Paris to Berlin by train is now faster by five hours. We try out the new service

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2024/dec/24/paris-to-berlin-by-train-faster-service-via-strasbourg

by Doener23

7 comments

  1. Engineers in Japan discussing how to make the trip Osaka-Tokyo in one hour and here in this sub we build a circlejerk because we connect two major cities in 8 hours instead of 13?

    The worst part is not how mediocre we are, the worst is seeing how people think that we’re supercool, ignoring the fact that we should be doing way way better

  2. EU should force all train operators to work together to get one ticketing system. Currently, it is so cumbersome to buy tickets online compared to airline tickets. We need a Single European Ticketing System.

    Next to it, EU should fund a large portion of cross-border high speed rail missing links, to alleviate the policy making process of connecting railways. Examples of hsl include: Bordeux – San Sebastian, Montpellier – Perpignan, Berlin – Warsaw, should have be fully funded ideally. I am really looking forward to LGV Lyon – Turino, the Fehmarnbelt tunnel, Rail Baltica and Brenner Base tunnel.

    Furthermore, EU should help funding bottlenecks where national rail services collide with international rail. We have to step up. China built a high speed network in 20 years (yes, I know, no human rights, no property rights, etc.), but we can definitely improve the current European network significantly by tackling these abovementioned measures to have a better (reasonable) alternative to flying.

  3. It was not actually 13 hours before. Only the direct connections were. If you’re willing to change trains, it was already possible in < 9 hours. 

    The real benefit is that you don’t have to change, especially not between two train operators, so you’re not in a big mess when you miss the second train because of the inevitable delay of the first train.

  4. Faster by 5 hours. From Paris to Berlin? That’s a lot of discos to go in.

  5. I feel like there are 15 words in there that should be explained for an international audience. And I hate that it is miles only! Neither Germany nor France uses miles!

  6. It’s strange that travel between Germany and France is so slow when travelling within France is really fast (or within Italy, Spain, and even some parts of Germany…) Having two operators is a big part of the problem, I would imagine.

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