Today I’m trying the fastest Berlin - Nuits-sous-Ravières you can do, changing only in Strasbourg and Dijon
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@jon I would posit that the way you do this is to just allow any route, then accept that you can minimise the disruption this causes by holding trains when needed for connections and/or having a Frankreichtakt.
Yes, I know this would involve SNCF. Stop laughing up the back.
@SarahAS2 Right. Exactly.
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Thinking further about this re-routing issue: my favoured re-routing if I need it (via Paris) is actually what would make most sense for SNCF as well (no trying to find space for me on another TGV)
But the rule that applies here - AJC - states precisely the opposite
I wonder how you could better allow “any suitable route” rather than same route?
@jon I guess DB's "Zugbindung aufgehoben" doesn't work well with mandatory reservation.
For interrailers, the easy but ugly solution would be to book all the way to Paris "just in case". But that's potentially an empty seat noone else can use. -
Just had to tell off an Italian guy for playing a video full volume on his mobile in the Ruhebereich (Quiet Carriage)
With 5 hours on this train it’s important to get the norms right at the start
@jon Omg marry me
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Also on the Siemens builds good trains point
Desiro ML for SNCB is horrid - because SNCB ordered a terrible interior. Desiro ML for ÖBB is fine
Similarly a DB ICE 407 has a nicer interior but same engineering as a Eurostar e320
@jon in Zürich, I suspect the average passenger cannot distinguish the Desiro trains from the KISS ones.
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@ajinkyapdahale Hmm, also tricky. I then leave a seat empty Paris-Strasbourg if the train does run on time! So I’m reluctant to do that. But there’s nothing to stop me doing that on Interrail indeed - Berlin-Strasbourg and Berlin-Paris seat reservations are the same price.
@jon @ajinkyapdahale That's the eternal problem with mandatory reservations. Once passengers have been stranded once they'll just book extra spots as an insurance if the fee is low, which leads to inefficient occupancy and more passengers blocked from traveling...
Similar situations arise with bicycle reservations, exacerbated by having only a handful of bicycle spots on long-distance trains. Btw, I still need to finish and publish my blog post comparing bicycle reservation systems in Europe.
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@ajinkyapdahale €19 for Berlin-Strasbourg and €10 for Strasbourg-Dijon. But the cheapest regular ticket I could find for today was c. €150, so Interrail made sense
Passzuschlag is a special search on DB’s website
@jon magically, now it's showing the "seats only" reservation, but with a significantly less 5.50€ price. Is this different than the reservation with the global pass?
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Also on the Siemens builds good trains point
Desiro ML for SNCB is horrid - because SNCB ordered a terrible interior. Desiro ML for ÖBB is fine
Similarly a DB ICE 407 has a nicer interior but same engineering as a Eurostar e320
@jon As ÖBB Desiro ML have many wall-windowed seats I hate them as much as I do the Belgian ones.
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Also on the Siemens builds good trains point
Desiro ML for SNCB is horrid - because SNCB ordered a terrible interior. Desiro ML for ÖBB is fine
Similarly a DB ICE 407 has a nicer interior but same engineering as a Eurostar e320
@jon the bwegt bw battery Mireoa have seats matching the windows and lots of legspace. The mainline not
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Thinking further about this re-routing issue: my favoured re-routing if I need it (via Paris) is actually what would make most sense for SNCF as well (no trying to find space for me on another TGV)
But the rule that applies here - AJC - states precisely the opposite
I wonder how you could better allow “any suitable route” rather than same route?
@jon somebody might have booked your seat from Strasbourg though
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@jon somebody might have booked your seat from Strasbourg though
@julienw Yes, so I go sit in the restaurant.
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@smveerman ah. The interior is crap. But that’s SNCB’s fault not Siemens’s fault. Desiro ML in Austria is fine.
@jon @smveerman The bit behind the cab with the single long window instead of two shorter ones is Siemens’ fault.
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@jon @smveerman The bit behind the cab with the single long window instead of two shorter ones is Siemens’ fault.
@partim @smveerman You are complaining at a high level
@wrzlbrnft tooI can live with "smooth ride" and "doors that don't clank and rattle incessantly". Maybe living in France has lowered my standards?
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Just had to tell off an Italian guy for playing a video full volume on his mobile in the Ruhebereich (Quiet Carriage)
With 5 hours on this train it’s important to get the norms right at the start
@jon Yesterday I asked someone to stop using her phone inside the theatre. She was absolutely livid after the performance, said she was trying to get her dog fed and that I should have assumed she had something important to do. She never said why she couldn't have arranged that before, or during the interval though.
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@jon magically, now it's showing the "seats only" reservation, but with a significantly less 5.50€ price. Is this different than the reservation with the global pass?
@ajinkyapdahale You need to use this search: https://int.bahn.de/en/buchung/start?KL=2&ET=PASSZUSCHLAG
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@partim @smveerman You are complaining at a high level
@wrzlbrnft tooI can live with "smooth ride" and "doors that don't clank and rattle incessantly". Maybe living in France has lowered my standards?
@jon @partim @wrzlbrnft every train that doesn’t have the so called zwenkzwaaideuren has floppy doors. Truly a lost form of technology.
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Also on the Siemens builds good trains point
Desiro ML for SNCB is horrid - because SNCB ordered a terrible interior. Desiro ML for ÖBB is fine
Similarly a DB ICE 407 has a nicer interior but same engineering as a Eurostar e320
@jon as someone with a manufacturers POV, I think this is very important to understand.
How well the train operates (reliability, cost etc.) depends mostly on the technical basis that the manufacturer has as well as the collaboration with the custumer, to match their specific operational needs.
But with most things that shape the passenger experience, the manufacturer must put in what the customer orders. Sure, you can and should make suggestions (e.g. layouting the seats to match the windows), but if you're in a competitive tender and don't get awarded any points for it, there is only so much you can justify.
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@jon as someone with a manufacturers POV, I think this is very important to understand.
How well the train operates (reliability, cost etc.) depends mostly on the technical basis that the manufacturer has as well as the collaboration with the custumer, to match their specific operational needs.
But with most things that shape the passenger experience, the manufacturer must put in what the customer orders. Sure, you can and should make suggestions (e.g. layouting the seats to match the windows), but if you're in a competitive tender and don't get awarded any points for it, there is only so much you can justify.
@timstrutzi Sure, I totally get that. And Stadler, in my conversations with them, basically said that too me - interiors is where the customer thinks they can cut.
But some aspects - like does the train have doors that close tightly and do not rattle, has sensibly designed toilets, has good suspension - are things a manufacturer can do well (or not), regardless of customer. And that's what matters here - Siemens does that stuff generally well in my experience (as a passenger).
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@jon as someone with a manufacturers POV, I think this is very important to understand.
How well the train operates (reliability, cost etc.) depends mostly on the technical basis that the manufacturer has as well as the collaboration with the custumer, to match their specific operational needs.
But with most things that shape the passenger experience, the manufacturer must put in what the customer orders. Sure, you can and should make suggestions (e.g. layouting the seats to match the windows), but if you're in a competitive tender and don't get awarded any points for it, there is only so much you can justify.
@timstrutzi Or - to put it practically - Siemens engineers would never allow their trains to have doors as bad as a Alstom (now CAF) Régiolis, or a ride as bumpy as a Bombardier AGC or those terrible EMUs CAF build for Media Distancia in Spain. Out of engineering pride if nothing else!
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@jon It's also being used on the Mittelrheinbahn Köln - Koblenz - Mainz, and that does attract quite a lot of passengers sitting in it for more than an hour.
@smveerman @jon On that line you are happy when you actually have a seat..
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@partim @smveerman You are complaining at a high level
@wrzlbrnft tooI can live with "smooth ride" and "doors that don't clank and rattle incessantly". Maybe living in France has lowered my standards?
@jon @smveerman @wrzlbrnft It is just kind of strange that they put so much care into the running gear and then up top are ’Whatever, good enough.’
