Jon Worth Profile picture
Jun 15, 2021 9 tweets 3 min read Read on X
If you're one of those people whining at me "I'm not going to sit 4 hours on a train, I'll fly 1 hour instead", then listen up

A worked example, for Berlin-München

From where I used to live at Yorckstrasse, Berlin, to when my old friend @ronpatz used to work at Uni München

🧵
Buses have been eliminated here - these are just train/S-Bahn/U-Bahn options

My fastest connection is 4 hours 35 mins

3 hours 56 mins of that is on one direct train, that has wifi and a restaurant on board
If I don't manage to get one of the extra fast "Sprinter" ICEs, I have a regular ICE that makes more stops at other times of the day, and at least 1 train per hour - trip time is slightly longer 4 hours 55 mins, of which 4 hours 23 is in the ICE
What about flying?

I'd have to get from Yorckstrasse to Berlin-Brandenburg Airport first - takes between 44 and 49 mins, depending on the exact route
Then add on 60 mins check in time (yes it's 40 mins, but I am not going to cut it that tight!)

Then a flight time of 1 hour 10 mins

So 2 hours 54 mins so far
I am then going to need 15 mins to get out of the airport and to the airport station, and then 45 mins in the S-Bahn into the city
That gives me a total time of 3 hours 54 minutes *if everything joins up perfectly*

Of that 1 hour 10 minutes I am going to be sat in the plane, and could work
In other words: my total trip time is 41 mins quicker if I go by plane, but I can use more than 3 hours of the time productively if I take the train, versus 1 hour productively if I fly

In that situation taking the train rather than the plane makes sense
Now if I did this comparison for a longer route - Hamburg-München for example - it does not make sense

There the train is 6 hours, rather than the 4 from Berlin. And the flight no longer. Most people would struggle to make the case

/ends

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Jon Worth

Jon Worth Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @jonworth

Dec 11, 2022
This morning I’m one of the first new regional trains Maubeuge 🇫🇷 - Charleroi Central 🇧🇪 #CrossBorderRail
It was a bit of a #fail at the station. I needed a ticket to Erquelinnes, the first station in Belgium. But prior to today trains from Maubeuge didn’t stop there!

Ticket machine ⛔️
Ask at the ticket office. “Le train ne s’arrête pas à Erquelinnes!” I politely told the SNCF employee that yes, it did stop at Erquelinnes. I explained the situation to the SNCB train manager and he laughed, confirmed it did stop there, and I bought the ticket online!
Read 8 tweets
Dec 10, 2022
Signal failure south of Fulda. Looks like I could miss the event in Mons I’m organising 😭
Delays in my favour. Maybe? S-Bahn to FFM Flughafen. Get a late running ICE to Köln Messe/Deutz there. Then try to blag my way onto a Thalys Köln Hbf to Bruxelles? It’s a long shot but it might work…
ICE 612 Frankfurt Flughafen to Köln Messe/Deutz.

This is why accurate live running data in apps matters. Were this not running 10 min late I’d not have caught it… but live data allowed me to plan a connection that’d otherwise not work
Read 12 tweets
Dec 1, 2022
Already on the 2nd train of the day: TGV Montbard - Paris. All being well I’ll be in Denmark tonight… but that feels a long way off just now! #EGPCongress #crossborderrail
Across Paris RER Gare de Lyon to Gare du Nord, walk to Gare de l’Est (faster than changing into a Métro to Est) and it’s onto the TGV to Mannheim. So far so good, but I banked on this bit working 🙂 #EGPCongress #CrossBorderRail
Franco-German train service. Very French prices! And no, it’s too early (and expensive) for #beerontrains 😉
Read 16 tweets
Nov 30, 2022
Tomorrow hundreds of delegates - myself included (from 🇫🇷) - will start their trip to @europeangreens congress in København

Most of us will go by 🚆
Many trips will be disrupted as railways are a mess

But there’s nothing about transport on the programme europeangreens.eu/congress2022/p…
I don’t blame @europeangreens for this, short term. They only have on their programme what member parties want.

But there isn’t the fierce debate or intellectual exchange in the Green movement about transport as there is about other issues.
Given CO2 emissions in transport are still rising (unlike in other sectors) that ought to be a matter for urgent attention from Greens.

And hell, the event is in København, a paradise for 🚲. There’d be opportunities to use that as a hook.
Read 4 tweets
Nov 17, 2022
Talking #9euroTicket at #PassengerFest - slightly frustrating that it’s DB talking about it. Other views are available 😉
“Did behaviour change in the way the government intended?” asks the moderator. Ha. Did the government even *know* what its intention was?
Oh and the DB dude is saying it was too cheap. As he would. Poorer citizens would say otherwise… zeit.de/mobilitaet/202…
Read 5 tweets
Nov 12, 2022
😭 Germany builds a high speed line through Baden-Württemberg - to speed up Stuttgart-München services

It’s been in planning for *years*

But SNCF’s TGVs used for Paris-Stuttgart-München services haven’t been updated to be compatible with the new line!

swr.de/swraktuell/bad…
Jeez. It could take until 2025 until TGVs are approved for the line.

And the whole effing point of Stuttgart21 - of which this line is a part - was to create a Paris-München high speed corridor!

Really, how can everyone mess up *so badly*?
And to those going “yeah but there are few TGVs anyway” true, but so it goes on and on. International services are the lowest priority - even when *they were the stated rationale for building the line*
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(