French lawmakers approve a ban on short domestic flights

Re:French lawmakers approve a ban on short domestic flights by vladvasiliu on Monday April 12, 2021 @02:08AM (#26776440)

Main French lines are (for the time being at least) in fairly good shape and there's new investment being done. They've opened two new high speed lines relatively recently: Paris - Strasbourg (near Germany in the east of the country) in 2016 and Paris - Bordeaux (near Spain, in the south-west) in 2017.

Generally speaking, taking the train in France is a rather good experience. The trains are quiet and confortable, especially the high-speed ones but even regular trains are fine. Newer carriages have power outlets at the seats and are well ventilated.

The issues people here fear the most are strikes (which is the national sport, particularly in public transportation) and the creeping-up of prices, especially now that there won't be any more competition from planes.

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Re:French lawmakers approve a ban on short domestic flights by cycomanic on Monday April 12, 2021 @02:55AM (#26776659)

I think for travelling to/from Paris the French train system is absolutely amazing. I mean the TGV from Bordeaux to Paris takes 2h for ~550km, nothing can beat that. That's the advantage of the fact that France is very centralised around Paris. Germany has the ICE which is also fast, but it needs to stop much more often, because the way Germany is structured means trips are much more spread out and not so much of a star shape (like France).

To the OP complaining about Sweden, I actually don't find the train service in Sweden so bad. Sure it's not on the same level as France and Germany, but the trip between Stockholm and Gothenburg is still fast enough even discounting the added time of getting into the center, parking etc. you have 3h for the train vs 5h by car. And the cost is ~30 euros. I also find the complaint about motion sickness funny, compared to planes and cars the Swedish trains are still very smooth.

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Re:French lawmakers approve a ban on short domestic flights by belorn on Monday April 12, 2021 @01:28PM (#26782312)

I have taken the Stockholm and Gothenburg several time, both the black tin cans that are used as night trains and built somewhere around 1970, and the state of the art high speed train x2000 built during the 1990s. It takes me about a whole day to recover from the motion sickness, especially the x2000 which is well known for it lateral motion problem thanks to the non-straight rail and high speed.

The more rapid but shorter lateral movements on a plane does not trigger my motion sickness, and neither do turbulence. That could be a personal aspect. I have the same issue where if I am on a boat that goes up and down then I am usually fine, but not if the waves comes side to side.

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