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A comment on Flight risk: can we take the carbon out of air travel?. Parent comment

Re:Flight risk: can we take the carbon out of air travel? by closeparen on Monday September 02, 2019 @09:16PM (#20862968)
You can already get from San Francisco to Chicago in 2.5 days, and from Chicago to New York in 1 day. The scenery is great, the sleepers are comfortable, and the food is decent.

Assuming two week-long vacations, though, you'd easily spend more than half the time in transit.

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Re:Flight risk: can we take the carbon out of air travel? by JohnJamesRambo on Tuesday September 03, 2019 @03:28AM (#20864331)
Every time I check the prices for Amtrak it costs much more than flying, which is frankly absurd. Which is sad because I have a station within walking distance of my house. I should be able to explore the whole US from my house but it isn’t even remotely possible due to cost. How is it possible to fly through the air for cheaper than trundling along on a rail?
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Re:Flight risk: can we take the carbon out of air travel? by dagw on Tuesday September 03, 2019 @04:19AM (#20864590)
I should be able to explore the whole US from my house but it isn’t even remotely possible due to cost

Doesn't the US still have pretty cheap long distance bus services? Certainly ~15-20 years ago when I was bumming around North America I could get almost anywhere for less than $100 if I wasn't too much in a hurry.

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Re:Flight risk: can we take the carbon out of air travel? by JohnJamesRambo on Tuesday September 03, 2019 @10:02AM (#20866521)
When I check the bus fares they aren’t that cheap either. Certainly higher than just paying for the gas in your own car and driving there, so that’s what we do.
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Re:Flight risk: can we take the carbon out of air travel? by hollerith on Tuesday September 03, 2019 @04:38AM (#20864679)
How is it possible to fly through the air for cheaper than trundling along on a rail?

You pay much less for the porters and stewards. You spend much less on feeding the passengers and attending to their other needs. Your passengers will tolerate being packed closer together.

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Re:Flight risk: can we take the carbon out of air travel? by closeparen on Tuesday September 03, 2019 @12:21PM (#20868147)
The same capital equipment can make a lot more trips in one day. Trains are cheaper than airplanes but not by that much.
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Re:Flight risk: can we take the carbon out of air travel? by gandalfian on Tuesday September 03, 2019 @06:41AM (#20865256)
The USA rail network is optimized for freight. One of the cheapest most efficient in the world. If they let people rent box cars for travel it would be dirt cheap if really slow. Passenger trains are a second class unwanted nuisance.
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Re:Flight risk: can we take the carbon out of air travel? by dagw on Tuesday September 03, 2019 @04:33AM (#20864656)
How is it possible to fly through the air for cheaper than trundling along on a rail?

Air doesn't need regular maintenance and has a much higher capacity. There are also several competing airlines on most routes pushing the price down.

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Re:Flight risk: can we take the carbon out of air travel? by JohnJamesRambo on Tuesday September 03, 2019 @05:01AM (#20864788)
Airplanes with jet engines that can’t fail or you can die need less maintenance than a diesel locomotive and cars with steel wheels that is rolling on the ground?
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Re:Flight risk: can we take the carbon out of air travel? by dagw on Tuesday September 03, 2019 @05:06AM (#20864809)
I'm talking about maintaining the tracks, and the electrical and signaling systems along the tracks.

I have no idea about the relative maintenance cost between a train and an airplane, but I suspect they're within the same order of magnitude (but I could be very wrong)

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Re:Flight risk: can we take the carbon out of air travel? by atlasunshrugged on Tuesday September 03, 2019 @03:55AM (#20864470)
The cost is just incredible - I'd always wanted to do cross country by train and was booking and the prices were just outrageous for a sleeper car versus a plane. I opted for the middle route of just having a seat on the train... 3 days later I regretted that decision, but it wasn't quite as bad as the Romania to Moldova overnight train, that one was rough
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Re:Flight risk: can we take the carbon out of air travel? by danenania on Monday September 02, 2019 @09:56PM (#20863118)
When I've tried trains in the US in the past, there were ridiculously bad delays pretty much every time, even for short trips. The consensus seems to be that they just aren't reliable due to right-of-way issues? If things have improved, I might have to give it another go at some point.
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Re:Flight risk: can we take the carbon out of air travel? by nraynaud on Tuesday September 03, 2019 @02:12AM (#20864072)
Taking the southwest chief, I received an email telling me it was 45min late. It was actually on time, I almost missed it.
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