Re: Speedrail

[David Bromage <dbromage@omni.com.au>]

WhaleOilBeefHooked wrote:
> You only need to look at Europe - air traffic between Paris and Lyon is
> almost non-existent,

There is some, but it's a shadow of what it was pre-1981.

> and Eurostar beats British Airways hands down

Which is why British Airways bought the Eurostar franchise! Eurostar trains
will soon be carrying BA "flight" numbers. Lufthansa is also investing
DM400 million in replacing short haul flights out of Frankfurt with high
speed ICE trains (note: not Transrapid maglevs!)

> There are other reasons why people may use a VFT - a three hour trip from
> city centre to city centre gives three hours to work. A three hour air trip
> gives you some time in the lounge before departure, can't really work in the
> air - not enough room - and can't really work to and from the airport.

You have to compare a 3 hour train journey with a 1h20m flight (Sydney to
Melbourne), plus taxi transfers, check in, etc. On the whole, there
isn't much difference. The other point is that you can't use a laptop
computer during
takeoff and landing, and can't use a mobile phone at all in the air.

Cheers
David