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  • 182 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
Cake day: July 9th, 2023
  • yA3xAKQMbq@lemm.eetoFuck Cars@lemmy.world•Amsterdam-Berlin train is 30 minutes faster: no more locomotive change | RailTech.comEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    Well, it’s located in a basin and has lots of mountainous areas north, south, and west, so it’s kind of expensive building rails through there. It’s annoying as fuck to get there by car as well. I used to drive that a lot, Cologne – Erfurt, sucks big time.

    I guess you could get a route via Kassel and Hamm. I mean, I’m all for it, but I don’t think that’s economically feasible for DB.

    Improving the route Hannover – Leipzig would make sense, especially if they could finally upgrade the route Dresden – Prague (one of the most important cargo routes).

    Hannover is just lucky. It sits on a giant plain right in the middle of the two axes Hamburg – „the South“, and Berlin – Rhein-Ruhr.

  • yA3xAKQMbq@lemm.eetoFuck Cars@lemmy.world•America has lost its f*****g mind.English
    1·
    11 months ago

    Hopefully, this kind of shenanigan should sound dangerously familiar.

    Ah, no worries, Europe is right behind you! The UK has completely fallen off the cliff and is a full blown kleptocracy, Hungary already has an openly fascist Government, and in Germany the Nazi party is currently clocking in at 20%+ in opinion polls, which would make them the 2nd strongest party in the next election. Yay! 🥳

  • yA3xAKQMbq@lemm.eetoFuck Cars@lemmy.world•Are trams that good (genuine question)?English
    2·
    11 months ago

    Yeah, I know Birmingham, I just went with the joke, sorry. Maybe should have added some air quotes.

    Berlin is only „big“ because it gobbled up a lot of area in the past. Outside the central districts it‘s often just suburbs or even literal villages. and the public transport becomes… limited… 😬

    I guess a more honest comparison would be the West Midlands, roughly the same size, population close to 4 million (Berlin) vs 3 million (West Midlands).

    Still though, Berlin is a very interesting example not just with regards to public transport, but also with regards to housing, street lighting, etc. Really impressive what a mere ~40y of differences in government policies can accomplish.

  • yA3xAKQMbq@lemm.eetoFuck Cars@lemmy.world•Are trams that good (genuine question)?English
    2·
    11 months ago

    in Marseille, trams have to frequently compete with pedestrians and bicycles that keep walking/riding on the tram line

    Ugh, that is definitely annoying and dangerous. I used to live in Erfurt, Germany for a while. Quaint medieval old-town, huge cathedral, very popular with tourists, some major attraction happening roughly every weekend.

    So they have that really narrow alley running from the cathedral to the central square where all the tourists and citizens are squeezing through, and yeah, lo and behold, they run a tram through it as well… 🤪

    I gotta assume the majority of Germany’s ~30 tram deaths per year are drunken tourists in Erfurt.

  • yA3xAKQMbq@lemm.eetoFuck Cars@lemmy.world•Are trams that good (genuine question)?English
    3·
    11 months ago

    There’s a direct comparison here: Birmingham is a small city

    If you want to have a large city comparison, look at Berlin.

    Berlin was divided after WW2 until 1989. West-Berlin, like most of West-Germany, removed all of their trams and replaced them for individual car use and buses. East-Berlin largely kept their trams.

    The difference between trams and buses are huge. The „schedule“ of the major West-Berlin bus routes have become a running joke among Berliners: „You’ll wait and wait and suddenly there’s a herd of them!“. It’s bad. Really bad.

    Trams are the reason I live in East-Berlin and would never, ever move to West-Berlin.