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Confessions of a train addict

25 comments
train

Photo: Stefan Nilsson.

Things have definitely gone back to normal after the holidays here in Sweden. People haft left their summer houses, unpacked their suitcases and returned to work. For me this only makes it even more tempting to get away. So in a few days I get on the train and go to France.

This year I have beaten my personal train travel record, travelling countless kilometres to London, Paris, Malmö in the south of Sweden and Kiruna in the upper north – not to mention all the places inbetween. Because travelling by train isn’t a transport from point A to point B. I’ve eaten dinner in Copenhagen, taken a stroll along the river Rhine in Cologne and seen the setting sun paint Boden in gold in Boden. And that was just bonuses, included in my tickets with no extra charge. Another wonderful bonus of travelling by train is the people that I get to meet, or just observe. Two enthustiastic Dutchmen, trying to make 20 kilos of reindeer horns fit into the tiny train beds. An elderly Swedish lady who had decided to learn English when she became a widow. I can’t imagine anyone telling me stories like theirs rushing through the check-in on an airport.

Considering all this I must admit that to me it’s a mystery how train companies are now drawing back their investments in train charters through Europe, because of a lacking interest. In 2007 the first train charter started going from Sweden to lake Garda in Italy and became a great success. Media talked about the new climate conscious train trend and the choice of holiday destinations grew. People went to Croatia, Slovenia and Austria.

But now travel companies say the interest hasn’t been what they had hoped for, and stop offering trips to almost all the destinations they recently had. They hope though, one travel company representant said in an article the other day, that increased cooperation between European train companies and more fast train lines will once again increase the travellers’ interest.

But charter trains isn’t the only way to get on a train going far away. Just ask me. At one of the European train companies’ phone booking offices they even recognize my name when I call. I guess that says something about my train addiction…

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

August 26, 2010

  • http://twitter.com/swedensustblog swedensustblog

    The best way to travel from Stockholm to France – and all the places inbetween. http://tiny.cc/vtuco #sustainability #climate #travel #train

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://juanvillamayor.wordpress.com Juan Villamayor

    Bikes for the city, trains for longer distances. That’s the sustainable combination. I wish governments would spend more money in a good pan-European train network, and we should push in that direction.
    Since there is a high speed train between Madrid and Barcelona, the airplane connections between both cities have dropped dramatically, and people are using the train more and more often. Give people the chance to use a sustainable, convenient mean of transport and they will give up the plane.
    Forget queues, passport control and “please take away your shoes”, train rules!

  • http://twitter.com/swedense swedense

    Take the A-train …. http://bit.ly/9Dlnpe #sweden #sustainability

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • Sara Jeswani

    Yes, bikes and trains is a good recipe! A recent report shows that many Scandinavians would choose a fast train line instead of flight between our capitals up here too: Article 1 (in Swedish), article 2 (in English)

  • http://twitter.com/gwynn50 gwynn50

    Confessions of a train addict http://t.co/swngzvc

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

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  • Pol – Croatia

    I think travel is quite necessary for the wellbeing of mind, body and spirit. The concept of fast train is i think very interesting alternative or supplement for travel and also for cargo transport.

    If i remember well, last time i travelled with train was about 10 years ago. The main reasones for not choosing it (even if i don’t travel very frequent) are (among others):

    - very slow speed (double that of a bus, quadruplle that of a plane),
    - old and poorly equiped wagons (some don’t have even a proper toillet),
    - old and disconnected (or non existent) railways
    - the environment around railways is less maintained (postapocalyptic depresive scenery aproaching cities, obstacles inside and outside the train disturb the view)
    - the conditions of train stations
    - lack of proper atmosphere and human factor
    - …

    Since year 2005. swedish tourists are being noticed in more significant numbers (for the first time since the late 1980′s), indeed. Even if i haven’t heared some have come by train (most of them are coming by car). This year i noticed more tourists from Denmark and even some from Norway, while the one from Sweden are present but it seems not like the first few years (i haven’t checked the statistics yet). Who knows why (if so)? Even if, i myself am quite disappointed with lots of things in my country, too.

    By the way, by your experience how fast is that train pictured (or that one used to travel with), and what other interesting characteristics it provides (for instance toillets, restaurants, interier, atmosphere, etc.). Of course, also how much it costs (ticket) and consumes / emits comparable to bus, ship, car or plane ? Thanks.

  • Sara Jeswani

    Hi Pol!
    The train on the photo is a X2000 train, which has a maximum allowed speed of 200 km per hour, which actually isn’t very fast compared to the fast trains in other parts of the world. I think these trains are rather good places to work, though, as you can plug in your computer and also connect to the Internet onboard. Or – just look at the view and read a good old book. If you need to concentrate it’s usually possible to book a ticket in a quiet part of the train. They also have a restaurant car with basic food and drinks.

    Last winter this type of train had big problems working in the cold, and there were many delays. During the summer there have been other, heat related, problems, so it’s clearly a sensitive technology. But I personally have been very lucky and haven’t been caught in any major delays.

    According to the Swedish national train company, SJ, a full X2000 train going between Stockholm and Gothenburg (about 480 kilometers) emits 0,4 kilos of CO2, compared to 89 kilos if going by car or 6 tons by air.
    This depends much on that the electricity driving the train comes from renewable sources such as hydro and wind power. The emissions coming from maintaining for example wind power stations are included in this, SJ says. On their environmental calulation web page you can compare train emissions to those of other ways of transports: http://www.sj.se/sj/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=6763&l=en.

    Train ticket prices is an issue very debated here, because prices vary a lot depending on how close to departure you buy your tickets. If you plan months ahead, a single trip beween Stockholm and Gothenburg could come down to 10 euros if you are lucky, but if you’d be going the same day the ticket can cost up to 100 euros.

  • Rvvpvsdm

    Very interesting tale

  • http://www.kocaelitemizlik.net/ Kocaeli temizlik

    If i remember well, last time i travelled with train was about 10 years ago. The main reasones for not choosing it (even if i don’t travel very frequent) are (among others):

    kocaeli temizlik
    izmit temizlik

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