If we’re charitable and assume he means from Berlin to Paris, then he’s got a point. That’s a pretty long journey better done by plane, sadly. People do take the train, but usually not for practical reasons.
It’s just nicer. You get more room, better view, fresher air, and quicker access to any luggage. And nobody fusses if you brought a snack that doesn’t smell.
Also, who’s out here using the rest of their travel day to the fullest? Do airport people really drop their luggage at the hotel and make the most of that extra couple hours they maybe saved? I’m exhausted after airports.
Paris - Berlin is 1h50min by plane and the direct train takes 8h17min using the direct train. For security checks you can add about 3h to the flight and a bit more as the train stations are probably close to the destination.
The main problem is a lack of hsr track in Germany. If that would be fixed, then trains would be faster then planes in practical terms. Paris - Marseille happens to be only a bit shorter and it is much faster in a train.
Yup, Germany needs better highspeed railways. It only takes 1h45 from Paris to Strasbourg which is roughly halfway between Paris and Berlin. So the whole trip could potentially be under 4h downtown to downtown.
Berlin to Munich is pretty fast. The issue with Berlin-Paris is that you have to go through NRW, which is where German trains go to get slow and delayed.
The direct route would be through NRW, but the one this train takes is going further south via Erfurt-Frankfurt-Strasbourg. Strasbourg has a proper hsr on the French site, which helps a lot. It technically would be faster to go via Cologne and Brussels, but that would cause a lot of problems.
For the current route the big missing section is between Mannheim-Frankfurt-Erfurt. There are plans for it, which are being pushed right now.
If we’re charitable and assume he means from Berlin to Paris, then he’s got a point. That’s a pretty long journey better done by plane, sadly. People do take the train, but usually not for practical reasons.
It’s just nicer. You get more room, better view, fresher air, and quicker access to any luggage. And nobody fusses if you brought a snack that doesn’t smell.
Also, who’s out here using the rest of their travel day to the fullest? Do airport people really drop their luggage at the hotel and make the most of that extra couple hours they maybe saved? I’m exhausted after airports.
Paris - Berlin is 1h50min by plane and the direct train takes 8h17min using the direct train. For security checks you can add about 3h to the flight and a bit more as the train stations are probably close to the destination.
The main problem is a lack of hsr track in Germany. If that would be fixed, then trains would be faster then planes in practical terms. Paris - Marseille happens to be only a bit shorter and it is much faster in a train.
Yup, Germany needs better highspeed railways. It only takes 1h45 from Paris to Strasbourg which is roughly halfway between Paris and Berlin. So the whole trip could potentially be under 4h downtown to downtown.
Berlin to Munich is pretty fast. The issue with Berlin-Paris is that you have to go through NRW, which is where German trains go to get slow and delayed.
The direct route would be through NRW, but the one this train takes is going further south via Erfurt-Frankfurt-Strasbourg. Strasbourg has a proper hsr on the French site, which helps a lot. It technically would be faster to go via Cologne and Brussels, but that would cause a lot of problems.
For the current route the big missing section is between Mannheim-Frankfurt-Erfurt. There are plans for it, which are being pushed right now.
Makes sense. I was thinking of the old non-direct route.
I think I’d probably still pick the train in that case.