• ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.org
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    6 days ago

    Funny that there are pairs of trains from Krakow to Gdynia or Prague to Zürich that have the same termini but very different routes. Imagine going to Innsbruck only to wake up in the middle of Germany.

    • Zement@feddit.nl
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      7 days ago

      Tried to get a train to a festival in Portugal next year. Not a chance. 24H travel time, multiple layovers at remote stations… 200€ per person.

      Flight, 90€, 3H… Sorry climate. ={

    • az04@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      It existed up until the pandemic, Trenhotel, I took it once. Fell asleep in the center of Madrid, woke up in downtown Lisbon. The trip had beautiful snowy landscapes lit by the full moon. It’s such a shame it’s gone.

    • MudMan@fedia.io
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      8 days ago

      And Ireland? Or is the map just having a very specific interpretation of “Europe”?

        • fibojoly@sh.itjust.works
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          7 days ago

          There are no trains in Ireland T_T

          Even the fucking Bus Eireann wouldn’t go all the way to Donegal back in the naughts because fuck driving all the way up there, right? Capitalism at its finest.

        • MudMan@fedia.io
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          8 days ago

          I don’t know, but that’d be the point, right? If it framed Western Europe we’d know that those countries don’t have any, but cutting them off just makes it ambiguous.

          • DeeDan06@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            7 days ago

            night trains are for long distances. Can’t really do that on an island. Night trains are basically just sleeper trains, but those connections need more than 3-4 hours of distance to make sense

            • MudMan@fedia.io
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              7 days ago

              … yes, I know what a night train is. Your point?

              For the record, there are far longer routes in Ireland, Spain and Portugal and far shorter routes captured in the map (in distance, we could have a long talk about the pros and cons of promoting overnight train over high speed rail for the same trip).

            • MudMan@fedia.io
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              8 days ago

              And I don’t read it that way. That’s why it’s ambiguous.

              I am even more confused with that link, though, because they do seem to have listed lines in Spain flagged as “important seat-only connections”. So… connections to where? Why are they cut off? Do those extend into Portugal or terminate in Spain?

    • guillem@aussie.zone
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      8 days ago

      They used to have the Pau Casals train BCN-ZRH but they deemed it non profitable or something :(

  • unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de
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    8 days ago

    There used to be one going directly from Northeastern France near Basel to South France Cerbere. It was the best one for going on vacation from Germany. They killed it because it wasnt profitable enough :/ Now you have to go through Paris which is a horrible stop to have to take.

  • JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world
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    8 days ago

    Unpopular opinion. Night trains are never going to make a dent in air travel.

    I’ve traveled right across Europe by train a bunch of times, so I’ve taken a good few night trains. In Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Italy, a couple in the Balkans, even the Dogu Express right across Turkey. I’ve also taken day trains everywhere, of course.

    Every single experience on a night train was something of an ordeal. That’s because a night train is basically a hostel on wheels. Staying the night in a tiny cabin in extreme proximity to strangers, without privacy, without access to a decent bathroom, this is just never going to be competitive with a short flight, no matter how cheap it is. For students, young people and more adventurous types, sure, it’s a great idea.

    The only genuine solution to the plane problem is high-speed rail that is fully competitive on price.

    • albert180@discuss.tchncs.de
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      13 hours ago

      I’ve Had my own toilet and shower in the new Nightjet, and I’ve only Had another Person in my Cabin. And with the Mini Cabins in the new Nightjets it’s possible to have your own private space for cheap If you are travelling solo

      • JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world
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        13 hours ago

        Sure, if you luck out like you did and get a 2-person ensuite cabin to yourself (or if you pay top dollar for a private), then it’s equivalent to a hotel.

        Otherwise, the equivalent is not a hotel but a hostel. And most adults with an income prefer not to stay in hostels. That’s all I was saying.

        • albert180@discuss.tchncs.de
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          10 hours ago

          Somehow the night Train is still completely booked out every time I Take it, weeks in advance, despite “top Dollar” prices.

          And Hotel rooms usually also don’t get cheaper If you travel alone and Not as a Couple

          • JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world
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            10 hours ago

            Somehow the night Train is still completely booked out every time I Take it, weeks in advance, despite “top Dollar” prices.

            OK but this could be just a good match of supply and demand. To come to any conclusions we would need the total number of passengers compared to flight seats for that route. We both know that the latter vastly outnumbers the former.

            And Hotel rooms usually also don’t get cheaper If you travel alone and Not as a Couple

            Sure, and anyway a high price is surely fair given the presumed cost of transporting a hotel room 1000km or whatever. This is why, for me, there’s no winning: either it’s an unpleasant hostel-on-wheels, or it’s a pleasant but expensive rolling hotel room which makes no sense if you’re trying to reduce your carbon footprint.

    • innermeerkat@jlai.lu
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      8 days ago

      There is another answer: improve comfort in night trains.

      Being able to eat in a restaurant in a country A, sleep in a comfy night train and eat a breakfast in a country B would be way more comfortable than a flight imho.

      • JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world
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        8 days ago

        The problem is that for most people over about 21, the biggest component of “comfort” is privacy. This is why people book hotels rather than hostels, even when the hostels are stylish and luxurious. Of course, night trains can be hotels-on-wheels too. The better ones have first-class cabins with private bathrooms. But this makes no sense from an environmental point of view. At this point you might as well take the short flight.

        The best couchette-style service in Europe right now is the recently introduced Nightjet mini-cabins. Capsules, basically. This is a major step forward IMO but I still don’t see this tempting most normie travelers. And so expensive, too.

    • wieson@feddit.org
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      8 days ago

      Caledonia Sleeper

      I wanted to take that train when I went on holiday in Scotland, but there was a train strike which jumbled our plans a little. Sad

    • EnderMB@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      I tried it once to get to London for a meeting. The best way I can describe it is this: if you manage to go to sleep, it’s great, otherwise it’s horrible.

    • Baguette@lemm.ee
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      7 days ago

      That looks fine to me. I’m no civil engineer but the lines connect on both ends, so a person can hop off and go to taranto, or stay along the top coastline. I’d assume the lines were doubled because people used that line so often that it was better to just create a whole new one.