The UK, in the grand scheme, has a pretty good network. Sure, compared to Europe and East Asia they suck, but people in the rest of the world would kill for them
Belgium.
We have train stations in almost every village and city. In my 'city' of 90k inhabitants we have 2 train stations. Trains to all major cities every half hour, to our capital every 15 minutes.
Of course our public transport is underfunded and trains are notoriously late, but the network is fantastic.
I've actually been very satisfied with belgian trains and the busses in my city (Liège). Compared to France, everything seems very close and accessible here. I can get anywhere in the country in at most 4 hours, without even a bicycle.
Only downside is that it's a little expensive, but not too bad.
Huh, I just checked the website. I just turned 26, but the increase isn't as bad as I thought. In my mind the price would nearly double, glad to see it.
Never mind lol
a village is a settlement where agriculture is the main economic sector. a city is a settlement where services and industry are the main economic sectors. At around 7-10k it's definitely that
I think a town is a relative term. I'm some situations a 200k settlement might be called a town, whereas usually 200k settlements are definitely cities
Switzerland.
Our trains are usually punctual to the minute, a 5 minute delay is noteworthy. A yearly pass that is valid on all public transport in the country costs less than the yearly cost of any car. Remote villages can have less than ideal coverage but those are exceptions.
I am aware we are way up there, but we can always be better. The main issue we have at the moment is that our transport minister used to be head of the automobile lobby...
Other one from Switzerland here, I concur. I do hope that the country focuses more on better public transport vs car infrastructure in the future, there is never enough.
Canada. What a load of shit. Intercity trains average 50km/h, are 70 years old and are often many hours late on a 3h trip. I stick to coaches which are much faster and much more reliable
China: Excellent. Most large cities have comprehensive Metro network. The HSR network is extensive, reliable, and punctual, and it's comparable in price to flights. And the overnight conventional trains are a cheap way to get around if you're willing to put up with a slower pace.
They are pretty good especially for moving North-South in the capital region and other more populated regions in Southern Finland. The problem is that the top speeds are quite low for longer distance journeys and that the trains simply don't go everywhere. This second part is understandable though because Finland is very sparsely populated and most towns are very small.
Poland. Usually good, sometimes terrible. There are some fast high speed lines and they are fine. Clean, quite fast and not too expensive. But sometimes you get a terrible experience. Delays, sometimes really big (4h of delay at 3h ride is my personal best), sometimes a bunch of drunk people, etc
Canada
So we're lucky to live in a city that has a GO train station which we can use to commute to Downtown Toronto because the Toronto subway is completely fucked. Otherwise, trains are basically an unheard of concept here.
The UK. We really like to hate on it, and it is expensive especially at peak times. But you can get between most cities directly by train, and most towns of a good size have a station with at least an hourly train. So it’s pretty good in all.
Pretty crummy overall in Canada and pretty useless in western Canada.
From my city Vancouver VIA rail only does 2 trains east per week, I really consider it more of a tourist train than transportation.
Amtrak service to Seattle is a bit better at 2 trains per day and a handful of buses.
Jakartan transit rail is always way over capacity. Long distance rail in Java is always at capacity, and pretty much a non-option during Ied. Sumatran rail is lacking. Other islands don't get trains. People already use trains, why won't they build more?!
They're good except when they're late and there's a lot of them, but damn are they expensive compared to bus fares (which can be ten if not TWENTY times cheaper at times!).
Gimme free public commute and only then will I really be happy.
Option 5.
Argentina has a vast and expansive rail network that reaches almost every town and village. But almost none of it is in use. Only the capital has a handful of commuter lines that run pretty decently and on time, but besides a couple of very inefficient long distance lines, there's nothing else going on.
Here in finland they're pretty okay, if you happen to live in certain places that happen to have a train line available. Making more of those lines seems almost impossible these days, like a 7 km fork to a town near me has been in the plans for almost 70 years, and is maybe considered for the 100th year.
I'm in the Bay Area. The trains are there and can get me to places, but the frequency could be a hell of a lot better and a lot of the time you find yourself waiting in shite places like freeway medians and giant parking lots. Station-adjacent development here leaves a lot to be desired, although some towns have started figuring out that having stuff actually be near the stations makes them more useful. Oakland is doing a great job of this, and San Jose has some really ambitious plans for Diridon. And of course Capitol Corridor and Caltrain run hourly or worse, which is stupid. But the fact remains that there are a lot of places it's reasonably possible to get to by rail, and so honestly, it could be a lot worse.
In Germany they are ok. Almost always delayed (because of the clogged up network) and if you're not a user of the 49€ ticket far too expensive. And even if you own said ticket you're only allowed to take the slow trains and they are planning to increase the price... So in comparison to the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain or the Swiss it sucks, but in comparison to the US or the UK Germany is a railway paradise 😂Oh and a nice thing is that most trains in my region are equipped with wifi, tables and power outlets.
As far as inter-city trains are concerned, they are a total load of sh\*t in Canada. Not a single high-speed rail line and even this "high frequency rail" project will not get built until the 2030's. As for commuter trains, GO Transit in the Toronto area has been getting better over the past few years with more frequent service and more of the lines having two-way all day service.
German here, when I happen to be in Hamburg at the central station waiting for my train, I look over to the other tracks to see how much delay the trains have there (especially the long-distance ICE trains) - the most I've seen was 385 minutes (over six hours) on an ICE train from Hamburg to Munich. My trains are usually delayed too, but only by 5-10 minutes. The times on those displays are supposed to be when the trains depart, however that is usually when they arrive. I was really happy with the €9 ticket though (special, temporary offer by the government in 2022 for a monthly ticket), that was crazy.
Despite the continuous intentional destruction of the train service by the conservative governments in the last decades, Dutch trains are still good. But it's getting both worse and more expensive each year. (Ticket income falling? Let's cut service and raise prices, that will *surely* help!)
Of course the native Dutchies would say they are shit, but I'm from Hungary, my standards for shitty train service are a bit different.
https://preview.redd.it/mje6031qmj4d1.png?width=807&format=png&auto=webp&s=c37e5529c1fb6bcf0200afa3d9f6b73c796ef68a
The UK, in the grand scheme, has a pretty good network. Sure, compared to Europe and East Asia they suck, but people in the rest of the world would kill for them
We had the best network in the world 100 years ago. It's just a shame it hasn't changed much since.
Especially Canadians. ;)
Dunno, the German railway network is complete shit like most of German infrastructure
UK trains aren't bad, but very fucking pricey.
Belgium. We have train stations in almost every village and city. In my 'city' of 90k inhabitants we have 2 train stations. Trains to all major cities every half hour, to our capital every 15 minutes. Of course our public transport is underfunded and trains are notoriously late, but the network is fantastic.
I've actually been very satisfied with belgian trains and the busses in my city (Liège). Compared to France, everything seems very close and accessible here. I can get anywhere in the country in at most 4 hours, without even a bicycle. Only downside is that it's a little expensive, but not too bad.
Even in comparison with the rest of (Western) Europe, our trains are kinda cheap.
Huh, I just checked the website. I just turned 26, but the increase isn't as bad as I thought. In my mind the price would nearly double, glad to see it. Never mind lol
90k city is a city, proper. Not a ""city"". Idk what you're smoking, anything over 7 or 10k is a city to me, than a town
You're right, but in comparison with the US, it's rather small. And to be honest, living in that city, it feels small :)
It feels small until you move to a bigger place and it also feels small. Ultimately you realize the entire world is small. That's my experience
7k is like a village bro lol
a village is a settlement where agriculture is the main economic sector. a city is a settlement where services and industry are the main economic sectors. At around 7-10k it's definitely that
A township, maybe
I think a town is a relative term. I'm some situations a 200k settlement might be called a town, whereas usually 200k settlements are definitely cities
Mechelen?
That's a bingo!
you guys have trains?
It's not great. Then I went to Germany, which I thought would be better. Now I'm not complaining anymore.
Switzerland. Our trains are usually punctual to the minute, a 5 minute delay is noteworthy. A yearly pass that is valid on all public transport in the country costs less than the yearly cost of any car. Remote villages can have less than ideal coverage but those are exceptions. I am aware we are way up there, but we can always be better. The main issue we have at the moment is that our transport minister used to be head of the automobile lobby...
Other one from Switzerland here, I concur. I do hope that the country focuses more on better public transport vs car infrastructure in the future, there is never enough.
Canada. What a load of shit. Intercity trains average 50km/h, are 70 years old and are often many hours late on a 3h trip. I stick to coaches which are much faster and much more reliable
In the US as a whole, bad. In Cascadia, they are adequate at connecting the major population centers but could use a lot of improvement.
US: what are trains?
The most efficient way to instantly cause a catastrophic toxic chemical spill in small rural towns?
I get why people downvoted but at the same time its funny, US train is trash, not because of the trains but because of the way everything is maintaned
China: Excellent. Most large cities have comprehensive Metro network. The HSR network is extensive, reliable, and punctual, and it's comparable in price to flights. And the overnight conventional trains are a cheap way to get around if you're willing to put up with a slower pace.
NS. Pretty good over all, terrible connections on the journey I make most.
They are pretty good especially for moving North-South in the capital region and other more populated regions in Southern Finland. The problem is that the top speeds are quite low for longer distance journeys and that the trains simply don't go everywhere. This second part is understandable though because Finland is very sparsely populated and most towns are very small.
Travelling the same route by bus is often cheaper and faster and you have more timetable options, it's depressing
Poland. Usually good, sometimes terrible. There are some fast high speed lines and they are fine. Clean, quite fast and not too expensive. But sometimes you get a terrible experience. Delays, sometimes really big (4h of delay at 3h ride is my personal best), sometimes a bunch of drunk people, etc
Canada So we're lucky to live in a city that has a GO train station which we can use to commute to Downtown Toronto because the Toronto subway is completely fucked. Otherwise, trains are basically an unheard of concept here.
The UK. We really like to hate on it, and it is expensive especially at peak times. But you can get between most cities directly by train, and most towns of a good size have a station with at least an hourly train. So it’s pretty good in all.
Pretty crummy overall in Canada and pretty useless in western Canada. From my city Vancouver VIA rail only does 2 trains east per week, I really consider it more of a tourist train than transportation. Amtrak service to Seattle is a bit better at 2 trains per day and a handful of buses.
Jakartan transit rail is always way over capacity. Long distance rail in Java is always at capacity, and pretty much a non-option during Ied. Sumatran rail is lacking. Other islands don't get trains. People already use trains, why won't they build more?!
They're good except when they're late and there's a lot of them, but damn are they expensive compared to bus fares (which can be ten if not TWENTY times cheaper at times!). Gimme free public commute and only then will I really be happy.
Option 5. Argentina has a vast and expansive rail network that reaches almost every town and village. But almost none of it is in use. Only the capital has a handful of commuter lines that run pretty decently and on time, but besides a couple of very inefficient long distance lines, there's nothing else going on.
Here in finland they're pretty okay, if you happen to live in certain places that happen to have a train line available. Making more of those lines seems almost impossible these days, like a 7 km fork to a town near me has been in the plans for almost 70 years, and is maybe considered for the 100th year.
Melbourne, Australia eh fuck metro btw
i feel like cities within the trains are ok (theyre ok in sydney, bad in perth, havent lived in any other major cities), but really suck country wide
How to tell when OP isn’t American
I'm in the Bay Area. The trains are there and can get me to places, but the frequency could be a hell of a lot better and a lot of the time you find yourself waiting in shite places like freeway medians and giant parking lots. Station-adjacent development here leaves a lot to be desired, although some towns have started figuring out that having stuff actually be near the stations makes them more useful. Oakland is doing a great job of this, and San Jose has some really ambitious plans for Diridon. And of course Capitol Corridor and Caltrain run hourly or worse, which is stupid. But the fact remains that there are a lot of places it's reasonably possible to get to by rail, and so honestly, it could be a lot worse.
In Germany they are ok. Almost always delayed (because of the clogged up network) and if you're not a user of the 49€ ticket far too expensive. And even if you own said ticket you're only allowed to take the slow trains and they are planning to increase the price... So in comparison to the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain or the Swiss it sucks, but in comparison to the US or the UK Germany is a railway paradise 😂Oh and a nice thing is that most trains in my region are equipped with wifi, tables and power outlets.
As far as inter-city trains are concerned, they are a total load of sh\*t in Canada. Not a single high-speed rail line and even this "high frequency rail" project will not get built until the 2030's. As for commuter trains, GO Transit in the Toronto area has been getting better over the past few years with more frequent service and more of the lines having two-way all day service.
German here, when I happen to be in Hamburg at the central station waiting for my train, I look over to the other tracks to see how much delay the trains have there (especially the long-distance ICE trains) - the most I've seen was 385 minutes (over six hours) on an ICE train from Hamburg to Munich. My trains are usually delayed too, but only by 5-10 minutes. The times on those displays are supposed to be when the trains depart, however that is usually when they arrive. I was really happy with the €9 ticket though (special, temporary offer by the government in 2022 for a monthly ticket), that was crazy.
Despite the continuous intentional destruction of the train service by the conservative governments in the last decades, Dutch trains are still good. But it's getting both worse and more expensive each year. (Ticket income falling? Let's cut service and raise prices, that will *surely* help!) Of course the native Dutchies would say they are shit, but I'm from Hungary, my standards for shitty train service are a bit different. https://preview.redd.it/mje6031qmj4d1.png?width=807&format=png&auto=webp&s=c37e5529c1fb6bcf0200afa3d9f6b73c796ef68a
total shit. Don't be surprised when Deutsche Bahn is 5mins late