this post was submitted on 24 May 2025
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chapotraphouse
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Pointing out that this is in Europe is important I think. My American mind cannot conceive of a flight this would be acceptable in, but I can stand probably up to an hour for a bus ride, so a short flight would probably be ok. But you could probably take a train in Europe, so why bother with the flight.
privitisation has ruined a fuckload of transit in places like the UK
I simply love that we can't let the train company go bankrupt because we need the infrastructure so we keep pumping public funds into it, but we also can't stop them from turning the whole thing into a shit show and diverting all the funds because that would be interfering in the free market
it's the most efficient system
European social democrats of the late 20th century and 00s have so much to answer for.
Well you want rich people to get their massive bonuses, don’t you? I mean rich people really work for their money, unlike the poors who need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, give up avocado on toast, and just get a better job.
/s, just in case.
brits deserve worse
But rich people told me that it fixed transit in England =(
Because they privatised the trains so the thing is fucked. If I wanna go visit my family by train it's around 75 dollars if I don't get a discounted ticket, while a flight ticket is 50-100 dollars depending on time of day and season, so half the time it's cheaper.
I'm mostly sure it's only that cheap:
AND
You are absolutely right that this is only possible in part because the train exists as an alternative and there is therefore competition limiting their ability to price gouge.. But the specific flight is taken by a company that operates mostly regionally and this is one of most profitable routes.
The train company is price gouging to a much greater extent, and it is doing so because it has a profit motive and a natural monopoly on many routes.
International rail travel in Europe is a mess because almost every country has different electrification necessitating changing locomotives or intercompatible trains, cross-border services are an afterthought for national railways companies which we are 'fixing' by throwing private rail services on top, creating a mess that makes you dependent on middlemen railway planners.
International rail journeys often require many transfers, often long ones too, which increases the chance of one of the intermediate trains being delayed or cancelled and ruining your schedule.
Sleeper trains like Nightjet exist now, but you have to book weeks or even months in advance to find a seat.
And all of this while often being multiple times more expensive than flying. A summer holiday by train is a splurge.
This seems like a really obvious demand signal for expanding the availability of this kind of service =\
I'm unsure what your experience is, but mine is in complete contradiction to this. I've taken direct trains from one end of Europe to the other. I don't know what your second map represents, but it's not direct train lines.
I've personally taken direct trains from London to Germany (some of those trains go on past Germany) and London to Italy. How they handle the electrification etc I don't know, but I've never noticed an issue or had to transfer between internationals.
Most of my train rides have been cheaper or similar price to flying once you factor in local train travel too, and exceedingly nicer and easier. You very rarely even notice crossing the borders, which is a fun aspect.
Admittedly, I have little experience to go off of, so I may be comparing it more to typical commuter rail than I should. My only real experience is travelling from my hometown in the Netherlands to Hamburg for a school field trip. I had the typical Deutsche Bahn experience of train delays (usually less than 30 minutes at least) and on the way there one train just wasn't running, so I had to take a detour and technically board the InterCity Express at the wrong station.
I also almost got stranded in the countryside at night because the last train of the day was bit by bit delayed by over an hour and I was panicking that it would be cancelled.