I was reading the newspaper a few weeks ago and there were two articles that amused me:
The first one was about Dutch high speed trains having to reduce speed to 80kph because the construction company fucked up the bridge construction. The second article was about the new high speed train in Indonesia.
Every once in a while you're reminded that this is Asia's century.
Unlike HS2, the Indonesian high speed train does not attempt to go to the city center. Instead, there is a slow feeder train to get to the terminal on the outskirts of Bandung that takes almost as long as the high speed train itself. So, Asia has not solved this particular problem either.
The main problem with HS2 is that it goes underground through rural areas for political reasons.
The downside here in Germany, the trains are very fast but then slow down to go to the city center (Munich, Leipzig, Hamburg + also too many stops in general for political reasons) - so it still takes a working day to travel around.
As Amdahl's law applies here, newer high speed trains in Germany are no longer as fast, because if you have these slow passages / many stops, there is no difference between 250 and 300 (there are some prestige 300km/h lines).
Not really. They can, but mostly only do so at end stations. The network is built with excentered, specific stations meant to avoid the slow-down caused by merging into normal train traffic, with slow, crowded track sections.
If you are talking about the stations at Lyon Exupery or Disney: what I really like about the SNCF is that they offer you the choice. There definitely are trains that go through the center of Lyon (Part Dieu) if you want, but if you want to pass around (and then take the tram/bus), you can too. I never had to choose one of those out-of-town stations if I didn't want to.
If you are talking about Ouigo, yes, but you get a low price in return. And it's not your only option.
I couldn’t believe how slow trains in Germany were last month, even before the inevitable delays. Berlin to geneva averaged 70mph. Brussels to Leipzig was scheduled even slower and ended up 2 hours late.
Even the train I took from Geneva to Paris crawled for the first hour.
If we're talking Dutch high-speed rails, don't forget the Fyra!
It was a high-speed train plagued with so many issues it was returned to the manufacturer. To give an example: one day 85% of the trips had to be cancelled due to defective trains, with one of those which did run losing parts(!) at high speed; the train wasn't water-tight; the brakes were designed for 160km/h despite the train itself going 250 km/h; a train horn which couldn't handle snow; batteries in the passenger compartment catching fire; doors opening at full speed; and of course software issues. Mind you, this is just some of the issues - the full list is a lot longer.
They were returned to maker AnsaldoBreda, and now seem to be operating well enough in Italy and Greece.
Indonesia's HSR stations are so far out of Jakarta/Bandung, the trips there and back are almost certainly going to be the majority of your trip. People complained about Euston not linking up well, imagine if you'd have to first go to Milton Keynes.
The Netherlands are having to build track over bog. It can't sink, it can't vibrate too much. It's hard to get right.
The Chinese can build track through your living room if they want to. Plus, they have accidents and structural failures all the time too.
Note that Indonesia's high speed rail is being built by China, so it is more accurate to remind everyone that this is China's century. On the other hand, for the sake of balance it is also important to remember that the grass is always greener on the other side, and in particular the famous saying about fascists (more accurately Mussolini) "they made the trains run on time."
They didn’t make the trains run on time they just said they had made them run on time and they controlled the media so it was impossible to know otherwise.
The first one was about Dutch high speed trains having to reduce speed to 80kph because the construction company fucked up the bridge construction. The second article was about the new high speed train in Indonesia.
Every once in a while you're reminded that this is Asia's century.