[HN Gopher] Freight rail fueled a new luxury overnight train sta...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Freight rail fueled a new luxury overnight train startup
        
       Author : Ozarkian
       Score  : 54 points
       Date   : 2025-06-06 08:57 UTC (14 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.freightwaves.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.freightwaves.com)
        
       | comrade1234 wrote:
       | I live in europe and have taken overnight trains to various
       | destinations and they've all been nice - quiet, smooth, good
       | food, decent nights sleep...
       | 
       | I've also taken them in Egypt and Morocco and they were loud,
       | jerky, and smelly...
       | 
       | When I see pictures of trains in the USA they look very old and
       | look like the locomotive is actually pulling the train vs
       | providing electricity to each individual car's motors. This was
       | the problem in Egypt and Morocco - the engine accelerate and all
       | of the cars get jerked and when it slows down all of the cars get
       | jerked again, making it hard to sleep.
        
         | PaulHoule wrote:
         | Many American freight trains are diesel-electric where the
         | locomotive supplies electricity but the motors are distributed.
         | Notably train routes in Western Europe tend to be electrified
         | and get all their energy from a catenary.
        
           | closewith wrote:
           | 99 % of Class I freight locomotives in North America are
           | diesel-electrics where a diesel genset provides power to
           | electric motors on the locomotive. There are - to a rounding
           | error - no freight locomotives provide electrical power to
           | motors on the rake.
        
         | mcfedr wrote:
         | Quality of the rails makes a big difference, take the train
         | from Ukraine to Poland and it's suddenly super smooth once you
         | cross over into the EU
        
           | jordanb wrote:
           | Track quality and maintenance by US mainlines are more
           | Ukraine/Poland camp.
        
             | potato3732842 wrote:
             | In the places where the average commenter lamenting US rail
             | lives the track are crap because there's no reason to have
             | everything be "cruise at 80mph" level smooth when you can't
             | get a train up to such speeds before the next curve and
             | even if you could there's invariably other rail traffic or
             | a grade crossing soon thereafter.
             | 
             | In BFE Texas or Utah or whatever the rails are like glass
             | because crossing 300mi of nothing in 4hr instead of 8 has
             | enough positive impact on the rest of the system that they
             | deem it worth paying for.
             | 
             | It makes sense if you think about everything in terms of
             | time between points.
        
               | bell-cot wrote:
               | Pretty much. It is obviously a for-profit freight system
               | - In areas where the RR's top-dollar freight customers
               | (especially domestic parcel delivery companies) want
               | speed, they'll happily spend big to make that happen. And
               | in areas where the RoI on speed (whether upgrades, or
               | ongoing maintenance of existing track) ain't there, they
               | can be happy with 25MPH maximums:
               | 
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_speed_limits_in_the_Un
               | ite...
        
               | close04 wrote:
               | > In BFE Texas or Utah or whatever the rails are like
               | glass because crossing 300mi of nothing
               | 
               | Europe is densely populated, you'll rarely see 300mi of
               | nothing. High speed rail is still common. Only
               | realistically limited by cost, not by the difficulty to
               | get the train up to speed before the next curve, or other
               | rail traffic, or grade crossings.
        
               | hylaride wrote:
               | 95%+ of North American intercity trains run on freight
               | tracks, which are not designed to be as "smooth". On top
               | of this, freight having priority means passenger
               | schedules get messed up all the time.
               | 
               | Freight trains carry heavy loads and have cars that are
               | not inspected to have perfectly maintained wheels to the
               | same level as trains that run on tracks for only
               | passenger traffic, especially high speed rail (which runs
               | on dedicated , highly engineered tracks).
               | 
               | The big reason that passenger rail, even overnight, isn't
               | as economical in north america is because rather than
               | sleeping on a train, it's cheaper and more reliable to
               | just fly in a few hours across the country.
               | 
               | HSR makes sense in the dense US northeast or between
               | Windsor and Quebec city in Canada (and probably
               | California if it wasn't politically ruined with it's
               | meandering lines), but sleeper trains for further
               | distances would have to be dirt cheap to compete with
               | flying. It'd essentially be for college kids or poorer
               | people.
               | 
               | Most people who do long distance trains in North America
               | are doing it as a cruise-like vacation/adventure.
        
               | potato3732842 wrote:
               | >95%+ of North American intercity trains run on freight
               | tracks, which are not designed to be as "smooth". On top
               | of this, freight having priority means passenger
               | schedules get messed up all the time.
               | 
               | Freight doesn't mean slow.
               | 
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_speed_limits_in_the_Un
               | ite...
        
               | kevin_thibedeau wrote:
               | It does when your passenger train has to wait on a siding
               | for another train to pass.
        
               | mrgoldenbrown wrote:
               | >The big reason that passenger rail, even overnight,
               | isn't as economical in north america...
               | 
               | That's a choice the country has made by subsidizing some
               | kinds of transit more than others. Rail could be cheaper
               | if we priced in externalities.
        
               | chgs wrote:
               | Why would really be cheaper if externalities were priced
               | in - I can see cars and planes being more expensive but
               | how would rail be cheaper?
        
               | Kon-Peki wrote:
               | > 95%+ of North American intercity trains run on freight
               | tracks, which are not designed to be as "smooth".
               | 
               | All over the US, the tracks are being upgraded to 110mph
               | standards. It just a slow process: 5 miles here, 20 miles
               | there. Whenever they can find the money they do a new
               | section. Every single grade crossing must be upgraded,
               | every single curve regraded, etc. Amtrak can run at 90mph
               | on those sections with the locomotives they currently
               | have.
               | 
               | Sometimes they string together enough upgraded rail.
               | Essentially everything in Michigan has been running
               | 110mph for 10+ years, with the newer Siemens locomotives
               | that can handle it. Also, the Texas Eagle and Lincoln
               | Service - the entire time they are in Illinois they are
               | running 110mph.
               | 
               | Upgrading 5 miles of rail doesn't make the news. That
               | doesn't mean it didn't happen :)
        
             | lo_zamoyski wrote:
             | Poland is in the EU. The point being made was that once you
             | cross over from Ukraine into Poland, you notice a big
             | improvement in the track quality.
        
         | chiph wrote:
         | There's not a lot of electrified track in the US. The distances
         | are just too great and our railroads are freight-first,
         | passengers second (the opposite of Europe).
         | 
         | Even so, the passenger trains don't make abrupt starts/stops
         | like the freight trains do, because people would complain. :)
        
           | jordanb wrote:
           | Actually there used to be a lot more electrified track in the
           | US but the freight railroads tore it out to reduce capital
           | ratios and allow tall-stacking containers.
        
         | infecto wrote:
         | As others have said. Freight is first in the US. I imagine
         | Europe probably has more semis on the road transporting cargo.
         | Except for special routes, passenger travel by rail is only for
         | those dedicated individuals.
        
           | philwelch wrote:
           | > I imagine Europe probably has more semis on the road
           | transporting cargo.
           | 
           | They absolutely do: unlike the US where more freight is
           | transported by rail than truck, the opposite is true in
           | Europe. And personally I think this is the right tradeoff.
           | The efficiencies of rail over road vehicles scale up with
           | mass. The US has 200 car freight trains hauling 400 shipping
           | containers at a time; compared to 400 semi trucks that's a
           | massive improvement. European freight rail isn't even capable
           | of this level of scale; their railroads have maximum train
           | lengths well below the US average.
           | 
           | Freight is also much less fussy than passengers when it comes
           | to scheduling, comfort, or speed, which is why this level of
           | scale is possible for freight rail and not passenger rail.
        
         | tengwar2 wrote:
         | Even with a traditional diesel, you can get a good ride. I took
         | the sleeper train from Istanbul to Pamukalle (Laodicea), and
         | even over the single track sections it was smooth. It might be
         | down to the driver planning ahead - this one was definitely
         | proud of his work!
        
         | bjornorn wrote:
         | European sleeper trains are usually also powered by
         | locomotives, and the individual cars don't have motors, so I
         | think the jerk motion you've experienced is caused my poor
         | couplings or something else.
        
         | xattt wrote:
         | You're talking about EMU/DMUs versus locomotives. Higher-speed
         | travel is less efficient with an MU than with a locomotive-
         | pulled train. Higher-speed is important when North America is
         | so large.
         | 
         | See also: https://thebeaverton.com/2019/08/european-relatives-
         | visiting...
        
           | ginko wrote:
           | American passenger trains are significantly slower than in
           | Europe.
        
         | ta1243 wrote:
         | I took a train from New York to Miami last October in a
         | "roomette". Sleep was fine, better than I get on UK sleepers.
         | Food was amazingly good.
        
       | chiph wrote:
       | I'm surprised there isn't already a west-coast Auto Train like
       | was briefly mentioned. The east coast one (used to bypass I-95
       | traffic) is often sold-out. Drop off your car for loading, take
       | your carry-on to your seat or cabin, arrive the next morning.
       | 
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29KW3OAPrD4
        
         | gregoriol wrote:
         | This should be developed more indeed: doing anything more than
         | 200km by road is annoying and tiring. The solution in the video
         | seems great with cars and passengers on the same train, if the
         | "loading" time is not long. Why don't people drive their cars
         | themselves in and then go to the passenger spaces?
         | 
         | The american trains seems too high for Europe though. Would it
         | work for vans and RVs too?
        
           | mschuster91 wrote:
           | > doing anything more than 200km by road is annoying and
           | tiring.
           | 
           | Unless you are on a German Autobahn: drive on, go left lane,
           | floor the gas pedal, and you cross that distance in an hour
           | (or less).
        
             | trinix912 wrote:
             | Apart from the traffic causing other (slower) drivers to
             | enter the left lane. Not to mention that you have to be way
             | more aware of everything around you if you're going 200.
             | The cognitive load is bigger than parking on a train and
             | taking a nap, perhaps even overnight so you're set to
             | continue driving in the morning.
        
               | gregoriol wrote:
               | Definitely that! Going faster is more intense: more
               | stimulation, more reactions, but also more noise, more
               | vibrations, ... so for the same distance, even with less
               | time, you'll end up tired the same or more.
        
             | GJim wrote:
             | Clearly you have never driven on an autobahn.
             | 
             | They suffer from as much congestion as any other major
             | road; you aren't easily going to achieve, let alone
             | maintain, that speed during 'ordinary' day-to-day traffic.
        
               | mschuster91 wrote:
               | > Clearly you have never driven on an autobahn.
               | 
               | I have, top speed I used to do was around 250 km/h... and
               | my longest stretch was a non-stop Munich-Vienna-Munich,
               | 24 hours on the road. I'll admit though that I was _dead_
               | after that one.
        
           | devilbunny wrote:
           | > more than 200km by road
           | 
           | That's short enough distance that most Americans would regard
           | it as a day trip: wake up, go, do whatever, come back. And I
           | do mean 200 km each way.
           | 
           | I have, at the more extreme end, done not just 400 but 1250
           | km in one day as a round trip. A single 200 km segment is
           | nothing. I go 300 km each way for a weekend break!
        
         | ghaff wrote:
         | There's a fair bit of NY to Florida traffic where people need
         | to drive once they arrive and often do fairly long stays when
         | they do. (And it's a doable drive but fairly lengthy.) Not sure
         | you have quite the same dynamic in California.
        
       | JKCalhoun wrote:
       | Wait, so is this first-class rail service for who? For those
       | whose private jets are in the shop?
       | 
       | I instead so look forward to just making the existing services
       | more convenient/affordable where you would prefer taking the
       | train -- look forward to it even. I still have a memory of
       | walking through a train car at night (going from Kansas City to
       | Chicago) when I was 4 or 5 years old. Passengers sitting, sipping
       | cocktails in the observation car like a scene out of "The Thin
       | Man".
       | 
       | I've taken the California Zephyr to Omaha a few times over the
       | past decade. It was okay. But expensive as I recall.
        
         | dylan604 wrote:
         | > But expensive as I recall
         | 
         | And slow. For many 'muricans, they only get two weeks of
         | vacation, and it is very rare that their employer will allow
         | them to take all of that time at once. I don't care what you
         | get as a cushy HN reader, your situation is not most 'murican.
         | When you only get to take a couple of days, you don't want to
         | be spending it in transit. As it is now, air travel pretty much
         | takes up a full day with arriving x hours early, delays, etc.
        
           | afavour wrote:
           | That's where, theoretically at least, the "sleeper" part
           | comes in. Travel great distances while you sleep _and_ save
           | the money on a hotel room.
           | 
           | If the conditions were good enough I'd be perfectly happy to
           | be on a train e.g. 6pm-6am rather than arriving at an airport
           | at 6pm, doing security, baggage etc etc, taxiing to the
           | center of a city then checking into a hotel late. But every
           | time I look the pricing for that is way out of whack.
        
             | grues-dinner wrote:
             | That's the one thing that's a little annoying about the
             | gaotie in China. It doesn't run at night, so you are
             | limited to about 1200km a night on the slower overnight D
             | trains (Beijing Shanghai say). Otherwise you could hop on a
             | train in Beijing in the evening and wake up in Hong Kong,
             | Shenzhen or Guangzhou.
        
               | chgs wrote:
               | Sleeper train G897 leaves Beijing Xi (West) at 20:13
               | Friday, Saturday, Sunday & Monday nights, arriving Hong
               | Kong West Kowloon 07:12.
        
               | grues-dinner wrote:
               | Oh I see! I went midweek and didn't realise it is
               | different around weekends. I was so disappointed to have
               | to fly to get there for 9am, I really hate planes and
               | shorthaul really hates me! Hopefully I can arrange a
               | Monday or Tuesday next time!
        
             | ghaff wrote:
             | It's unlikely that you come close to saving money with a
             | long distance sleeper even if the additional time you spend
             | isn't a factor. But this isn't even all that specific to
             | US. As was just noted on a Facebook thread I was reading,
             | the Caledonian Sleeper from London to Edinburgh isn't a
             | particular bargain and I recall other European night trains
             | I've taken didn't really save me money either.
        
               | afavour wrote:
               | For sure. But I think it's still worth pointing out that
               | it _would be_ an attractive option if the price were
               | right. Governments looking to combat climate change could
               | subsidise such things if they wanted to.
        
               | ghaff wrote:
               | Sure. It's one of the MANY climate change subsidies
               | governments could make. Which may or may not make sense
               | in this particular case. Personally, I like taking trains
               | in a lot of situations, but they're usually not cheaper
               | or often especially more convenient.
        
           | wongarsu wrote:
           | That sounds like a great argument in favor of making sleeper
           | trains a luxury experience. That way the train ride can be a
           | destination in itself. The first stop on your holiday, rather
           | than just a means to get to your holiday destination.
        
             | ghaff wrote:
             | I think they typically are. In the US the distances tend to
             | be too lage thouhg equating Amtrak with luxury is probably
             | a stretch. I've taken night trains in Europe (and China)
             | and it _may_ have beaten navigating airports but not sure
             | by how much.
        
           | f6v wrote:
           | Im in Europe and taking a train is the last thing I'd do.
           | It's expensive and extremely unreliable for long-distance.
        
         | efitz wrote:
         | > Wait, so is this first-class rail service for who? For those
         | whose private jets are in the shop?
         | 
         | For all the VCs whose money they are going to burn.
        
         | Mashimo wrote:
         | I think you underestimate just how much more expensive a
         | private plane is :D
        
         | newsclues wrote:
         | Elderly European tourists seems to be the market from my
         | experience on via rail in Canada
        
         | paxys wrote:
         | Tourists. Luxury multi-day trains are a pretty common concept
         | around the world. This is also why they are highlighting that
         | the price will be comparable to a flight + hotel stay.
        
         | GuB-42 wrote:
         | Overnight trains are awesome. Yes, they move slowly compared to
         | planes, but you may actually waste less time using them, think
         | of them as moving hotels. You don't travel to the hotel, the
         | hotel travels for you!
         | 
         | The idea is that you get to the station in the evening, board
         | the train, then on the train, you eat, relax or do some work
         | depending on how busy you are, take a shower, and sleep and in
         | the morning, you are at your destination. Train stations are
         | usually closer to downtown than airports and you spend less
         | time with security, check-in, etc... another advantage. If you
         | account for the hotel stay you saved, net travel time can be
         | effectively zero.
         | 
         | And that's just the "transportation" aspect. In addition, train
         | cruises are a thing. Not as big as cruise ships, but that's the
         | same idea.
         | 
         | If I had first-class air travel money, which is probably their
         | target demographic, I would definitely ride such a train.
        
       | efitz wrote:
       | I love the aromatherapy candles :lol:
        
       | martinald wrote:
       | Unfortunately this is unlikely to be successful. There is just no
       | way you can run a reliable overnight passenger service on the
       | intercity rail infrastructure of the US.
       | 
       | The track is mostly single track and heavily used by freight
       | (where a few hours delay isn't the end of the world). Multi hour
       | delays are extremely common and even with it being overnight, if
       | you set off at say 11pm and aim to arrive at 8am, a 3 hour delay
       | could see you arriving at 11am and your VIP passengers missing
       | all their business meetings. They won't return!
       | 
       | FWIW I don't think Europe's push to overnight rail trains will be
       | very effective either. It doesn't work well with overnight
       | maintenance windows, and the yield per train is extremely low
       | (100 passengers in 50 'rooms' vs 1000 normal seating passengers
       | dictate a 10x ticket price). Also is extremely complex in Europe
       | with many different signalling/communication systems, traction
       | systems, etc.
        
         | gregoriol wrote:
         | It's quite successful in Europe
        
           | mschuster91 wrote:
           | Yeah it's decent but the utter majority of cross European
           | passenger travel happens by road and air.
        
           | f6v wrote:
           | Like, where? I lived in four EU countries and travelled to
           | most of member states. I only heard of Austrian sleeper and
           | some luxury Swiss expertise. Never heard anyone taking a
           | sleeper in the modern times. Moscow-Paris train used to be a
           | thing, but that's in the past.
        
             | ghaff wrote:
             | There's the London to Edinburgh Caledonian Express which I
             | took and I took a sleeper from Brussels to Koln to Vienna?
             | Koln was a stopover. Forget where the sleeper segment was.
             | But I'll admit it was situations where neither time nor
             | money were critical and were intermixed with business
             | trips.
        
         | myrmidon wrote:
         | Have taken this in Europe, was really nice, and I consider this
         | quite competitive with inter-European airlines:
         | 
         | It saves a lot of time, because you can use central train
         | stations instead of transfering to/from the airport, and you
         | depart late in the evening (get full use out of the departure
         | day) and arrive somewhat early in the morning (don't lose much
         | of that day, either).
         | 
         | So it does not have to be cheaper than an inland flight, it
         | just has to be competitive with flight + 2x transfer + hotel,
         | and while it might be slightly less comfortabel than a hotel
         | room, you avoid airport transfer and -security, which is nice.
        
         | potatolicious wrote:
         | Agree with all of this. The _ridership_ might be there but I
         | doubt the business case is - and this is true in Europe as
         | well. As far as I can tell sleeper services generally are not
         | money-makers, and are subsidized by regular passenger service.
         | 
         | Which may be a desirable policy outcome for state rail agencies
         | - but this is a private venture!
         | 
         | I think cost is an under-appreciated aspect of this. You're
         | carrying 5-10x fewer passengers per-train, at greater cost (the
         | cost of turning over a stateroom is _many times_ higher than
         | cleaning a coach seat, along with linens, food, etc.), on very
         | expensive _custom_ equipment that isn 't suitable for other
         | uses.
         | 
         | There seem to be two "major" (really heavy scare quotes here)
         | players in the US private sleeper service scene. Dreamstar IMO
         | is the more promising of the two ( _heavy_ caveat that this is
         | relative to each other, not absolute odds) by realizing the
         | only way to make the economics work is the ability to charge
         | $$$$$ for tickets.
         | 
         | The other (Lunatrain) IMO is just out to lunch, with a claimed
         | focus on affordability. None of the above leads to affordable
         | tickets.
        
           | ant6n wrote:
           | As somebody who is working on exactly this problem, I'd say
           | the problem can be solved technically if one can get a high
           | density of passengers, while providing privacy and comfort.
           | 
           | Most of the sleeper startups basically just work with
           | renderings, we work with iterating on full sized mock ups. We
           | did ergonomics/market testing with hundreds of test users. We
           | have evidence that with the right cabin technology, you can
           | be profitable, even produce a margin, and significantly
           | disrupt air travel.
        
       | ramesh31 wrote:
       | Just looked up tickets on the Coast Starlight, Emeryville to LA
       | is a $790 round trip in a standard bedroom. Assuming a "luxury"
       | train service is at least double that, you could hire a private
       | driver for less than this and be there in less than half the
       | time... or take a $150 flight. Nothing will change about the
       | economics of rail in this country until we actually make the
       | investment in having legitimate service.
        
       | AnotherGoodName wrote:
       | >Amtrak's all-sleeper California Zephyr ended service between
       | Chicago and Emeryville, California, in 1997
       | 
       | Interesting statement since it still runs and you can book a
       | private sleeper room for that route. Same with the coast
       | starlight train that already runs the SF-LA route with sleeper
       | cars.
       | 
       | Note the weasel word all-sleeper. They run a non-sleeper
       | passenger also car on both of the above for those getting off at
       | the smaller stations on the way so that's how they can claim
       | those services don't exist when you can just go book them online
       | right now.
        
         | AnotherGoodName wrote:
         | Btw for anyone curious the zephyr between emeryville and denver
         | is up there for one of the most scenic routes in the world.
         | 
         | Along the inlets of the bay, up the sierra nevadas, through the
         | great basin, through the moab desert with mesas either side and
         | then into the rocky mountains winding along cliff tops. It goes
         | through the salt flats and salt lake city at night but the
         | daytime views either side of that one night are incredible and
         | make the train trip entirely worthwhile. A great way to
         | experience a sleeper car, you'll see why people do it rather
         | than fly and a great experience all round.
         | 
         | Don't bother with the denver to chicago leg though unless you
         | really like corn fields (chicago is absolutely worthwhile
         | visiting but probably not worth the extra night on the train
         | when you can fly)
        
           | temp0826 wrote:
           | The only time I took a sleeper was uh...at night. Is that not
           | the case/point with them? (Scenic or not would be moot)
        
             | AnotherGoodName wrote:
             | 8am start in emeryville. 7:30pm finish in denver the next
             | day.
             | 
             | Getting from a to b is definitely not the point of such a
             | trip. Think of it as a hotel where the view changes
             | constantly and you just happen to end up somewhere new at
             | the end of the stay.
        
             | seanmcdirmid wrote:
             | I took a sleeper from Shanghai to Urumqi, spent 3 days on
             | the train (this is before HSR).
        
           | ted_dunning wrote:
           | AND if you do the zephyr during the full moon, you will see
           | the salt flats in the moonlight. That's definitely a reason
           | to stay up all night.
        
       | royskee wrote:
       | In the Washington, DC area, the Dover Harbor is a private rail
       | car available for charter or one can join on select public trips.
       | I believe it attaches to Amtrak trains. https://doverharbor.com/
        
       | petesergeant wrote:
       | As I get older, overnight train journeys are less and less
       | appealing. My last few go-arounds on the Caledonian Sleeper have
       | been expensive and left me exhausted with a very poor night's
       | sleep. That "Dreamstar stateroom" they have a picture of is going
       | to be excessively expensive.
        
         | ghaff wrote:
         | I enjoyed it as an experience but it wasn't cheap and not sure
         | I would necessarily do again. With light enough luggage getting
         | to Heathrow (or one of the other London airports) isn't a big
         | deal and don't recall getting in from Edinburgh's airport being
         | an ordeal either.
        
       | jasonliu0704 wrote:
       | who need a overnight train if you have a high speed rail!
        
         | bergie wrote:
         | Sleeper trains can be more convenient for some business travel.
         | Leave in the evening, arrive right in the beginning of the
         | business day well rested.
         | 
         | We also did a lot of tourism in Europe with night trains. No
         | need to book hotels or lose daytime in travel, always start the
         | day in a new city.
        
       | fblp wrote:
       | There's another variation of this I'd like to see. A train you
       | can work on during the day. With a private desk space with
       | monitor etc where you could do zoom calls. Wouldn't need sleeping
       | space.
       | 
       | These would be especially good for 3-4hr trips.
        
         | ant6n wrote:
         | Best is if you combine the private office during the day with
         | the sleeping cabin at night. Bonus points if you can get that
         | at high density.
        
       | zokier wrote:
       | LA-SF distance is roughly 560km, that feels relatively short for
       | overnight train? Like it's comparable to Madrid-Barcelona (500ish
       | km) which is 2h37min by train, or Paris-Bordeaux at 2h11min; I
       | doubt anyone is considering sleepers for those routes?
        
         | ted_dunning wrote:
         | LA-SF is nearly 500 MILES. That's close to 800km and driving
         | through LA makes it feel like 1000km. If the sleeper would
         | extend on to San Diego, this would be a sweet item for me.
        
       | noduerme wrote:
       | LA to SF doesn't make a lot of sense to me as an overnight route.
       | Suppose you leave at 10pm. You get in at maybe 4am, maybe you got
       | 5 hours of sleep, and have to wait 12 hours to check into a
       | hotel...?
       | 
       | 6 hours is maybe justifiable for the comfort compared to getting
       | to LAX in traffic, checking in for a flight, then crawling out of
       | SFO... why not run it during the day? Save the sleeper portion
       | for getting to PDX and Seattle?
       | 
       | Also, is the spa going to be open at 1am?
        
       | wiether wrote:
       | What's up with luxury trains?
       | 
       | Now that airports are crowded with peasants thanks to low-cost
       | companies, and private jets are still a bit too expansive, the
       | new hype is to stay in a moving hotel?
       | 
       | They are launching something similar in France
       | https://legrandtour.com/en
        
         | ghaff wrote:
         | Assumption is probably that you're willing to pay (a reasonable
         | amount) for comfort, a day or two of extra travel time isn't a
         | big deal, you find advantages for city to city center travel
         | (though you don't actually get that with San Francisco), and
         | don't really like driving long distances.
         | 
         | And private jets are more than a "bit" more expensive for most
         | people. Multiples of first/business class even for a group.
        
       | kylehotchkiss wrote:
       | I took the coast starlight from SD to Seattle last year. I loved
       | it. I wished there were more availability for LA to SF other than
       | a single train. So long as the route had better internet than it
       | does now, I'd prefer that to driving up in the future.
        
       | paxys wrote:
       | An overnight SF-LA train will work IF:
       | 
       | - They time it _exactly_ right, so something like boarding at
       | 10pm, reaching at 7am, and I am able to get a full night of sleep
       | in the middle.
       | 
       | - They price it to be competitive with a $79 flight or $60 worth
       | of gas.
       | 
       | I'm assuming both of them, especially the second, will be a solid
       | "no".
        
         | ghaff wrote:
         | And... there's convenient car rental at arrival which will
         | almost certainly be needed in LA. And the price will almost
         | certainly be in the hundreds of dollars. Without looking it up,
         | I'm assuming the price for a non-sleeper is over $100 today.
        
         | jt2190 wrote:
         | USD 80 values your time at 0, one extra night in a hotel at 0,
         | the wear and tear on your car at 0, parking at 0...
        
       | tristanb wrote:
       | I wish someone would bring back the Snow train that used to go SF
       | -> Sugarbowl.
        
         | ted_dunning wrote:
         | Check out the ski train from Denver to Winter Park.
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2025-06-06 23:01 UTC)