Post AiMN8Fec0lVZEEmRJQ by pony@blovice.bahnhof.cz
(DIR) More posts by pony@blovice.bahnhof.cz
(DIR) Post #AiMN8Evai9UmybiU8e by DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social
2024-05-28T19:30:50Z
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Today was the first time I seriously planned traveling by night train, and it became clear that they can't seriously compete against high speed rail or planes.Prague is about as far away from Brussels as Marseille. The Eurostar to Marseille (when it runs) is 5h, the night train to Prague is... 15h, with a more unreliable schedule. Even giving an 8h sleeping discount to the night train, it's quite a bit longer.
(DIR) Post #AiMN8Fec0lVZEEmRJQ by pony@blovice.bahnhof.cz
2024-05-28T19:37:39.454817Z
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@DiegoBeghin there still is the iron curtain on the czech borders when it comes to trains, partly due to geography, but also because of failed policy, literally only double tracked or electrified crossing is to dresden, so like going anywhere to the west on a train is just... nah
(DIR) Post #AiMN8FmlWS1vdWax1M by DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social
2024-05-28T19:31:49Z
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There are various comfort options on a night train:- Coach, where you sleep seated. Like hell I'm gonna do that when I have any kind of alternative. Even as a student, those seats would need to be very cheap indeed.- Couchettes, where you're in a kind of room mate situation with up to 5 stangers. You need to collectively agree on a sleepy time. I have vague memories of doing that as a child, but it was always in a group travel situation. It would feel awkward traveling alone or as a couple.
(DIR) Post #AiMN8GcARL9ACwe08m by DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social
2024-05-28T19:36:19Z
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Then there's the private compartment. Comfortable, but still less comfortable (and more expensive!) than flight+hotel, or high speed train+hotel. The only people riding this are rail enthusiasts, who are willing to pay more just because it's a train (that might be me).
(DIR) Post #AiMNzJa68ml2kxyI2i by DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social
2024-05-28T19:42:47Z
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Except for the private compartment, those are all an inferior service to a shorter HSR ride or flight. But the operating costs are higher, maybe you find some beat up old train cars that cost 1/3 of high speed rolling stock, but you still need to pay 3x the crew wages for the same trip (or more, since it's the night shift).That's why it remains such a niche market, the service is just too expensive for what it is. And I would be uncomfortable subsidising a travel mode that scales so poorly.
(DIR) Post #AiMNzKvP93OYvKwotM by pony@blovice.bahnhof.cz
2024-05-28T19:47:11.678876Z
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@DiegoBeghin i had the dedication to take a bucharest - budapest sleeper, which is only about ~650 km if you ignore the terrain, you have to leave at like 17:30 already, only arrive after 9 am, the compartment was already configured for sleeping (and it more or less had to be), i am not claustrophobic, but just lying on a bed that was not even long enough for me in a rather tiny compartment wasn't too greatthen i didn't have any sleep because another guy[1] was snoring as hell and of course it comes with a non-schengen border check visit at 4 am, so...[1] booking a single bed compartment would put this beyond any economical sanity
(DIR) Post #AiMNzM0P7wzMH8IKK8 by DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social
2024-05-28T19:45:49Z
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And yeah, I know, most of the time the high speed rail doesn't exist. Let's spend public money building it then, it's a better use of it than subsidising Nightjets.
(DIR) Post #AiMOdK3xlkDfpl19u4 by DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social
2024-05-28T19:50:09Z
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@pony And immediately to the West you have Bavaria, right? Which isn't very interested in modernising their rail network.
(DIR) Post #AiMOdL53z8h4zSXYG0 by pony@blovice.bahnhof.cz
2024-05-28T19:54:30.895560Z
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@DiegoBeghin there's some slim chance of something like ~1:30 travel time from prague to the border (at furth im wald) by 2030 or bit later, but then the issues only begin
(DIR) Post #AiMPgg7cJKln4TtI9o by DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social
2024-05-28T20:01:21Z
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@pony Yeah, I've realised night trains are bad when you're tall. Luckily I'm only 1.79m.And the arrival times indeed make it real bad flight competition. I can't work on a day when I'm arriving home at any time between 10-12:00.
(DIR) Post #AiMPggxNCuAbf06cpU by pony@blovice.bahnhof.cz
2024-05-28T20:06:17.969129Z
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@DiegoBeghin i mean, don't tell anyone, but i sadly do believe that the night trains are a real lemonnow the funny thing is the carriage was full (well, it's got what, 30 beds? so that doesn't say *that* much) and there were even a bunch of people speaking czech, supposedly also going all the way to prague...and to make things even more fun, wizzair dropped the prague bucharest flight, while there are still the two night trains (the vienna and budapest ones), so what do i know
(DIR) Post #AiMPwmS0Y24hKj6fUu by pony@blovice.bahnhof.cz
2024-05-28T20:09:14.468146Z
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@DiegoBeghin though calling 347/346 a night train is bit of a stretch lol, you leave bucharest at 11:45 and get to vienna at 8 the next day
(DIR) Post #AiMSftm4Mj7qzE8Ewy by Alon@mastodon.social
2024-05-28T19:34:32Z
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@DiegoBeghin Yeah, that's why I take day trains and break the trip with an overnight in an intermediate city. There's a reason my vignette of 2048 solarpunk involved me getting back on the train home from Moscow in 7 hours, rather than taking a night train.
(DIR) Post #AiMSfvADCS21IOR2Dg by DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social
2024-05-28T19:53:10Z
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@Alon I'm only considering it now because the alternative is flying or no trip. My real destination is a wedding in Budapest, stopping in Prague and Vienna is already breaking up the trip. Trains to central Europe are so slow...
(DIR) Post #AiMSfw7ld1fcH6Ib32 by Colinvparker@mathstodon.xyz
2024-05-28T20:03:44Z
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@DiegoBeghin @Alon I think in the old days the labor cost versus a hotel construction cost was a different ratio and that’s part of why night trains made sense?
(DIR) Post #AiMSfwvOeVMwl1WEPA by DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social
2024-05-28T20:32:48Z
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@Colinvparker @Alon In the old days flying was expensive and there was no HSR, so the choice was night train or no trip (mostly no trip if you look at passenger numbers today).
(DIR) Post #AiMSfxsF7iRNhX3E80 by pony@blovice.bahnhof.cz
2024-05-28T20:39:43.821677Z
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@DiegoBeghin @Colinvparker @Alon yeah, italy was a once-in-a-lifetime exotic vacation, lol
(DIR) Post #AiNKOq4QHLBk6J1yRU by DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social
2024-05-29T05:33:13Z
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@pony Oh, I forgot to ask yesterday, how often do these night trains run? Is it every night at least, or a comically low frequency like here (2-3×/week)?
(DIR) Post #AiNKOqh3xg64296pfc by pony@blovice.bahnhof.cz
2024-05-29T06:41:52.892664Z
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@DiegoBeghin It’s just three times a week, I think they literally don’t have enough rolling stock for anything else.