Some comparisons with Germany/Europe

[rtt_rules]

Hi guys,
Having recently travelled around parts of Europe doing the odd trip I'd thought I'd give you some highlites to compare with QR and other operators

Norway Suburban
- Pricing very expensive, about $4-5 (24NOK) to go one station (3km)
- stations are low height, only some doors on each train are Disabled access
- coffee machine on train
- one car has guard for which you can buy a ticket
- Very clean
- Ticketing appears to mostly honesty system

Norway Airport express (45km)
- Section in country is very quick and frequent up to midnight at 15-20min
- about 1/3 cost of taxi (I think it was 170NOK) which are not cheap. We went 500m in a taxi because didn't know where hotel was at 2am in -2C temps, wholey crap!
- Annocuements in Norwegian and English, very clear
- Trains, I did not see disabled access
- Full electric signage on train to let you know where you are
- Toilets
- Ticket machine easy to use
- I left my bag (with laptop and passport) on train got it back 2 days later. I had to pay fee to pick up.
- Alt to ticket is swiping credit card at start and end.

Sweeden ( Line from south to Copenhgan with short local to main station)
- Bought ticket from machine 15min before
- Machine has english, but uses Scandanvian spelling, can be confusing if you don't know.
- Machine took long time to work through menus
- Local train station, LX for pax across tracks. Same at main
- Trains, can take anything from dog to bike
- multiple vending machines and toilet
- Local Only two cars (2 classes), but makes use of only having 1 door per car
- Mainline express, we went 2nd class. Very good, average speed over 240km was 145km/hr
- Booked seats are not a requirement, so train is mix of booked seating and other

Swizterland (short ride 6km on a rack railway to Heidon which is 60min service and just a normal suburban service connecting to mainline at junction)
- Not bad for a train running up 1:15 slope at 30km/hr . modern electric, you can see out front
- Staff friendly, at terminus driver moves through cleaning the train
- Return was 24 CHK
- First time we have seen ticket inspectors
- Didn't use machine to buy ticket as no CHK, paid with credit card including parking ticket at station
- Train is used by locals as any normal suburban
- Seating and signage excellent
- Only main stations train will auto stop, others you must press a button like a tram and same on stations I think from what we saw in dark.
- Line is used by hertitage trains in summer. Nearby other shorter rack service was using older gear from what we saw as we drove past.
- We also saw a local train running along Lake Constance, looked like a Light rail tram and much of track was single

Germany (trams) We used or saw trams in numerous cities from older East German systems to newer in Munich so a few gernal comments
- Munich, to buy instant tickets, you need coins and only on tram
- Heildberg, machines are on streets at tram stops and same coins only
- In general signage is very good. All trams have auto annoucements and on board signage. Some of most modern was running with oldest in Lepzig (old EG).
- Most cities trams only run one way with no side doors on left side going forward. Provides more room for seats and prams. Trams have loops at ends and along the line
- Heilberg and ? trams were Narrow gauage. One model had single axles in middle of tram
- Most networks only use articulated trams, only older Leipzig had indiviudal cars joined and they had two older with a newer trailer on end.
- Love the multi modal zone (and some people think Translink is a bad thing)
- Leipzig we went on LR tram to terminus, at end of orginal route the line is single track along the street side for 2-3km. No room for two, still manage 10-15min frequency
- Christmas tram in Munich using older stock is very popular. Just does loop and people drink wine from on board buffe
- Most cities trams often run on normal ballast track right up to city center unless road is common shared. Cheaper

Trains We caught a few U and S trains
- One station only one ticket machine. started in English and then reverted to German even though I pressed English
- Another station, one machine, it did not take coins or notes at the time, broken. so we rode free
- Suburban trains have small 1st class section
- U trains can be very short in length in some cities like Nurmberg
- Most U's automatic
- Headways on many S and U's was such that as one left, another arrived
- Munich and some cities have outer suburban shuttles, often DMU's to spark stations
- Running loco trailing on inter urban fleet is standard. loco leading one way, trailing return. Last car has drivers cab.
- DOO shunting and train driving normal
- Remote shunting by DOO also normal. Driver is often not at lead of train during remote shunting
- Mix of timber, concrete and steel sleepers, but not intermixed
- When some rails are bolted they bolt both at same spot and have two sleepers next to each other underneath to support
- We saw one line closed in old East Germany, has been for about 10 years. Track was full concrete sleeper, electric points and signally, better condition than some parts of Australia interstate
- timber sleepers are often used when track is immediately above underpass
- PRices are good
- Most of ticket system seems to work off honesty system
- In Cologne, they rebuilt their post war tram network in many areas underground. SO system is a mix of low floor trams and high floor trains. ie they use same tracks but at many stations they have their own platforms. some high level stock has floors that open up with steps. But they are trying to eliminate high floor stock on low floor stations/routes.

And yes, some places have the used the zone system in a stupid way as if I'm choosing my travel based on how much I have to spend. ie comes straight up to Zone 1, 2 etc. But how do you know which zone you are travelling to, a p%ss poor map on the wall with barely the major points? In these cases we always just bought the smallest zone cost.


regards
Shane

[BrizCommuter]

Hi guys,
Having recently travelled around parts of Europe doing the odd trip I'd thought I'd give you some highlites to compare with QR and other operators

Norway Suburban
- Pricing very expensive, about $4-5 (24NOK) to go one station (3km)
- stations are low height, only some doors on each train are Disabled access
- coffee machine on train
- one car has guard for which you can buy a ticket
- Very clean
- Ticketing appears to mostly honesty system

Singles are very expensive, but Oslo 7-day zone 1 (approx. 10km radius) ticket is the same price as a Brisbane zone 1-2 (approx. 6km radius) 10 journey cap.

[somebody]

Singles are very expensive, but Oslo 7-day zone 1 (approx. 10km radius) ticket is the same price as a Brisbane zone 1-2 (approx. 6km radius) 10 journey cap.

No doubt they don't have a planned 32.25% fare hike over the next 2 years also, apparently receiving bi partisan support.