The Off Topic Topic

[Maladict]

The German approach to intercity train traffic really sucks compared to France and Spain. What a shameful triumph of regionalism and nimbyism. 

I think it's more a case of Germany's intercity rail network not being focused on the capital, unlike Britain, France and Spain (and, to an extent, Italy).

[The Larch]

The German approach to intercity train traffic really sucks compared to France and Spain. What a shameful triumph of regionalism and nimbyism. 

I think it's more a case of Germany's intercity rail network not being focused on the capital, unlike Britain, France and Spain (and, to an extent, Italy).

And it's still 4th in Europe, which is not bad at all, and in a much more densely populated country, which makes this kind of projects much more complex and expensive.

[Josquius]

The German approach to intercity train traffic really sucks compared to France and Spain. What a shameful triumph of regionalism and nimbyism. 

Shameful triumph of regionalism?
The regionalism in German railways is something to envy. I hope the UK someday can get a similar system.

[Valmy]

It might just be faster to walk in Albania.

[The Larch]

It might just be faster to walk in Albania.

The way the stat is calculated is a bit wonky, and I'd guess that it'll give weird results for small countries. What's the 6th largest city in Albania? Do we even know which are the 3rd or 4th?

Also, the way it's calculated, it rewards countries like Spain and France, in which infrastructure planning is very centralized and radial. For Spain, train connections between Madrid and the following 5 largest cities (Barcelona, Valencia, Sevilla, Zaragoza & Málaga) are good, while the inter-connection between some of those between themselves (say, Barcelona - Valencia or Sevilla - Málaga) are rather bad in comparison.

[Maladict]

It might just be faster to walk in Albania.

Apparently Tirana's railway station was demolished a few years ago. So yeah, you may have to walk the first part 

[The Larch]

It might just be faster to walk in Albania.

Apparently Tirana's railway station was demolished a few years ago. So yeah, you may have to walk the first part 

I took a look at wiki to check this and the story is quite WTF. I guess I just don't get mighty Albanian infrastructure planning.

Tirana railway station was the central railway hub of Tirana, Albania. The railway was connected to other cities in Albania including Vlorë and Durrës. The railway station was said to have no luggage office. On 2 September 2013, the station was closed for passenger and freight transport, and was demolished to make room for a new boulevard that leads over the station area to the north. A completely new district will be created. As a result, the Tirana station was moved to Vorë in 2013, and later to renovated Kashar station in May 2015. The former Kashar-Tiranë line around 10 km in length was replaced with a bus service.

In the northwestern district of Tirana, Laprakë a new station will be built, which is planned as a multi-functional terminal for railway, tram and bus. Until its opening, the railway transport between Tirana and Kashar remains closed. A new terminal in Tirana's outskirt of Kashar was inaugurated as part of a HSH makeover in May 2015 serving Tirana.

So, they closed and demolished the old train station in the center of the capital and now trains there stop 10 km away in the outskirts of the city and you have to do the last stage by bus, until a new station is built somewhere else in the capital.

[Iormlund]

The German approach to intercity train traffic really sucks compared to France and Spain. What a shameful triumph of regionalism and nimbyism. 

I'd prefer if Spain had Germany's population distribution, to be honest. Having everyone in one or two cities is not healthy.

That been said, in my experience Deutsche Bahn is an order of magnitude worse than our RENFE/ADIF. German efficiency doesn't seem to translate that well to railway management for some reason.

[Duque de Bragança]

Not having a real high-speed link between Porto and Lisbon (only some Pendolino), extending from Braga to Setúbal or better, Algarve explains it. At least the coast has decent train services...

[ulmont]

The German approach to intercity train traffic really sucks compared to France and Spain. What a shameful triumph of regionalism and nimbyism. 

I would kill for a 141.6 kph train to the nearest 5 cities.

[Duque de Bragança]

The German approach to intercity train traffic really sucks compared to France and Spain. What a shameful triumph of regionalism and nimbyism. 

I think it's more a case of Germany's intercity rail network not being focused on the capital, unlike Britain, France and Spain (and, to an extent, Italy).

ICE is still overrated, more often than not just an excuse to charge more for a fare. Fastest German ICE speed is in France LULZ (320 kph when speeding to Germany be it Frankfurt or Stuttgart). Between Saarbrücken and Mannheim it's conventional speed for instance.

[Zanza]

The German approach to intercity train traffic really sucks compared to France and Spain. What a shameful triumph of regionalism and nimbyism. 

Shameful triumph of regionalism?
The regionalism in German railways is something to envy. I hope the UK someday can get a similar system.

The train from Cologne to Frankfurt stops in Montabaur and Limburg. Never heard about these? Thats because they are tiny towns. Trains from Berlin to Hamburg often stop in Büchen.

There is no direct train track from Frankfurt to Berlin, it is via Hannover or close to there. And often stops in Wolfsburg or Hildesheim or Göttingen.

The high speed trains need to be faster to be a real alternative to flying. That will only work with more dedicated tracks (problematic with nimbyism) and less stops (problematic with regionalism).

[Duque de Bragança]

Things are not so bad between Frankfurt and Berlin. It's doable in 4 hours, going through Fulda, Erfurt then Halle with some recently new or upgraded track. Berlin airports are not suitable for a city of this size

Can't have a whole High-speed like from North to South like Calais-Paris-Lyon-Marseille everywhere. Plus Nice is still not that well connected to Marseille (standard speed 100-120 kph max). Alps and a limited yet densely populated and urbanised environment make it very expensive to upgrade significantly the line.

[Admiral Yi]

This thread is begging for a Civil War hijack.

[The Brain]

In a Swedish high-brow magazine recently the Glorious Revolution was described as being part of the Civil War. I've never heard anyone say this before. Is this a thing?