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Re: [OM] OT: Fast Passenger Trains

Subject: Re: [OM] OT: Fast Passenger Trains
From: Chris Trask <christrask@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2015 07:21:20 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
>
>One day last week I hopped on the high-speed train to Madrid to meet up with a 
>visiting 
>LUGger and see the big Winogrand exhibition. Left Alicante at 7:20, arrived 
>Madrid 9:30. 
>Back to Alicante at 19:20 that evening. A bit over two hours each way on the 
>AVE (Spanish 
>for high-speed train), 90 Euro round trip, compared to 4 hours by car at 
>roughly the same 
>cost for fuel. The civilised way to travel.
>

     And far more relaxing.  I was at a conference in Geneva many years ago and 
encountered a fellow who had just arrived from Vienna.  He had flown in just 
that morning and looked exhausted.  I asked him why he didn't take a night 
train and get a good night's sleep.  He looked back in surprise and said that 
he hadn't thought of it but he should have.

     While waiting at the station for my departing train, a night train from 
Toulouse arrived, and I watched as the passengers gathered their luggage from 
the overhead compartments, then exiting the train and walking along after a 
good night's sleep, reading to take on the day's challenges.  You can't sleep 
that comfortably on an airliner.

     I also got my first look at an Italian ETR-400 trainset.  It wa beautiful, 
more streamlined than the French TVG Sud-Est.  A few years later I got to walk 
through an ETR-450 at that Stazione Centrale in Milano that was fitted out for 
the morning run to Rome.  Fresh flowers and pressed linen on the dining car 
tables.  Glass panel at the engineer's compartment so you could see the 
instruments and controls.

     Yes, it is indeed the civilised way to travel.


Chris

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro 
     - Hunter S. Thompson
-- 
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