bovine3dom.bsky.social
Tridactyl developer
predominantly on @bovine3dom.masto.ai.ap.brid.gy / https://masto.ai/@bovine3dom
39 posts
63 followers
266 following
Regular Contributor
Active Commenter
comment in response to
post
Don't take this graph too seriously because I haven't triple checked my maths but as far as I know the UK is kind of in the middle of the pack when it comes to railway station proximity to population in Europe
proximity to railways might get a different result 🤔
masto.ai/@bovine3dom/...
comment in response to
post
I was looking at this topic a few days ago. I don't trust the data 100% but in my calculations France has among the worst access to railway stations of the countries I looked at, second only to Ireland. (Not considering the quality of the service from those stations)
masto.ai/@bovine3dom/...
comment in response to
post
I almost told you about this yesterday when you said you wanted it to become like a Swiss railway. In terms of rolling stock it is on its way there :)
It already has integrated tickets with the local bus/tram network in Nice
comment in response to
post
If only there were trains they could use...
given that airlines solve a much harder version of the same problem, I have very little sympathy for the SNCF here
comment in response to
post
yeah, my hunch is that France runs its railway very expensively per passenger-km because it makes extremely poor use of its physical and human capital. It seems like no-one has told the SNCF that running extra services is 1) basically free compared to capex and 2) massively increases usefulness
comment in response to
post
by the way, if you reply to an @ap.brid.gy account without following @ap.brid.gy to opt in to the bridge, your reply won't cross over to Mastodon and probably won't be seen
I only saw your reply by chance :)
comment in response to
post
I'm pretty sure I've read similar numbers in Cour des comptes reports; 25% occupancy and 75-80% subsidy are what I have in my head
Where are you getting your numbers from?
I remember reading elsewhere that German local railways are run at less than half the cost of French ones
comment in response to
post
> La grande vitesse [...] dégage moins de CO2 (0,6 kg vs 4,9) [que les TER]
I find that extremely hard to believe, presumably they're using a national figure that includes diesel trains?
comment in response to
post
I hope not! It looks like about 40,000 people live along that line. They deserve a proper railway.
It's a short enough route that it looks perfect for a battery powered RS Zero.
comment in response to
post
you mean the "Stadler RS 0% Made in France"
they want a modern Micheline. If they invent a new category of train that no other country is bonkers enough to build, they can be sure a French manufacturer will win the contract
comment in response to
post
Geography matters massively too. Po valley in Italy extremely polluted because Alps and Apennines hold it in. UK gets off relatively scot-free because pollution gets blown away
In France, some of the most polluted places are sparsely populated valleys where houses are heated by burning wood
2/2
comment in response to
post
EVs emit ~50% fewer particulates than ICEs so 40% EV gives you a 20% reduction in particulates. Nice to have but not a panacea
People often confuse CO2 emissions with local air quality. E.g. London Underground, ~zero CO2 emissions but most polluted place in city due to brakes etc.
1/2
comment in response to
post
> Nous cherchons à faire un objet de petite capacité car nous estimons qu’il vaut mieux faire rouler plus d’engins avec plus de fréquence que des gros toujours vides
there's a kernel of sanity there if you look hard enough
but why a large train has to run infrequently i haven't quite understood
comment in response to
post
Yeah, I think people who say that UK trains are expensive are usually comparing extremely flexible tickets in the UK with inflexible tickets in France. The anytime return fare in the UK lets you travel out over five days breaking your journey as often as you like and return over thirty.
comment in response to
post
10% duty + ~7% sales tax smells quite a lot like VAT with a special inefficient carve out for some stuff produced in North America
Which is bonkers. But arguably less so than UK debates about which pets are edible
comment in response to
post
Villefranche-sur-Mer, just outside Nice, although there are quite a few steps. Pietrarsa outside Naples is a few metres further from the beach, but I think it gets some dispensation because the added distance is taken up by a beachfront railway museum
comment in response to
post
if you don't mind an overnight journey London - Newhaven - Dieppe - Rouen - Paris - Milan could be an alternative. You do seem to get booted off the ferry jolly early, have never tried it
comment in response to
post
Personal favourites have been
Nice -> hike through Cinque Terre -> night train to Vienna
Nice -> lunch in Milan -> afternoon in Venice -> night train to Vienna
Graz -> Transalpin -> evening in Innsbruck -> night train to Amsterdam
Shame BBC decided to focus on flights
2/2
comment in response to
post
Tricky to do guilt free in the UK because Eurostar is so expensive, but I've done lovely day trips to Prague, Maribor, Budapest, Bratislava and Brno from Vienna by train.
Night train + train + night train is also a great combination for exploring three distant cities quickly and cheaply
1/2
comment in response to
post
It feels like a positive sign to me - comparing the 2025 route map with the 2022 one, OBB added lots of new routes north-west and south of Austria and cut car trains. One route didn't work out so they cut it. Doesn't that suggest that the strategy is otherwise broadly working?
comment in response to
post
Predates Brexit by about twenty years :) www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/mar/...
comment in response to
post
equally French is the 1200 service showing up twice presumably because it's two trains glued together with different final destinations
comment in response to
post
NB: the BBC article is behind their slowly increasing registration wall. A nice example of the bad research + innovation....
comment in response to
post
Celui-ci aussi. En fait tout le rapport est un incontournable.