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Comment by elnatro | Hacker News Reader

Security concerns. I’m case of an accident you can sit and maybe survive.

Edit: keep in mind that the Madrid-Barcelona high speed railway line reaches almost 250kph. That’s more than the double maximum speed of a car in Spain.

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Standing is allowed on Japanese Shinkansen trains or German ICE trains.

But isn't on TGVs, AVE and Frecciarossa trains, so more networks disallow it than allow it.

It’s not the same to travel standing up (i.e. not having an assigned seat) than to be able to stand up (i.e. have an assigned seat).

But you don't have assigned seats on German high-speed trains. It certainly happens (although rarely) that trains are so full that some people need to stand

You can buy a ticket for a non-assigned seat but not for long routes like the one that goes to Paris.

I’d say that having to buy a ticket with an assigned seat in high-speed trains in Spain has been always been that way.

However, short-route trains (Cercanías) don’t have assigned seat, but they are not high-speed trains.

The point is that it's not due to safety or security that Spain and France require a seat reservation.

It will be to keep the quality of the service high, reduce boarding times, or something like that.

fyi it's possible to buy Tokyo to Hakata (over 1000km, takes 5hr, max 300km/h) ticket without reserved sheet. (Though eventually free sheet will be available at the middle stations.)

why does the speed of a train affect its security?

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