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I don’t find that contradictory at all. Although I don’t know much about Finland, it is very much plausible that it was much cheaper and faster to upgrade for 200 than to double the entire line (especially if the extra capacity is not - yet? - needed), and thus still achieve competitive journey...

Very possible; I was actually yearning for Swiss-style windows in that trip. I also find that dense airline-style seating generally does not give good views, bays are much better.

Having just had a look at some interior pictures… my bad. I can’t for the life of me remember why my recollection of my WHL trip is „beautiful, but terrible views out of the window“.

Not sure that’s true. There are good and bad trains everywhere, and you do have a rather restricted loading gauge to deal with…

When I had to do military service back in the mid-1990s, I took the train every week over the fabulous Semmering line. After a couple of months, I hated it, especially knowing that if I had had a car, I would have saved almost an hour each way. I can’t wait for the Semmering tunnel to open and...

Really depends what timetable you want to run eastwards of Leeds. What is a realistic scenario? 6 fast NPR trains to York? 2 fast to Hull? And 2 stoppers each to York and Selby? 12 trains an hour plus those going to Neville Hill should be easy on two tracks; even a couple more, for instance one...

Since the Swiss that use these trains use them very often and know the countryside, most of them probably won’t care. And they don’t run their railway for tourists, but for themselves. With the exception of some lines and trains of course, but those do have large windows. Those „long-distance“...

Everytime I read about the justification of the French (and Spanish) for certain investments that are „urgently needed because we have run out of capacity“, I have to ask myself: Have you guys forgotten how to run trains or are you just desperate to support your building industry? Shouldn’t you...

I would assume the loading gauge does not change much anyway anymore, because train builders build what can run in most places and the IC2 sets were meant to run to Zurich. There might be more route restrictions though.

Probably worth mentioning that double-deck stock is almost always outside UIC gauge and usually gauge-restricted, not able to run on many routes. Also that the Swiss loading gauge is more restricted than the German one.

I misunderstood then, thanks. But I agree with you, there is no reduced capacity. A Stadler KISS has less seats. OTOH, once you are on the upper deck, much easier to move around and also to have a trolley circulating (though I am not sure that SBB still does that). They also have a much-more...

That’s not true. An IC2000 2nd class coach has 126 seats, so about 50% more than a comparable single-deck coach. That is extremely worthwhile when, as is the case in Switzerland, train-length is maxed out and capacity not enough. I understand that you don’t like them, but there really is no...

Same here. I consider Ouigo a joke and the style of operation of TGV services counterproductive on some classic lines: for instance, between Rennes and Brest or Bordeaux and Hendaye, TGVs and TER alternate, but one is compulsory reservation, the other is not, and they have non-compatible...

Thanks. That can happen anywhere I suppose. The reason I asked is that I was on one of those EMU a couple of weeks ago and it had a technical fault, which led to 30 minutes delay. It was clear that the Swiss are not used to it…

I am sure it is partly down to the Klimaticket. I suspect the strong desire to travel after so many restrictions also plays an important part.

Are you on a (ex-)Bombardier DD EMU or on an IC2000 (ie) loco-hauled DD set? Unfortunately, the former have a reputation for unreliability (like many other Bombardier products) which is a particular problem in Switzerland as nobody there is used to unreliable trains…

I just stumbled upon numbers for Austria for the current year 2022 - regional traffic: 10% less than 2019 - long-distance traffic: 15% *more* than 2019. If you have numbers from other European countries available, it would make for interesting comparisons.

Swiss connections are mostly very tight and at many major stations, if you are not used to navigate them, you can get easily caught out, especially if you travel with luggage. Lucerne and a couple of other places are exceptions because the infrastructure reaching them is not quite up to...

That‘s how subjective the topic is. Regarding seating and general atmosphere, I much prefer the ICE. If it weren’t for the perennial toilet problems on the ICE-T… (which I use frequently). Apart from that, what’s good in Austria? - Continuously improving timetables with increasingly good...

That’s something that always strikes me in France too. They invest billions in HSL and then literally creep around for long distances approaching most of their stations, losing quite some time through this.