Recently took some of these in Germany, was a pretty pleasant experience!
It was a bit odd how the ticket prices seem to fluctuate a lot over there based on timing (like 20 EUR if you buy half a week ahead of time, closer to 40 EUR nearer to travel date, at least in my case) but I much preferred taking the train over flying.
hummuscience · 42s ago
For every train, there is a fixed number of tickets per price category. So sometimes, you can still find cheap tickets ("super sparpreis") a day before because thag specific train didn't have many bookings:)
fjfaase · 40m ago
I fear that the general public in Germany will not be praising this achievement. The once efficient and punctional trains in Germany have deteriorated severely in the past years due to lots of delayed maintenance causing lots of delays and even regular cancelations of trains. Also the road infrastructure is suffering from delayed maintenance.
attendant3446 · 21m ago
That's exactly it, it's not the new top speed they need, they lack efficiency. And it's not just Deutschebahn. For example BVG, who runs busses and U-bahn in Berlin is even less reliable.
blobbers · 12m ago
Interesting; America seems to be suffering the same fate. It takes municipalities years to fix highways. The main highway running through Silicon Valley, 101, has been under construction for more than a decade and is in dire need of improvement.
It seems the network of roads built in the 40s, 50s and 60s just can no longer be done efficiently.
KingOfCoders · 57m ago
Amdahl's law in effect - which is the reason trains in Germany top out at 300 and most at 250.
simonebrunozzi · 10m ago
Re-read it, as I didn't recall it properly: [0]
"the overall performance improvement gained by optimizing a single part of a system is limited by the fraction of time that the improved part is actually used"
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intercity_Express
It was a bit odd how the ticket prices seem to fluctuate a lot over there based on timing (like 20 EUR if you buy half a week ahead of time, closer to 40 EUR nearer to travel date, at least in my case) but I much preferred taking the train over flying.
It seems the network of roads built in the 40s, 50s and 60s just can no longer be done efficiently.
"the overall performance improvement gained by optimizing a single part of a system is limited by the fraction of time that the improved part is actually used"
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amdahl%27s_law