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I've come across a great web site devoted to rail travel around the world.
It features country-by-country fare and schedule info, exterior and interior photos of coaches and sleepers, and tons of useful information.
Apparently, it's possible to travel from London to Viet Nam entirely by train. So if the new schedule for the Pennsylvanian doesn't quite work for you anymore. . .
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Well, although I wouldn't mind seeing India, I wasn't inspired to tour India by train. It makes Caltrain look like luxury accomodations by comparison. I notice their coaches seat five abreast. Are Indian railcars wider than American cars, or are they just cramming more people into the same space?
------------------ Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth. -Mr. Toy
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hi Mr.Toy, Yes, Indian trains have wider gauge length=167mm. i dunno wat the standard gauge is.
Yes, American trains are far more luxurious than Indian trains, but luxury is not the norm in INDIA, many poor folks are too willing to reach their destinations travelling two whole nights & days at the door entrance(of course with their family of 4+), such is the desperation.
The problem is cost and the capacity of the huge populace to pay the requsite fares.
For example a daily popular train between the port city of chennai(Madras) to Delhi(2193 kms or 1370.625 miles) takes 33.5hrs and the fare is US$11 for ordinary non ac 3-tier sleeper, US$32 for aircon 3-tier sleeper, US$43 for ac 2 tier and an abnormally high US$135 for first class ac!.The route is a completely electrified double line. Hygiene in normal coaches is unheard of(Americans will be shocked).
posted
Thanks for posting the link, Dilly. I've got a business trip to Bucharest, Romania coming up next month. I'd been planning to fly both ways (via Frankfurt), but I'd like to see a bit of the country and I'm now thinking of doing Bucharest-Budapest-Vienna-Munich-Frankfurt on the return trip, and flying from there.
Posts: 614 | From: Merchantville, NJ. USA | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
Glad you've enjoyed the site, which is officially called "The Man In Seat 61." It's enough to make me want to get on a train and just. . . keep going.
I think it also shows that Amtrak falls in the "middle zone" when it comes to quality of service. On one hand, you've got some of the Western European trains, which really do put Amtrak to shame.
But in other parts of the world, their concept of "deluxe" makes an all-night ride in a sold-out Amtrak coach seem like a sinful luxury.
In America, I think there's far less difference between "first class" and coach than in many countries. I once traveled on an Egyptian sleeper train between Cairo and Aswan, and it was great -- like riding in a very well-preserved Heritage sleeper. But I also took a very short trip in their infamous Third Class, just to see what it was like.
As the guy who created the abovementioned web site explains, Egyptian Third Class, "is best left to the imagination." Since then, I've never once complained about Amtrak.
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Dilly, I met a man from Germany on the Coast Starlight last year. He had traveled much of the world and said Amtrak's Superliners were the most comfortable railcars he had ever been on. He was riding coach. ------------------ Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth. -Mr. Toy
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Interesting about the man from Germany. I have a different angle on it. I frequently travel to Europe and ride the trains. I by far, find the Deutschbahn ICE trains and Talgo NachtZugs superior to Amtrak comparable equipment, ride, comfort, space and speed.
Posts: 53 | From: Mahwah, NJ, USA | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
Comfort is in the eye of the beholder, so it seems.
I very recently went on a night Talgo sleeper service from Barcelona to Paris. It had to be one of the roughest journeys I've made by train (and that includes the Texas Eagle over much of its route!). It seems the French spend all their money on the LGVs (high speed lines), and the secondary routes are rather less well maintained.
As for coach comfort, I'd say Superliners do fare quite well in my opinion. I have yet to go on a train with quite so much legroom and reclining seats for a standard class of service.
Geoff M.
Posts: 2426 | From: Apple Valley, CA | Registered: Sep 2000
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As for coach comfort, I'd say Superliners do fare quite well in my opinion. I have yet to go on a train with quite so much legroom and reclining seats for a standard class of service.
The Superliner coach seating arrangement is pretty much identical to their streamlined single-level predecessors of the '40s and '50s. Legroom, foot and leg rests, etc. were all features of the streamliner era. The only difference in the Superliner seats is the fold down table on the seat back and the color of the upholstry.
------------------ Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth. -Mr. Toy
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When the lights, air conditioning, toilets, and other services are functioning well, I agree that the Superliners are as comfortable as the best European cars.
But don't forget. . . the Coast Starlight and Amtrak's other high-profile Western trains are the cream of the crop. They're in far better shape than many of the Eastern trains, which rely on a much more motley assortment of refurbished, semi-refurbished, and unrefurbished cars from various Amtrak and even pre-Amtrak eras.
Then again, rail travel isn't only about comfortable seats. If a train in Western Europe is scheduled to arrive at 12:07, it'll arrive at 12:07 on the nose, almost without exception.
But that's nothing that a few zillion dollars can't fix for those of us who ride Amtrak. With a little luck, maybe the new guy at Amtrak will get the chance to work a few miracles.
posted
Here's another good resource for international rail travelers, or anyone who's simply curious. Has links to the official sites of many railroads, etc.
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