck and hope you can make the trip someday! Visiting Japan has been a life long dream for my wife and I, and we are having an amazing time here. I only wish we could stay.
Thank you kind stranger. You deserve the indulgence!
American here: yeah, not far off.
Man, I wish we had a working maglev train over here.
As a taxpayer you really don't.
Guess what, I am a taxpayer and you can't tell me what I "really don't" want. Do you think i have come here from the stone age to not know that infrastructure and services cost money?
The reason I said it is because there are alternatives which are significantly cheaper and more effective. Maglev is expensive, shit ROI and massive downsides over conventional high-speed rail, namely system complexity and maintenance. Short version: expensive AF.
Edit: I've made another comment below. Also the French TGV has proven it can go 575 kilometers per hour, why not make regular trains even faster? It would be cheaper, would achieve the same thing and keeps the benefits of regular trains. There are always multiple approaches to the same problem, and the flashiest solution is seldom the best.
I'm well aware that rail/wheel tech works well. However
is not true. High speed rail is precision engineering and what you gain from the reduced complexity of not having magnets on the rails is lost by the required precision to make trains as fast as you claim them to be. The cost for a Transrapid line was claimed to be pretty much on par with an ICE line, with trains carrying fewer people but on a higher frequency, so even that would have evened out. The advantage you claim, which is compatibility to existing rail networks, can be regarded as a disadvantage, too, as high speed trains suddenly compete for the same limited resource as all other trains in the network and are sometimes travelling quite slowly as they utilise the same, old rails because the pain of using the old network isn't big enough to make people build new high speed infrastructure. Add to that the issue of too many stops that are added for political reasons and high speed trains suddenly become less and less of a competitive player when it comes to international traffic. If there was another network that would simply be incompatible to existing ones, a lot of these issues wouldn't even arise. A Transrapid just wouldn't stop in Erkelenz, Züssow or Altenbeken and no overly confident mayor could even suggest it, simply because there wouldn't be the infrastructure. And that would be a good thing.
Also, the speed comparison is not that simple. You're comparing wheeled trains that took decades to evolve with the first generation of maglev trains and as far as I see, that's also the highest speed recorded, which isn't what they're allowed to do during regular operations. I highly doubt that there's no room for improvement to get faster for maglevs.
All that said, I'm well aware that "the train has passed". Europe uses wheels and I'm fine with that. I don't want to sound overly negative and I'm happy for every cm of rail that's built. It's just that high speed rail needs to up its game a bit if they want to compete with planes. Right now, they're still too slow. Next week I'll be in Italy for a conference... High speed trains would have taken 4 to 5 times as much time, so I ended up getting a plane ticket booked. That's a pity and had we built a maglev infrastructure 20 years ago, maybe it would have been better by now.
That's an interesting take on it. Thanks. :)
The estimated cost of construction of the maglev line in Japan is a bit less than 10% of the yearly U.S. military budget. The Northeast Corridor is about 10% longer, so let's round that to 11%. And I would be surprised if that infrastructure would not be used at least partially 100 years after construction.
Keep in mind that the proposal is to buy the technology from the SCMaglev people, which is something IIRC they indicated they were supportive of doing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Maglev
It's currently stuck in an indefinitely paused environmental review as far as I can tell, due to no one caring about it I guess
I am staunchly anti-maglev for different reasons. Firstly, it's incompatible with other systems. Building it is expensive as hell because of the awkward way you have to build the rails of magnets which the train will then glide upon. Since every centimetre of the train needs magnets to be floating above the rails, the trains themselves are incredibly short and expensive for their capacity. Short version, you need a lot more trains, which are significantly more expensive for the same capacity of a normal train. A hundred years sounds impressive, but for example, a railway tunnel with conventional rails has only the drive wire and the rails, which will need to be exchanged in the future. The tunnel itself can be easily used for hundreds of years most states calculate with 200 though. Speed isn't everything, capacity is. The Austrian railjet only drives 230 km/h because you don't need to make the train airtight, meaning for 2 million (2008 money) plus two eurosprinters (5 mil a pop, todays money) you get 500 meters of railjet, which can transport approximately 1,400 people. Also, the railjet can just be separated into two 250m trainsets and the go into two completely different directions. All of these are benefits that Maglev hasn't got. It's more expensive and can do less. But it does go fast, admittedly. But at what cost is this speed gained? And is it really the most important thing if 250 people can reach something twice as fast as a contemporary high-speed train? Also, the French TGV has proven it can go 575 km/h, So even in that regard, if you were to reduce it to the engines in the front and the back in a single passenger car, you basically have Maglev, but for a fraction of the price.
I would be surprised if the French TGV can go into tunnels at those speeds, or maintain them safely 24-7. Also, the 100 years figure is one I completely made up based on what I've seen from conventional trains, I have no idea how long maglev track actually lasts.
Also, the scmaglev is advertised to be able to hold up to 728 people in the 12 car configuration, and can probably reach high frequencies similar to the rest of the shincansen system.
Speed matters for people to actually want to use trains, and maglevs are supposed to be both much faster and even more comfortable than conventional rail. They are a proven technology by this point.
Yes, it's not cheap, but it has the ability to significantly improve rail service in the northeast, and as the richest country in the world surely we should be able to afford that.
The other argument I've seen is that we have to go through all of the trouble and lawsuits around obtaining a new right of way anyways, even for normal high speed rail, so we may as well put the best technology available there.
At least they alleviated the capacity problem of the system. But since you are talking about the USA, you have high quality rail treansport almost everywhere in the EU but the USA dismantled their own railway system and essentially reduced it to a trailing exhibition. Why should now a new system that is even more expensive, succeed, while the old system, which was real world tested for 200 years, was defunded and dismantled?
In my opinion, the real issue in the USA are the politics. As you said, speed and comfort is important for people who actually want to go somewhere, but driving a train where you just board it and set off is faster and more comfortable than a car, and at least more comfortable than an aeroplane. Again, the USA have destroyed what they had previously. Why should a new system fix this social problem? Because it is a social and not a technological problem, look at the EU. Also the company wanted to open commercially in 2030, they still lack the environmental feasibility study. Let's just call that date optimistic.
Genuinely, I want to be wrong about this, but the signs are there.
I agree that it's a political problem, but I think that a modernized rail system would be well-used if it were available.
I would be shocked if they actually start building the northeast maglev. Happy, but shocked.
It's funny, but after traveling around Europe, I've learned one important lesson: avoid booking flights with short layovers! If the transfer time is less than 3-4 hours, you’re playing a risky game. Delays happen more often than you'd think, and in some cases, flights get pushed to the next day due to 'bad weather' (or other mysterious reasons). Better to have a buffer than to get stuck at the airport overnight!
American't build a railway system worth a damn.
We already did!…And then we tore it down to make our interstate highway system. Any remaining tracks turn into museum exhibits we call “rail trails”.
That's just sad.
This shit keeps me up at night while I play STALKER. America feels like the Zone sometimes; nobody's in control, there's a tendency to romanticize our shitty trashcore setting, everyone's just living get-rich-quick scheme to get-rich-quick scheme, and there's bloodsuckers and pigs everywhere. At least the zone is pedestrian-pilled.
San Francisco Bay Area resident checking in. I think we have some of the best public transit in the US, which is pretty shit compared to most urban areas in Europe and Asia. Our trains come frequently enough and are generally on-time but the coverage is pretty bad. Public transit in SF can be pretty unpleasant though.
Meanwhile in Greece:
Oh no, the train has crashed into another train that was carrying illegal chemicals, costing 57 fucking human lives again.
You haven't seen Croatian rail then ;)
Most of my country doesn't have trains. The only train on time goes to the airport, yes THE airport. Everything else is buss for train. And I purposely didn't mention the country but everyone from here knows it when they read buss for train.
ah yes when you get to the station and the announcements say "the next train to so-and-so has been cancelled, sorry for the inconvenience" Always a fun day
Portugal is in America 😂😂😂😂😂 and it’s gotten way worse since the pandemic
Nice the train is only 15 minutes late? That's awesome - me riding any train in the US
"Ah! Here comes my train."
Train speeds by and doesn't stop
"Drat! Just missed it. I am Brian and this is a very old joke."
Wait until you hear about Spanish trains.
The one on the left seems to be a Chinese train tho https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_maglev_train
american trains look better and nobody will ever pry that fact from my cold dead hands.
You clearly need to look at more train pictures
I am sure there are magnificent american trains but some american trains are probably ugly too
My point is: beauty is not bound by borders and there is so much out there
all the euro trains look like futuristic renders of trains, american trains make me feel happy.
euro trains will simply never compare, also the E bell goes hard, and you will never take that away from me.
can't say i have, but im assuming it's safe to say they look pretty boring.
based on the american trains that i live around.
IDK, they're just more visually pleasing to me. European trains just look like the proof of concept render of what a train will look like.
admittedly it should've been fairly obvious i was being silly from the get go, i literally only complained about european trains "looking ugly"
a completely subjective and harmless complaint lmao. Of which i stand by 100%
BMW (Big Metal Willy)
Big Money Wasted
Buying BMW E46 with LPG is always a good idea. Small car (according modern standards) with great driving fun. Somehow you need to get to the train station, especially in rural areas.
I don't get why you're being downvoted. Rural area's can be a pain to reach. Especially with luggage.
Probably because of the reputation of BMW drivers in the US. And the reputation for cost and frequency of maintenance and repairs in the US. A lot of people have a thing against beamers.
I write from the European perspective, where E46 is not a luxury but one of cheapest choices. Maybe you are right about the US reputation
Most people don't hate BMW's or their drivers, it's a joke that they're all stuck up a-holes. There's similar jokes for people driving Tesla's being oblivious (fascists too now lol), Nissan Altima drivers being incredibly reckless, Prius' for always going 15 under the limit in the passing lane, etc.
I saw an e46 323 for $2000 yesterday, it's also a cheap option here.
Well, that's good.
Something like in Europe. I would put LPG for this engine to make it more green but still having fun :)
Or small kids
Because people here hate cars and cannot appreciate the value of a good drive
I get it though. I love driving cars, busses and trucks. It's a lot of fun. But the fun isn't worth the resources it takes to make, maintain and pollute.
Honestly. I wish my country wasn't sacked by the rich who "wanted to lower taxes" but only ended up decreasing the funding for essential services. Services the poor rely on more than the rich. Healthcare and public education mainly. If we didn't have vampires at the helm, we'd probably have more taxes going to public services. And heck, I would have loved our country to pay tax for "free" public transport. That would be so much more efficient, safe and affordable for everyone.
Because rn, my LPG chevrolet spark is more affordable than a train subscription. Gonna give my ol car to a family member though. She needs it more. Living in a rural area and needing to travel pretty far for her work. Public transport would be 1.5-2hrs travel while driving is about 45min.
Unless you're living in austria or switzerland (which technically isn't europe but lets roll with it), you will never have trains on time.
What continent do you suppose switzerland is part of then? Africa?
Well, we're in the mountains above Europe, I guess.
I quite obviously wasn't talking about the country.
It absolutely technically is Europe. If you meant the EI, then only Switzerland is not part of the European Union, Austria is.
I am well aware. The part in brackets only referred to switzerland.
I think this level of derailing in a post about trains is irresponsible.
Delay. Deflect. Derail.
OP is a mod banning anyone opposing his regime appologetics.
And I think your german fascist US bootlicking warmongering government is irresponsible. Worry about that
I don't know this mod but I do know that I have PugJesus blocked on my other accounts for some reason. I guess I'll block him on this one too
Maybe it's best I do too, he spouts so much BS I'm getting tired of countering it all the time.