Booking international train trips in the EU like connecting flights at once. You book the entire trip from perhaps different rail operators at once and get relatively secured connections.
Especially it should imo include that you have to be rebooked onto the next best connection if you miss one because of a delay which currently isn't really the case. Idk if that specific clause is in there but some part of the EU is supposedly working on a platform that at least should allow purchasing tickets for routes across multiple carriers and countries in one ticket.
Here is an excellent video explaining why international EU train routes are so overwhelmingly terrible.
The problem isn't really investment: it's interoperability, regulations protecting train passengers like flight passengers not existing, and national train companies hoarding their data like hissing gremlins to force users onto their terrible apps/websites.
It is. I can accept train journeys (like, say, London to Rome or Stockholm to Barcelona) taking longer than flying, and would be happy with that in many cases (you can do things on a train, after all). Though when they take longer, are comprised of six discrete journeys which either fall apart if one train is delayed (and if Germany is in the path, this is likely) or require defensively allocating hours for waiting at provincial stations just in case, and cost several times the cost of flying, catching a sequence of trains out of principle feels like wearing a hair shirt.
What should be done: scrap the post-WW2 tax exemption for aviation fuel and use the funds to improve long-distance rail connections.
(Explanation, for those not familiar with politics: the liberal party in Germany is infamous for blocking progressive economical legislation reasoning it would impede freedoms. For example they blocked a ban in advertising food containing high amounts of sugar, claimingit would impede parents' freedom to buy candy for kids (it wouldn't).)
The answer would be high speed night trains. London - Rome takes a bit over 15h by train today. However that includes waiting for connections and a lot of stops on stations. So a direct train would be siginificantly faster probably more like 12-13h. That would mean you could go into a train station in London at 20:00 and end up in Rome at 8:00 for example.
Stockholm - Barcelona is a much longer journey. 2250km instead of 1400km for Rome - London. So a very long nigh train or a connection in Hamburg or Paris. with a night train going from there to Barcelona or Stockholm respectivly.
as much as I love trains (I'm on one while typing this) I can't get myself to spend 170€ for a 21 hour train, even if part of it is spent sleeping, when a 2 hour flight could do the same for 50€.
I don't know if it's just cheaper or if there's massive subsidies like other comments were saying, but for now it's highly unpractical and uneconomical
Not always, the drivers have to be licensed for the countries rail network. Also sometimes they have to change the locomotive. And going to eastern europe sometimes they change the wheelsets because of different track widths.
Not so much the lack of direct trains, but the cost is what does it for me. For most destinstions in Europe, the train costs more than flying. It's only when you want to go somewhere far from an airport that it gets marginally cheaper, but youre still paying roughly equivalent prices for a much slower trip.
Except for Amsterdam London, which is somehow almost always cheaper by train.
Oh no, of course not. Obviously there's a second party member. I've never seen both members in the same room together though. (the second member isn't a person, it's a foundation founded by Geert Wilders)
I once spent a night in Wuppertal just to ride this thing. Rode it from end to end, and then again the next morning. What was unexpected was how modern it is. You might expect a rickety historic tourist contraption, but in fact it's a modern metro with great views and an unusual ride.
As I understand it, in most countries the railway would be completely uneconomical since it has no off-the-shelf parts and there are no tourists in Wuppertal, but in Germany it makes some sense since it can be used as a sort of training bed for local engineering students and industry.
It probably isn't the best use of the city's funds, but given the specific geography of the city, using the space above the river that runs along the entire narrow valley that makes up most of Wuppertal, it does make some sense.
Seattle has a weird suspension monorail but it literally only goes a few blocks. I lived there for years and never knew anyone who ever took it it was so useless!
Albania agreed to detain up to three thousand migrants rescued from international waters each month while Italy processes their asylum claims.
A second centre is almost finished in Shengjin, where housing units and offices are set in an area covering 4,000 square metres and surrounded by a 5-metre-high barbed metal fence.
Meloni has defended the controversial plan – saying it is necessary as part of her policy to crackdown on migration and deter prospective refugees from making the dangerous Mediterranean crossing.
Italy will remain legally responsible for asylum seekers detained at the Albanian centres throughout the process and will organise their deportations from the country if they are refused international protection.
Prior to the deal with Albania, Italy had sought solidarity with other European Union nations to help handle the large number of people arriving to the country.
One of Meloni’s key promises as part of her political programme was curbing illegal migration into Italy – though this has proven to be a particularly difficult challenge.
The original article contains 425 words, the summary contains 166 words. Saved 61%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
We spent a month Interrailing around the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and France, so my family of five felt like we'd experienced everything that train travel had to offer.
Unlike lots of city transport systems that are a bit tucked away, such as the London Underground, this one's very visible, given the huge green frames that hold the rail above the road and river.
It took another 80 years before construction work began on the electric system we see today, with the upside-down monorail offered to big cities like Berlin and Munich before being installed in what is now known as Wuppertal.
But there’s still plenty of ticket options, including buying the €49 monthly DeutschlandTicket that covers all local transport like buses, subways, trams, S-Bahns and regional trains throughout Germany.
As well as its unique train system beloved by both tourists and commuters, Wuppertal also lays claim to being the greenest town in Germany, as you’re never more than 10 minutes’ walk from one of its many green spaces.
There's plenty of fascinating stories over its 125 years in existence, including the time that a circus elephant was being transported in one of the carriages as a publicity stunt in 1950, before panicking, smashing through a window and falling into the river below.
The original article contains 867 words, the summary contains 214 words. Saved 75%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
euronews.com
Heiß