Trains are great...

[sk_tle]

...when done right.

I'm currently returning from a birthday partying week-end in Madrid in an high speed train from la renfe. Screens says we are riding at 296kph and indeed the landscape is scrolling very fast at the window. Yet I'm sitting comfortably in a quiet space with plenty of leg room, listening to music. I just had a drink at the bar.

Sure at around 65€ the ticket is not cheap and flying could appear cheaper and faster if you only take into account the flying time. But if you factor in the commuting to and from both airports, the additionnal time to get through all the security checks and the price of drink and foods at the airport + the uncomfortable seats and position on low cost companies it sounds already different.

Evidently I am a city dweller who which to maintain a car free life so the experience might be different for someone who has to reach the railway station by car first.

[bigbill]

Except on the east coast, passenger trains are a dying culture. Amtrak will likely stop service to this town due to low demand. What I find strange is when I looked at ticket costs for a Chicago to California trip, only the cheaper tickets were available, the nicer seats were all sold out for months, so what Amtrak does have is sold out.

When I lived in Italy, I was a big fan of trains and knew my way around Termini in Rome. Where I live now in Kingman, AZ, there is a near constant flow of trains in both directions since this is the major east-west route along the old Rt 66. We have rail service at the industrial park where I work, but it's mostly for fuel that is trucked to Love's Truck Stops. Rail is the cheapest method (other than river barge) to move goods.

[Too Tall]

The 1st class trains from lausanne Switzerland to (anyplace) just a pleasure.

Yep, trains. Such a wonderful way to see the land.

[sk_tle]

The 1st class trains from lausanne Switzerland to (anyplace) just a pleasure.

I used to take one of those for my daily commute. It sure didn't felt like a punition to chat with other commuters you see every day while looking at the lake by the window.

I took a car twice to do the sane commute. Ugh.

[Blue Jays]

Agreed. Pleasant way to travel.

[thollandpe]

We could certainly use a shot in the arm for the US's rail infrastructure. Is calling it a national disgrace too inflammatory?

Commuting into Boston by car is simply awful, the best you can say is that it's unpredictable. If Boston means Cambridge, then apply an exponent to those adjectives. I can make a 10AM meeting in Atlanta just as easily.

I usually opt to drive to Worcester (about half way) and take the commuter rail in. 15 years ago it cost $1 a day to park, and fare was $7.75. Now parking is $4 and the fare is $12.25. And the condition of the tracks and cars has been somewhere between marginal and abysmal to keep the experience just bad enough to make you still think about driving every time. No bar car, and on-train internet is like AOL dial-up but more intermittent.

One of car culture's big victories is what it's done to train travel. I'm pretty sure that's by design.

[Saab2000]

Except on the east coast, passenger trains are a dying culture.

Only in the US. The rest of the world is investing in this infrastructure. US rail networks are decades behind most of the rest of the world. The Metra commuter trains I use in Chicago are functional but nowhere near as nice as normal comparable trains in Europe. Metra is straight out of the 1960s.

Doesn’t mean I don’t like it, because I do, but the spending on modernization is negligible and shameful.

[bigbill]

Only in the US. The rest of the world is investing in this infrastructure. US rail networks are decades behind most of the rest of the world. The Metra commuter trains I use in Chicago are functional but nowhere near as nice as normal comparable trains in Europe. Metra is straight out of the 1960s.

Doesn’t mean I don’t like it, because I do, but the spending on modernization is negligible and shameful.

I loved the trains in Yurp. I took a trip from Koper to Lubljana in 2003 that was spectacular on a state of the art electric train with very comfortable seating. I've done the high speed in Italy a few times, rail is the only infrastructure in that country that is maintained.

When I was a kid, our family did a vacation in Mexico on the Chihuahua El Pacifico Railroad through Copper Canyon. I have great memories from that trip but I don't think my parents enjoyed it that much. Lots of breakdowns and waiting for another locomotive to come get us. During the breakdown, we explored the countryside and villages along the tracks. Probably wouldn't do that today.

[vertical_doug]

£29 London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord. What's not to like. . .

293mi longer than 228 mi NY - DC , about a 1/5 the cost of the Acela, and faster.

I mean St. Pancras versus Penn Station. It's almost criminal.

[j44ke]

But we have cowboys.

[Tom]

Karen and I were in Grenada and needed to get to Madrid and we screwed up reading the calendar and bought tickets for the day our plane was to leave Madrid, there was absolutely no way we'd catch the plane. We stood at the counter the day before our plane was to leave trying to get back to Madrid and the man said with a gesture of finality "The train is full." We looked crestfallen and he said but... do you mind riding between the cars until they put on more train halfway up the road? We didn't and it turned out to be totally luxurious because it was basically the carpeted smoking salon. We reclined on our luggage and enjoyed the view. The conductor eventually came out with a scrap of paper with our car and seat number written on it and I kind of didn't want to go inside but we figured we ought to. That wasn't bad, either, the cadre of older Spanish ladies sitting there took the stupid Americans under their wing and we had a fun time the rest of the way being completely incomprehensible to each other.

[caleb]

Penn Station. It's almost criminal.

I think you're being too circumspect. Knocking down Old Penn Station was one of the 20th Century's great architectural crimes.

[BBB]

Only in the US. The rest of the world is investing in this infrastructure. US rail networks are decades behind most of the rest of the world. The Metra commuter trains I use in Chicago are functional but nowhere near as nice as normal comparable trains in Europe. Metra is straight out of the 1960s.

Doesn’t mean I don’t like it, because I do, but the spending on modernization is negligible and shameful.

Australia is pretty bad. Our day to day commuter networks in capital cities are pretty good (well in most states). But, country rail and the non-existant high speed rail linking capitals cities is hopless.

Japan is my hands down best rail experience. The bullet trains are amazing.

[Colinmclelland]

Australia is pretty bad. Our day to day commuter networks in capital cities are pretty good (well in most states). But, country rail and the non-existant high speed rail linking capitals cities is hopless.

Japan is my hands down best rail experience. The bullet trains are amazing.

I was going to say "Trains are great"... unless you want to go between Sydney and Canberra.

[slwrnu]

I commute between Austria and London quite often. In my tiny village you can buy a ticket on the bus all the way to Innsbruck airport. The bus takes 20 mins to the local train station. The train goes along the beautiful Inn Valley and there are usually quite a few students chatting away. About 30 mins. Lovely views. The train arrives at the allotted time. Then you wait about 5 mins to get another bus which takes about 12 mins to get to the airport. This costs euros 11.30 in total.

[johnmdesigner]

Wait until you ride the trains in Japan.

[Mabouya]

passenger trains are a dying culture

So I hear...

[Blue Jays]

Folks in Austria take the train to the ski slopes and drop their skis onto the snow within 100 meters of hopping off the train!
It is definitely pretty cool to see and is certainly a fun surprise for American tourists. Great infrastructure planning, too.

[caleb]

Folks in Austria take the train to the ski slopes and drop their skis onto the snow within 100 meters of hopping off the train!
It is definitely pretty cool to see and is certainly a fun surprise for American tourists. Great infrastructure planning, too.

I think I read somewhere that a ski train from Denver out to Aspen or Vail was revived this winter. Perhaps someone here can confirm. If so, it's a great idea.

I understand that it's possible to train from NYC up to Lake Placid, but it involves a significant shuttle.

[vertical_doug]

I think I read somewhere that a ski train from Denver out to Aspen or Vail was revived this winter. Perhaps someone here can confirm. If so, it's a great idea.

I understand that it's possible to train from NYC up to Lake Placid, but it involves a significant shuttle.

Anything is better than driving from Denver to Aspen