Trains vs Planes and Automobiles
 

What are the things which affect people's decision to travel by plane or train or car when going on holiday? I love trains, and avoid short-haul flights in favour of the train. I'm curious why more people don't go by train for trips around Europe? Is it mainly price or time are there other reasons too?

Trains vs Planes and Automobiles
 

On Tue, 28 Feb 2012 13:32:53 +0000, Loco2
wrote:


What are the things which affect people's decision to travel by plane or
train or car when going on holiday? I love trains, and avoid short-haul
flights in favour of the train. I'm curious why more people don't go by
train for trips around Europe? Is it mainly price or time are there
other reasons too?


For trips around Europe, it the cities are reasonably close to each
other, I normally travel by train (and occasionally bus).

I don't *love* trains, but they are less expensive than planes (as is
usually the cost of getting to the train station over getting to the
airport), and often faster. Yes, a flight takes less time than a train
ride, but if you are flying, you have to add in the time it takes to
get to the airport (often outside of town) and the amount of time you
have to get there early. So for a short distance, the total time for a
train is often less than for a plane.


--
Ken Blake

Trains vs Planes and Automobiles
 

On Tue, 28 Feb 2012 13:32:53 +0000, Loco2 wrote:

What are the things which affect people's decision to travel by plane or
train or car when going on holiday? I love trains, and avoid short-haul
flights in favour of the train. I'm curious why more people don't go by
train for trips around Europe? Is it mainly price or time are there
other reasons too?

I enjoy train travel, I get sick in buses and aircraft so I tend to
travel by rail when I can.

However if you need to go a substantial distance, over 1,000 Km, I'm
afraid that an aircraft is the only reasonable alternative, mainly
because of time, cost and availability.

--
"Hopefully the fair wind will resume, or this may well take all day."

Admiral Collingwood on being becalmed under the guns of six French ships-
of-the-line at Trafalgar

Trains vs Planes and Automobiles
 

Loco2 wrote:
What are the things which affect people's decision to travel by plane or
train or car when going on holiday? I love trains, and avoid short-haul
flights in favour of the train. I'm curious why more people don't go by
train for trips around Europe? Is it mainly price or time are there
other reasons too?

I don't know about others, but when I'm once in Europe, I prefer trains. I
can sightsee without worrying about traffic and parking, which would be a
major problem, since I travel alone. I find flying incredibly boring as
well as confining, and the preliminaries are even more boring and extremely
irritating as well. Unfortunately, I have to fly TO Europe, as trains
don't run across the ocean.

Trains in the US just don't run many places and can be hours late besides
because the cargo trains own the tracks. There are also few of them away
from the coast, and they don't always have handy bus stations or even taxi
service at ecery station.



--
Erilar, biblioholic medievalist with iPad

Trains vs Planes and Automobiles
 

On 28/02/2012 23:01, Erilar wrote:
wrote:
What are the things which affect people's decision to travel by plane or
train or car when going on holiday? I love trains, and avoid short-haul
flights in favour of the train. I'm curious why more people don't go by
train for trips around Europe? Is it mainly price or time are there
other reasons too?

I don't know about others, but when I'm once in Europe, I prefer trains. I
can sightsee without worrying about traffic and parking, which would be a
major problem, since I travel alone. I find flying incredibly boring as
well as confining, and the preliminaries are even more boring and extremely
irritating as well. Unfortunately, I have to fly TO Europe, as trains
don't run across the ocean.

Get shares in the Transatlantic Tunnel Company now!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transatlantic_tunnel
http://tinyurl.com/7namwbp

Thanks for your thoughtful replies (from a first time poster!)

It makes for interesting reading. From a European's perspective, the US has a long way to come on the train front, Europe on the whole runs a pretty fast, reliable and not too expensive system, although calling it a system makes it sound integrated which it isn't when you compare it with budget airlines and the ease with which you can compare prices on flights.

So my follow up question would be what do you think needs to happen to get more bums on train seats and for those who take the train (in Europe, but also elsewhere) what kind of resources do you use to plan your journey?

Thanks!

Trains vs Planes and Automobiles
 

On 28/02/2012 6:01 PM, Erilar wrote:
wrote:
What are the things which affect people's decision to travel by plane or
train or car when going on holiday? I love trains, and avoid short-haul
flights in favour of the train. I'm curious why more people don't go by
train for trips around Europe? Is it mainly price or time are there
other reasons too?

I don't know about others, but when I'm once in Europe, I prefer trains. I
can sightsee without worrying about traffic and parking, which would be a
major problem, since I travel alone. I find flying incredibly boring as
well as confining, and the preliminaries are even more boring and extremely
irritating as well. Unfortunately, I have to fly TO Europe, as trains
don't run across the ocean.

Trains in the US just don't run many places and can be hours late besides
because the cargo trains own the tracks. There are also few of them away
from the coast, and they don't always have handy bus stations or even taxi
service at ecery station.

Train travel is much better in Europe than in North America. We had a
great time travelling around Europe on a rail pass. We had lots of
options for destinations and departure times. I live close to a
Canadian rail line and it is a passenger corridor from the US to
southern Ontario, There are only three trains a day each way.

My son was in France last fall and took the train from Paris to
Montpellier to visit a friend. It is close to 500 miles and the travel
time was only 3 hours and did not require the long trip out to the
airport at extra cost.

Trains vs Planes and Automobiles
 

On Tue, 28 Feb 2012, Loco2 wrote:

What are the things which affect people's decision to travel by plane
or train or car when going on holiday?

Personally, as a non-driver (no car and no driving license) I do not
consider cars and use only public transport (preferentially train vs
buses), but I can imagine that families with lots of children and
luggage, or persons whose holiday concept consists in driving across
places and not moving TO a place may prefer cars.

I prefer trains to buses (whenever both available) because I get
motion-sick on buses, there is less comfort (less space, no toilet, less
luggage space).

I prefer trains to planes because there is no harassment of check in and
security paranoia, and trains take you directly to city centres, or to
minor places. Also often travelling by train is a worthwhile experience
per se (just looking out of the window ... although in many places the
sound barriers along railways - and motorways too - tend now to make
impossible to look at the scenery)

Unfortunately some railway operators (chief Trenitalia here in Italy)
are doing their best to dissuade people to prefer trains to planes.
Crazy tariff system, worsened coordination between long distance and
local trains, cuts on international service, particularly night ones.

There are distances I will possibly never consider for train travel, if
I am interested in just going from A to B (I will never consider a train
trip Milan to London, or Milan to Palermo and use a plane instead,
although I did things like Stockholm-Narvik by train). However on other
distances (Milan to Paris, Frankfurt or even Amsterdam, Munich or
Vienna, Rome, Naples, Bari) a night train (sleeper) would be definitely
a good choice ... but unfortunately many of those have been withdrawn.

Also for instance for a trip like Milan to any minor station in Calabria
a night train (plus continuation during daytime) would be better than a
plane to some obscure and far airport, because it will drop you at the
wished station (in principle, no longer possible since Dec 2011).

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Trains vs Planes and Automobiles
 

29.2.2012 17:02, Dave Smith kirjoitti:

Train travel is much better in Europe than in North America. We had a
great time travelling around Europe on a rail pass. We had lots of
options for destinations and departure times. I live close to a Canadian
rail line and it is a passenger corridor from the US to southern
Ontario, There are only three trains a day each way.

Population density in Ontario is a tiny fraction compared to most of
Europe. In rest of Canada even much lower. It is extremely expensive to
build and maintain rail road networks. There are lots good taxpayers in
Europe to do the job. North America is quite different in this respect.

I like train travelling in Europe myself. Very reasonable a mode of
transportation. Distances are bearable and connection are good.

Trains vs Planes and Automobiles
 

Dave Smith:
Train travel is much better in Europe than in North America. We had a
great time travelling around Europe on a rail pass. We had lots of
options for destinations and departure times. I live close to a Canadian
rail line and it is a passenger corridor from the US to southern
Ontario, There are only three trains a day each way.

Markku Grönroos:
Population density in Ontario is a tiny fraction compared to most of
Europe. In rest of Canada even much lower....

Markku makes the mistake of considering the whole of Ontario or Canada.
Note that Dave referred to *Southern* Ontario. If you draw a line from
Georgian Bay (the big bay on the east side of Lake Huron) to the Ottawa
River (the boundary with Quebec), you will find that well over 90% of
Ontario's population lives south of that line.

Many of the European countries with the best train networks do have
substantially denser population than Southern Ontario (examples:
Germany, France, Switzerland, UK). But some other European countries
are comparable to Southern Ontario in density -- including Spain, most
of the Balkan countries, and if you stretch "comparable" a bit, Austria.
--
Mark Brader | A computer[']s view of the world is analogous [to]
Toronto | a flashlight in the dark. What they can see, they
| see well. What they can't see, they see not at all.
| -- M. Valvo
My text in this article is in the public domain.