|
Our Rail System Is So Bad...
that I often wonder if some idiot like slow eddy is in charge. It's clear that America has a serious mass-transit problem that we have never been able to deal with:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CFI_FMtUEAAW0x9.jpg |
Our Rail System Is So Bad...
On Saturday, May 16, 2015 at 9:34:11 AM UTC-7, jon_banquer wrote:
that I often wonder if some idiot like slow eddy is in charge. It's clear that America has a serious mass-transit problem that we have never been able to deal with: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CFI_FMtUEAAW0x9.jpg A few more countries that continue to illustrate the point: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CFI_FMdUEAAK_VW.jpg |
Our Rail System Is So Bad...
jon_banquer wrote:
that I often wonder if some idiot like slow eddy is in charge. It's clear that America has a serious mass-transit problem that we have never been able to deal with: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CFI_FMtUEAAW0x9.jpg We have no problem hauling more freight than the rest of the world except China http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_us...nne-kilometers I can move more stuff in a wheelbarrow than any european freight train can. I'm not sure what the deal is with their plastic pasenger trains and model sized freight trains is. By any tehnical measure it's quite different from what we have in north america. |
Our Rail System Is So Bad...
On 2015-05-16, Cydrome Leader wrote:
jon_banquer wrote: that I often wonder if some idiot like slow eddy is in charge. It's clear that America has a serious mass-transit problem that we have never been able to deal with: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CFI_FMtUEAAW0x9.jpg We have no problem hauling more freight than the rest of the world except China http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_us...nne-kilometers I can move more stuff in a wheelbarrow than any european freight train can. I'm not sure what the deal is with their plastic pasenger trains and model sized freight trains is. By any tehnical measure it's quite different from what we have in north america. I never realized how little was transported by rail in the EU. I guess it is a consequence of so many wars waged when railroads could be built, and now it is too late to build them. Note that per person, Russia transports 79% more tons of freight by rail than the United States. I guess it is because their roads are bad. See how bad they a https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4U5ZmkaXcM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZT4h7U29c8 i |
Our Rail System Is So Bad...
On 16/05/15 22:04, Cydrome Leader wrote:
jon_banquer wrote: that I often wonder if some idiot like slow eddy is in charge. It's clear that America has a serious mass-transit problem that we have never been able to deal with: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CFI_FMtUEAAW0x9.jpg We have no problem hauling more freight than the rest of the world except China http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_us...nne-kilometers I can move more stuff in a wheelbarrow than any european freight train can. I'm not sure what the deal is with their plastic pasenger trains and model sized freight trains is. By any tehnical measure it's quite different from what we have in north america. One of the issues here in the UK is that the loading gauge is fairly small in many parts and varies around the country due mainly to the implementation of the railways being by local companies serving the locality and joining to other nearby railways forming a network, also somewhat to the UK having invented the railroad. I live near the GWR railway and IK Brunel had the foresight to build with a large loading gauge but others that came later didn't see the need and built new structures such as bridges with a loading gauge smaller than used by Brunel. On a recent trip to London you could see the upshot of this as due to the electrification of the GWR line many small loading gauge bridges are having to be raised or rebuilt to make room for the overhead electric cables. My neighbour is fairly up on railways and has travelled much of the world including the US and Russia and noted that while the US uses 4' 8.5" spacing as the UK and has much larger trains, he mentioned Russia as having IIRC slightly wider rail spacing and trains larger again than those in the US, all down to what the system was designed for and what the loading gauge size was set to be. |
Our Rail System Is So Bad...
"David Billington" wrote in message
... One of the issues here in the UK is that the loading gauge is fairly small in many parts and varies around the country due mainly to the implementation of the railways being by local companies serving the locality and joining to other nearby railways forming a network, also somewhat to the UK having invented the railroad. I live near the GWR railway and IK Brunel had the foresight to build with a large loading gauge but others that came later didn't see the need and built new structures such as bridges with a loading gauge smaller than used by Brunel. On a recent trip to London you could see the upshot of this as due to the electrification of the GWR line many small loading gauge bridges are having to be raised or rebuilt to make room for the overhead electric cables. My neighbour is fairly up on railways and has travelled much of the world including the US and Russia and noted that while the US uses 4' 8.5" spacing as the UK and has much larger trains, he mentioned Russia as having IIRC slightly wider rail spacing and trains larger again than those in the US, all down to what the system was designed for and what the loading gauge size was set to be. Have they ever determined why the Tay bridge collapsed? I can't figure out why the high girder fell so close to the piers if the weakest points were the lower diagonal braces' cast iron attachment lugs. Wouldn't the concrete-filled round columns have tipped over intact? -jsw |
Our Rail System Is So Bad...
On 16/05/15 23:41, Jim Wilkins wrote:
"David Billington" wrote in message ... One of the issues here in the UK is that the loading gauge is fairly small in many parts and varies around the country due mainly to the implementation of the railways being by local companies serving the locality and joining to other nearby railways forming a network, also somewhat to the UK having invented the railroad. I live near the GWR railway and IK Brunel had the foresight to build with a large loading gauge but others that came later didn't see the need and built new structures such as bridges with a loading gauge smaller than used by Brunel. On a recent trip to London you could see the upshot of this as due to the electrification of the GWR line many small loading gauge bridges are having to be raised or rebuilt to make room for the overhead electric cables. My neighbour is fairly up on railways and has travelled much of the world including the US and Russia and noted that while the US uses 4' 8.5" spacing as the UK and has much larger trains, he mentioned Russia as having IIRC slightly wider rail spacing and trains larger again than those in the US, all down to what the system was designed for and what the loading gauge size was set to be. Have they ever determined why the Tay bridge collapsed? I can't figure out why the high girder fell so close to the piers if the weakest points were the lower diagonal braces' cast iron attachment lugs. Wouldn't the concrete-filled round columns have tipped over intact? -jsw I think it was fairly thoroughly examined at the time see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tay_Bridge_disaster |
Our Rail System Is So Bad...
On Saturday, May 16, 2015 at 2:04:57 PM UTC-7, Cydrome Leader wrote:
We have no problem hauling more freight than the rest of the world except China I'm focused on rail mass-transit where I believe the US has been losing ground for many decades. |
Our Rail System Is So Bad...
Ignoramus6769 wrote:
On 2015-05-16, Cydrome Leader wrote: jon_banquer wrote: that I often wonder if some idiot like slow eddy is in charge. It's clear that America has a serious mass-transit problem that we have never been able to deal with: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CFI_FMtUEAAW0x9.jpg We have no problem hauling more freight than the rest of the world except China http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_us...nne-kilometers I can move more stuff in a wheelbarrow than any european freight train can. I'm not sure what the deal is with their plastic pasenger trains and model sized freight trains is. By any tehnical measure it's quite different from what we have in north america. I never realized how little was transported by rail in the EU. I guess it is a consequence of so many wars waged when railroads could be built, and now it is too late to build them. Note that per person, Russia transports 79% more tons of freight by rail than the United States. I guess it is because their roads are bad. They also still have heavy industry, which probably makes use of giant freight trains. See how bad they a https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4U5ZmkaXcM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZT4h7U29c8 wow. I've seen mudding courses that looked far easier. |
Our Rail System Is So Bad...
jon_banquer wrote:
On Saturday, May 16, 2015 at 2:04:57 PM UTC-7, Cydrome Leader wrote: We have no problem hauling more freight than the rest of the world except China I'm focused on rail mass-transit where I believe the US has been losing ground for many decades. losing ground to what? |
Our Rail System Is So Bad...
On Monday, May 18, 2015 at 1:18:41 PM UTC-7, Cydrome Leader wrote:
losing ground to what? To places like Europe, Japan and China who take rail mass transit seriously. |
Our Rail System Is So Bad...
"Cydrome Leader" wrote in message ... Ignoramus6769 wrote: On 2015-05-16, Cydrome Leader wrote: jon_banquer wrote: that I often wonder if some idiot like slow eddy is in charge. It's clear that America has a serious mass-transit problem that we have never been able to deal with: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CFI_FMtUEAAW0x9.jpg We have no problem hauling more freight than the rest of the world except China http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_us...nne-kilometers I can move more stuff in a wheelbarrow than any european freight train can. I'm not sure what the deal is with their plastic pasenger trains and model sized freight trains is. By any tehnical measure it's quite different from what we have in north america. I never realized how little was transported by rail in the EU. I guess it is a consequence of so many wars waged when railroads could be built, and now it is too late to build them. Note that per person, Russia transports 79% more tons of freight by rail than the United States. I guess it is because their roads are bad. They also still have heavy industry, which probably makes use of giant freight trains. See how bad they a https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4U5ZmkaXcM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZT4h7U29c8 wow. I've seen mudding courses that looked far easier. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasputitsa |
Our Rail System Is So Bad...
jon_banquer wrote:
On Monday, May 18, 2015 at 1:18:41 PM UTC-7, Cydrome Leader wrote: losing ground to what? To places like Europe, Japan and China who take rail mass transit seriously. Was there a competition? Mass transit has never been "taken seriously" here. People like cars in the US, not sittingon trains that quite honestly don't even go anywhere meaningful in the first place anyways. A total of once I made the decision to take Amtrak somewhere as it was faster and cheaper than flying. I've definetly not shaking my fists in anger over it. I just don't bother with cross country train trips. As for intercity type transit, we have a pretty decent system in the Chicago metropolitan called Metra, which is just passenger trains on freight tracks. Works great, covers a lot of area too. No real complaints there. here's a simple Metra system map: http://metrarail.com/content/metra/e...ystem_map.html Within the city we have the the CTA. Old, slow, pretty poorly run overall, but still an extensive system. It does work and serves its purpose. Here's a simple system map: http://www.transitchicago.com/assets...tatrainmap.png So in a major city like here, yes you can get by with no car at all. That's not the case in smaller cities though. |
Our Rail System Is So Bad...
We had college friends that rode the UP-N all the way down to Chicago.
We had light rail in San Jose/Santa Clara, Hard rail up the east bay to SFO. Washington DC has a nice large Metro. LA tore theirs up when cars came and then tried to start over - Much money for few riders. Atlanta has a rail system as well. Bordeaux France does not the last time I was there. Oh the High speed train ran near there I think. But airplane / car was the functional way. Martin On 5/19/2015 3:56 PM, Cydrome Leader wrote: jon_banquer wrote: On Monday, May 18, 2015 at 1:18:41 PM UTC-7, Cydrome Leader wrote: losing ground to what? To places like Europe, Japan and China who take rail mass transit seriously. Was there a competition? Mass transit has never been "taken seriously" here. People like cars in the US, not sittingon trains that quite honestly don't even go anywhere meaningful in the first place anyways. A total of once I made the decision to take Amtrak somewhere as it was faster and cheaper than flying. I've definetly not shaking my fists in anger over it. I just don't bother with cross country train trips. As for intercity type transit, we have a pretty decent system in the Chicago metropolitan called Metra, which is just passenger trains on freight tracks. Works great, covers a lot of area too. No real complaints there. here's a simple Metra system map: http://metrarail.com/content/metra/e...ystem_map.html Within the city we have the the CTA. Old, slow, pretty poorly run overall, but still an extensive system. It does work and serves its purpose. Here's a simple system map: http://www.transitchicago.com/assets...tatrainmap.png So in a major city like here, yes you can get by with no car at all. That's not the case in smaller cities though. |
Our Rail System Is So Bad...
On 20/05/15 03:50, Martin Eastburn wrote:
We had college friends that rode the UP-N all the way down to Chicago. We had light rail in San Jose/Santa Clara, Hard rail up the east bay to SFO. Washington DC has a nice large Metro. LA tore theirs up when cars came and then tried to start over - Much money for few riders. Atlanta has a rail system as well. Bordeaux France does not the last time I was there. Oh the High speed train ran near there I think. But airplane / car was the functional way. You must have missed the station as it's had one for a long time, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gare_de...aux-Saint-Jean . There are a number of routes in Europe where the high speed trains are taking over from planes as the quickest options for the journey. Martin On 5/19/2015 3:56 PM, Cydrome Leader wrote: jon_banquer wrote: On Monday, May 18, 2015 at 1:18:41 PM UTC-7, Cydrome Leader wrote: losing ground to what? To places like Europe, Japan and China who take rail mass transit seriously. Was there a competition? Mass transit has never been "taken seriously" here. People like cars in the US, not sittingon trains that quite honestly don't even go anywhere meaningful in the first place anyways. A total of once I made the decision to take Amtrak somewhere as it was faster and cheaper than flying. I've definetly not shaking my fists in anger over it. I just don't bother with cross country train trips. As for intercity type transit, we have a pretty decent system in the Chicago metropolitan called Metra, which is just passenger trains on freight tracks. Works great, covers a lot of area too. No real complaints there. here's a simple Metra system map: http://metrarail.com/content/metra/e...ystem_map.html Within the city we have the the CTA. Old, slow, pretty poorly run overall, but still an extensive system. It does work and serves its purpose. Here's a simple system map: http://www.transitchicago.com/assets...tatrainmap.png So in a major city like here, yes you can get by with no car at all. That's not the case in smaller cities though. |
Our Rail System Is So Bad...
On Wed, 20 May 2015 14:14:08 +0100, David Billington
wrote: On 20/05/15 03:50, Martin Eastburn wrote: We had college friends that rode the UP-N all the way down to Chicago. We had light rail in San Jose/Santa Clara, Hard rail up the east bay to SFO. Washington DC has a nice large Metro. LA tore theirs up when cars came and then tried to start over - Much money for few riders. Atlanta has a rail system as well. Bordeaux France does not the last time I was there. Oh the High speed train ran near there I think. But airplane / car was the functional way. You must have missed the station as it's had one for a long time, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gare_de...aux-Saint-Jean . There are a number of routes in Europe where the high speed trains are taking over from planes as the quickest options for the journey. To a limited extent, that's happened here on the East coast. Before all of the security checks, I could jump on a plane at Newark and be in D.C. or Boston in just over an hour. Now, I take the train. It's quicker to downtown D.C. than a plane, and a lot more convenient and just a little longer to Boston. Plus, there is a lounge car, a dining car, wi-fi, etc. But I live 300 yards from a station on the Northeast Corridor. Not many people share the same logistics, except those near the train lines. -- Ed Huntress |
Our Rail System Is So Bad...
Martin Eastburn wrote:
We had college friends that rode the UP-N all the way down to Chicago. We had light rail in San Jose/Santa Clara, Hard rail up the east bay to SFO. As the rail hub of the USA we do have quite the rail system in place here. Washington DC has a nice large Metro. LA tore theirs up when cars came and then tried to start over - Much money for few riders. The train system in LA was by far the stupidest system I've ever seen. They were unable to figure out how to install and use turnstyles. No joke. The airport was a load of garbage too, I was surprised it had electricity and paved runways. It was just a tad less junky than laguardia, but still had the tent city feel. Atlanta has a rail system as well. Bordeaux France does not the last time I was there. Oh the High speed train ran near there I think. But airplane / car was the functional way. Martin On 5/19/2015 3:56 PM, Cydrome Leader wrote: jon_banquer wrote: On Monday, May 18, 2015 at 1:18:41 PM UTC-7, Cydrome Leader wrote: losing ground to what? To places like Europe, Japan and China who take rail mass transit seriously. Was there a competition? Mass transit has never been "taken seriously" here. People like cars in the US, not sittingon trains that quite honestly don't even go anywhere meaningful in the first place anyways. A total of once I made the decision to take Amtrak somewhere as it was faster and cheaper than flying. I've definetly not shaking my fists in anger over it. I just don't bother with cross country train trips. As for intercity type transit, we have a pretty decent system in the Chicago metropolitan called Metra, which is just passenger trains on freight tracks. Works great, covers a lot of area too. No real complaints there. here's a simple Metra system map: http://metrarail.com/content/metra/e...ystem_map.html Within the city we have the the CTA. Old, slow, pretty poorly run overall, but still an extensive system. It does work and serves its purpose. Here's a simple system map: http://www.transitchicago.com/assets...tatrainmap.png So in a major city like here, yes you can get by with no car at all. That's not the case in smaller cities though. |
Our Rail System Is So Bad...
On 20/05/15 15:57, Ed Huntress wrote:
On Wed, 20 May 2015 14:14:08 +0100, David Billington wrote: On 20/05/15 03:50, Martin Eastburn wrote: We had college friends that rode the UP-N all the way down to Chicago. We had light rail in San Jose/Santa Clara, Hard rail up the east bay to SFO. Washington DC has a nice large Metro. LA tore theirs up when cars came and then tried to start over - Much money for few riders. Atlanta has a rail system as well. Bordeaux France does not the last time I was there. Oh the High speed train ran near there I think. But airplane / car was the functional way. You must have missed the station as it's had one for a long time, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gare_de...aux-Saint-Jean . There are a number of routes in Europe where the high speed trains are taking over from planes as the quickest options for the journey. To a limited extent, that's happened here on the East coast. Before all of the security checks, I could jump on a plane at Newark and be in D.C. or Boston in just over an hour. Now, I take the train. It's quicker to downtown D.C. than a plane, and a lot more convenient and just a little longer to Boston. Plus, there is a lounge car, a dining car, wi-fi, etc. But I live 300 yards from a station on the Northeast Corridor. Not many people share the same logistics, except those near the train lines. I can see the same reasons in Europe, the difference is the high speed trains here can top 200mph so the distances benefitting from that are greater than in the US, what is the top speed of the US trains you use or the top speed of the fastest. |
Our Rail System Is So Bad...
"David Billington" wrote in message ... On 20/05/15 15:57, Ed Huntress wrote: On Wed, 20 May 2015 14:14:08 +0100, David Billington wrote: On 20/05/15 03:50, Martin Eastburn wrote: We had college friends that rode the UP-N all the way down to Chicago. We had light rail in San Jose/Santa Clara, Hard rail up the east bay to SFO. Washington DC has a nice large Metro. LA tore theirs up when cars came and then tried to start over - Much money for few riders. Atlanta has a rail system as well. Bordeaux France does not the last time I was there. Oh the High speed train ran near there I think. But airplane / car was the functional way. You must have missed the station as it's had one for a long time, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gare_de...aux-Saint-Jean . There are a number of routes in Europe where the high speed trains are taking over from planes as the quickest options for the journey. To a limited extent, that's happened here on the East coast. Before all of the security checks, I could jump on a plane at Newark and be in D.C. or Boston in just over an hour. Now, I take the train. It's quicker to downtown D.C. than a plane, and a lot more convenient and just a little longer to Boston. Plus, there is a lounge car, a dining car, wi-fi, etc. But I live 300 yards from a station on the Northeast Corridor. Not many people share the same logistics, except those near the train lines. I can see the same reasons in Europe, the difference is the high speed trains here can top 200mph so the distances benefitting from that are greater than in the US, what is the top speed of the US trains you use or the top speed of the fastest. 150MPH, but congestion and aging infrastructure lower the average to highway speed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acela_Express The US Interstate system is similar to the Autobahn. In the Boston MA area I'm familiar with the jobs are spread across a 50+ mile radius around the city and most can only be reached by car although bus service nominally covers much of it. I've seen only a few people waiting at bus stops at rush hour, and never a sidewalk in an industrial park. We get too much snow to be walking in the road. -jsw |
Our Rail System Is So Bad...
On Wed, 20 May 2015 21:17:43 +0100, David Billington
wrote: On 20/05/15 15:57, Ed Huntress wrote: On Wed, 20 May 2015 14:14:08 +0100, David Billington wrote: On 20/05/15 03:50, Martin Eastburn wrote: We had college friends that rode the UP-N all the way down to Chicago. We had light rail in San Jose/Santa Clara, Hard rail up the east bay to SFO. Washington DC has a nice large Metro. LA tore theirs up when cars came and then tried to start over - Much money for few riders. Atlanta has a rail system as well. Bordeaux France does not the last time I was there. Oh the High speed train ran near there I think. But airplane / car was the functional way. You must have missed the station as it's had one for a long time, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gare_de...aux-Saint-Jean . There are a number of routes in Europe where the high speed trains are taking over from planes as the quickest options for the journey. To a limited extent, that's happened here on the East coast. Before all of the security checks, I could jump on a plane at Newark and be in D.C. or Boston in just over an hour. Now, I take the train. It's quicker to downtown D.C. than a plane, and a lot more convenient and just a little longer to Boston. Plus, there is a lounge car, a dining car, wi-fi, etc. But I live 300 yards from a station on the Northeast Corridor. Not many people share the same logistics, except those near the train lines. I can see the same reasons in Europe, the difference is the high speed trains here can top 200mph so the distances benefitting from that are greater than in the US, what is the top speed of the US trains you use or the top speed of the fastest. As far as I know, our fastest is the Acela Express, which is limited to 150 mph (it's capable of 165). It's doing around 120 when it passes near my house. But it's either accelerating from or decelerating to Metro Park station when it passes through my town, less than 3 miles away, which slows it down. I've taken it to D.C. a couple of times. It's really nice. -- Ed Huntress |
Our Rail System Is So Bad...
The TVG wasn't there - just old hard rail. Nothing in town. Streets
were small. The TVG expanded southward and finally trying to kill off the intra- Airplane routes. Naturally I was there in the Early 90's coming home with a book case of '86 wine. Martin On 5/20/2015 8:14 AM, David Billington wrote: On 20/05/15 03:50, Martin Eastburn wrote: We had college friends that rode the UP-N all the way down to Chicago. We had light rail in San Jose/Santa Clara, Hard rail up the east bay to SFO. Washington DC has a nice large Metro. LA tore theirs up when cars came and then tried to start over - Much money for few riders. Atlanta has a rail system as well. Bordeaux France does not the last time I was there. Oh the High speed train ran near there I think. But airplane / car was the functional way. You must have missed the station as it's had one for a long time, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gare_de...aux-Saint-Jean . There are a number of routes in Europe where the high speed trains are taking over from planes as the quickest options for the journey. Martin On 5/19/2015 3:56 PM, Cydrome Leader wrote: jon_banquer wrote: On Monday, May 18, 2015 at 1:18:41 PM UTC-7, Cydrome Leader wrote: losing ground to what? To places like Europe, Japan and China who take rail mass transit seriously. Was there a competition? Mass transit has never been "taken seriously" here. People like cars in the US, not sittingon trains that quite honestly don't even go anywhere meaningful in the first place anyways. A total of once I made the decision to take Amtrak somewhere as it was faster and cheaper than flying. I've definetly not shaking my fists in anger over it. I just don't bother with cross country train trips. As for intercity type transit, we have a pretty decent system in the Chicago metropolitan called Metra, which is just passenger trains on freight tracks. Works great, covers a lot of area too. No real complaints there. here's a simple Metra system map: http://metrarail.com/content/metra/e...ystem_map.html Within the city we have the the CTA. Old, slow, pretty poorly run overall, but still an extensive system. It does work and serves its purpose. Here's a simple system map: http://www.transitchicago.com/assets...tatrainmap.png So in a major city like here, yes you can get by with no car at all. That's not the case in smaller cities though. |
Our Rail System Is So Bad...
Trains run higher than 100 miles an hour moving across the wide open
stretches of Texas. It is really neat to see a 150 car freight hauling ass across the flats passing you on the parallel highway when they come into the western mountains - you get to pass the train. I-10 has some interesting west Texas venues with trains. The sun-light limited (IIRC) often runs over 100 miles/hour between San Antonio Texas and LA. Martin On 5/20/2015 3:17 PM, David Billington wrote: On 20/05/15 15:57, Ed Huntress wrote: On Wed, 20 May 2015 14:14:08 +0100, David Billington wrote: On 20/05/15 03:50, Martin Eastburn wrote: We had college friends that rode the UP-N all the way down to Chicago. We had light rail in San Jose/Santa Clara, Hard rail up the east bay to SFO. Washington DC has a nice large Metro. LA tore theirs up when cars came and then tried to start over - Much money for few riders. Atlanta has a rail system as well. Bordeaux France does not the last time I was there. Oh the High speed train ran near there I think. But airplane / car was the functional way. You must have missed the station as it's had one for a long time, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gare_de...aux-Saint-Jean . There are a number of routes in Europe where the high speed trains are taking over from planes as the quickest options for the journey. To a limited extent, that's happened here on the East coast. Before all of the security checks, I could jump on a plane at Newark and be in D.C. or Boston in just over an hour. Now, I take the train. It's quicker to downtown D.C. than a plane, and a lot more convenient and just a little longer to Boston. Plus, there is a lounge car, a dining car, wi-fi, etc. But I live 300 yards from a station on the Northeast Corridor. Not many people share the same logistics, except those near the train lines. I can see the same reasons in Europe, the difference is the high speed trains here can top 200mph so the distances benefitting from that are greater than in the US, what is the top speed of the US trains you use or the top speed of the fastest. |
| All times are GMT +1. The time now is 04:32 PM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004 - 2014 DIYbanter