A new high-speed train service linking Paris and Berlin was launched on Monday ā just in time for the Christmas travel season. Joint operators SNCF and Deutsche Bahn say they hope passengers will see it as a āgreenerā alternative to flying.
The journey is still 8 hours, which wonāt compete with air travel except for those motivated by other criteria such as sustainability or a fondness for railways. Build a Shinkansen-class line joining the two cities and you could halve that time, making taking the train a lot more compelling to the average person.
Also, air travel is going to have a price advantage as long as jet fuel is tax free. This policy, instituted after WW2 to nurture the then new aviation sector, has long outlived its usefulness and should be scrapped, with tax advantages going to more sustainable transport if anything. Though in practice it is hard changing any policy, however absurd, that powerful incumbents benefit from.
Yep, 150km/h on average is not that great. Especially considering the average in the part of the route in France (tbf, without a stop) is around 280km/h. Leaving an average of 130km/h through Germany.
But still nice that there are long-distance direct connections, as changing can be a major pain, especially with DBā¦
Sure itās a bit longer than air travel - but not as much as it sounds at first glance. People forget to include the time you have to spend in each airport, not to mention time getting to and from the airports whereas the train stations are both much closer to the city centers. Also not dealing with the hassles of air travel like baggies of toiletries and security checks is worth a lot to me.
Iād take 30min between CDG and Paris over 1h of DB just stopped in the middle of the tracks without explanation
Itāll be on time until it reaches the German border
Lmaoā¦ enter Deutsche Bahn. You will never arrive on time. If you arrive at all.
Great news. I have done the previous 10-hour version of this route several times. 8 hours is still far too slow and itās due to Germanyās lack of high-speed infrastructure. Still, there are plenty of conscientious types in both France and Germany who will be ready to make the sacrifice. Personally I hate sleeper trains but have no problem sitting in comfort for a whole day so I would definitely use this service.
Itās easy to forget that in terms of oneās personal carbon footprint, flying is an absolute disaster. Basically for any distance: the exponentiality of wind resistance means that going really fast will always be extremely inefficient. This is why I find Americaās situation sad. You guys have so few alternatives, yet every time you hop on a plane you are basically blowing your carbon quota for the whole year. Time to step up the fight for proper rail investment.
It shouldnāt be legal to fly from Berlin to Paris.
France has already made short national flights illegal. Once we have high speed rail alternatives, the flights should be forced to stop
