I am just curious about peoples perspective on traveling by air versus traveling by rail. I know they both have their advantages and disadvantages, like speed for air travel, and generally lower prices for rail. But I personally have never traveled by rail so I can't really say which one is better.
Never traveled by rail? Are you a Martian?
Actually travel by rail is quite rare in the US and Canada. There are certain corridors where it is common, but not many. Minnesota is not one of those areas.
Never traveled by rail? Are you a Martian?
Massive difference between “rail travel” and “travel by rail”. Whereas travel by rail includes subways, trams, or any intracity/intraregional service; rail travel invokes imagery of The Orient Express and the like, generally any intercity service.
In Europe, it’s relatively normal to hop a train to go somewhere. In North America, it’s a 5-hour drive for me to reach the nearest intercity rail station, and as Via Rail’s The Canadian only runs twice per week, and usually with delays, I’d have a bit of a wait. It’s a 27-hour rail journey from Edmonton to Vancouver (800’ish km), when I can drive the trip in 13 hours (or a 90-minute flight gate-to-gate).
Still, there are a few European airlines who codeshare with rail companies, such as Lufthansa and Air France. There’s some sort of vaguely similar program between the US airlines and Amtrak, but only for the Northeastern corridor. Likewise with Air Canada and Via Rail, but only for irrops situations, and only on the Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal triangle.
I like travelling by rail as you can have good food and something to drink. Trains are also a very great place to have a conversation and to arrive relaxed to your destination. I would choose train over car at anytime. Some train's first class are very good like the IGV, TGV, Eurostar and ICE with great food and drink onboard and great seats. I would though choose planes over trains because of the speed, but if I am offered with a choice over a Eurostar and an American Airlines or Delta flight then I am not so certain of my choice. You Americans need to learn some style from the European, Middle Eastern and Asian carriers.
I actually have travelling with The Indian Pacific and The Orient Express on my bucket list together with an Atlantic crossing on an ocean liner, flying the Kangaroo route without a stop and being invited to a dinner with his highness Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden (this is the most unlikely point of them all). I have already completed points like being invited by His Most Godly Beatitude Theophilos III (the patriarch of Jerusalem) and also being personally blessed by him, and flying a Fokker 70.
I like travelling by rail as you can have good food and something to drink. Trains are also a very great place to have a conversation and to arrive relaxed to your destination. I would choose train over car at anytime. Some train's first class are very good like the IGV, TGV, Eurostar and ICE with great food and drink onboard and great seats. I would though choose planes over trains because of the speed, but if I am offered with a choice over a Eurostar and an American Airlines or Delta flight then I am not so certain of my choice. You Americans need to learn some style from the European, Middle Eastern and Asian carriers.
I actually have travelling with The Indian Pacific and The Orient Express on my bucket list together with an Atlantic crossing on an ocean liner, flying the Kangaroo route without a stop and being invited to a dinner with his highness Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden (this is the most unlikely point of them all). I have already completed points like being invited by His Most Godly Beatitude Theophilos III (the patriarch of Jerusalem) and also being personally blessed by him, and flying a Fokker 70.
Awesome bucket list!
Not to hijack, but on March 1st I will leave for my ultimate bucket. Around the world. By land. And sea. No airplanes. In only 3 months 
I take back never traveling by rail; I have traveled by subways and small trams but I have never traveled on a line like amtrak.
I take back never traveling by rail; I have traveled by subways and small trams but I have never traveled on a line like amtrak.
That is not what I consider travelling by rail. Have you ever had a journey over 500 km on a train?
I have never
That is not what I consider travelling by rail. Have you ever had a journey over 500 km on a train?
When Europeans travel to Asia, it is fairly common practice to take the plane. Easy, cheap and you get there overnight.
After having traveled from Europe to various cities in Asia by plane, I decided - back in 2008 - to travel to Asia by train. I took a direct train from Basel (Switzerland) to Moscow (2 nights on the train). After a short stay-over, I bought a ticket for the "Tashkent-Express" bound for Uzbekistan in Central Asia (4 nights on the train). From there, I went through Almaty (Kazakhstan) to Novosibirsk (Russia), spending another 2 nights on a train. In Novosibirsk I hopped on the train serving the Moscow - Beijing route. Went along Lake Baikal, through Mongolia to arrive after another 3 nights in Beijing.
Although my rail trip was more of a zigzag (there are more direct train links between Europe and Asia - most notably the Siberian Express), I did enjoy this trip much, much more than any air travel I've done before between Europe and Asia. Sure it wasn't cheap and I takes time. But talking with fellow travelers and locals on a train, where everybody has more than enough time to spare, is a priceless experience. Learned a variety of card games and Russian jokes along the way.
Unbeatable is the experience to leave the home city and seeing the constant change of building style and landscape. By the time I arrived in Beijing I was humbled by the fact that such a change of culture was possible just by "driving" east.
For the interested: A lot of travel planning was done by using the site "Man in Seat Sixty-One" (http://www.seat61.com/). This site inspired me to take a zigzag route instead of simply taking the "regular" Siberian Express train.
A few years back I had a weekly 450km commute within Europe, and used both air travel and trains. I left home on Sunday afternoon and came back Friday evening. My experience was that flying was substantially more comfortable, and providing you could book flights far enough in advance was not really more expensive.
The really big downsides to rail travel were 1. hopelessly overfilled trains. Standing for 4 hours is no fun. 2. Freezing to death on exposed platforms in winter. 3. Delays, missed connections.
Wow ! What route was that ?
I live in Brugge. It takes me one and a half hour to get in Zaventem (BRU airport). Even if I check in online, I have to be there at least one hour before the plane leaves. Going away for the week would also mean that my parking ticket is more expensive than my flight. And push back would begin 2.5 hours after I leave my front door, at the earliest.
Driving to Brugge station takes me 5 minutes. Ten minute if all traffic lights are red. If I am lucky, parking is free. If I buy my train ticket online, it takes me 5 minutes to walk to the platform. So 2.5 hours after I leave my front door, I would be more than halfway to my destination. The train will also get me to the center of the destination city.
450 km is a very short trip and it would be very hard for a plane to compete with my car or a train.
Apart from the above, yes, commuter trains can be overfilled. Delays and missed connections are more likely when traveling by train. But traveling in general has become more difficult and less pleasant than it used to be... Traffic jams, long queues, security checks...
Jan
Why not bike to the station. I believe biking is the fastest way of travelling within a city.
I live in the old city center. Even walking would only take me 25 minutes. Daily walk with the dog takes longer :-)
Taking the car is just more practical if you carry luggage with you.
Jan
I live on the countryside but I have the choice between 2 airports, both 45 min. by car. BUT - parking on one of the airports is extremly expensive and on the other airport there is no parking allowed (in the airport area). Train stations are also 40 min away by car.
So I prefer to stay home - with my 2 cats and working from home. I was travelling 20 years long, mostly flying across Germany and Europe. Now I hate it. I had 3 weeks every night in another city and in another hotel. In the morning I could not remember in which city I was.
The only travels I still enjoy very much are the annual leaves in my sons birthtown, Hamburg. We always go by train as this is the most relaxing and efficient way from South of Germany to the far North.
2 weeks ago I was invited to a birthday party in Berlin. I went there with a friend of mine on Friday, we have booked a flight a couple of weeks back. It took me 45 min. to drive by car to reach the airport, I paid 90 EUR for 2,5 days of parking, the flight was delayed for one hour and we had to change the gate 3 times. Arrived in Berlin we were stuck in traffic jam. Finally, 7 hours after my departure from home, we arrived in the hotel. 7 hours waste of time somehow...
A few years back I had a weekly 450km commute within Europe, and used both air travel and trains. I left home on Sunday afternoon and came back Friday evening. My experience was that flying was substantially more comfortable, and providing you could book flights far enough in advance was not really more expensive.
The really big downsides to rail travel were 1. hopelessly overfilled trains. Standing for 4 hours is no fun. 2. Freezing to death on exposed platforms in winter. 3. Delays, missed connections.
That sounds like a really, really bad experience. I wonder which route / country you were commuting. And I cannot not comment this. :ph34r:
1. Looking at my country and its neighboring European countries, I simply cannot imagine a train route where people have to stand for 4 hours (unless there is an extraordinary event, such as an engine breakdown and they merge passengers from two trains in one - but that's hardly an everyday experience).
2. Freezing on a platform means that there was no waiting lounge, coffee shop or anything around? Do millions of Europeans freeze to death on platforms in Winter? :)
3. Delays and missed connections are really, really bad - when flying. Delays and missed connections on a rail travel means that one simply hops on the next connecting train using the same ticket. As trains in Europe usually run in 30minutes or 1hour intervals, this means that a delay or missed connection is not really the end of the world (in contrast to air travel, where such events quickly become a travelers nightmare).
So again: What exactly are the downsides of rail travel? :)
There are a lot of trains in Europe which are full. Have you ever tried to take a train from Munich to Zurich on a Friday late afternoon? Or back on Sunday evening / night? These trains are completely overbooked - and many passengers are standing the whole trip. Hamburg - Munich without reservation is a nightmare, you won't find an empty seat and many many people stay for 6,5 hours.
Munich, Berlin, Hamburg - all these train stations are freezing cold in winter. While waiting for Deutsche Bahn (which has always delays in winter) you can't jump into a waiting lounge or coffee shop as there are not many and the few will be overcrowded at all times.
Well, I’m from The Netherlands and altough you can certainly travel comfortably with the train its not for most passengers. Most passengers travel in morning or afternoon rush and then there are hardly enough seats. Missing a train is usually a delay of 15 minutes (as trains usually run 4 times an hour), but as trains can get overcrowded you might not fit in the next train leaving you to wait another 15 minutes. Standing then isn’t that bad anymore and in The Netherlands standing in a train can be for over 2 hours (but as the country isn’t that big it can’t take 5 or more hours like in Germany, France or Italy. And then there is the problem of the domino effect on the rails, when just one train is stranded it causes problems for all trains in that direction because they can’t “overtake”, this in time (depending on which part in the network) can create a lot of problems for other trains even if those trains don’t even have to use that part of the track. With air travel that problem is a lot less.
Have you ever tried to take a train from Munich to Zurich on a Friday late afternoon? Or back on Sunday evening / night? These trains are completely overbooked - and many passengers are standing the whole trip.
:D
I am travelling at the same times, but in the opposite direction. I never had to stand. Just came back from beautiful Munich last Sunday. To be entirely truthful, when I travel such distances by train, I do choose first class: Because of the relative peace and quietness in those cars. But it looks like you are travelling in the wrong direction... lol
I am not travelling by train any more - but I did travel for a couple of years on these routes. Why should I now travel as I am living near Munich... :)