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Comment by mtalantikite | Hacker News Reader

Out of curiosity, what is considered a slower long-distance-ish train? Just trying to think of what this would cover here in the US.

Current NYC subway unlimited is $127/month and doesn't include the commuter rails. If I wanted to have a monthly pass to the suburbs upstate where my in-laws live (a 50 min ride) it's $322/month.

But least we have freedom here, right? /s.

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Here are some samples for the fastest options tomorrow morning going to Munich from different places (aprox. distance as the crow flies, rounded time with long distance trains vs. local trains vs. by car):

    Hamburg-Munich     -- 600 km -- 6 h     vs. 12 1/2 h vs. 8 1/2 h

    Berlin-Munich      -- 500 km -- 4 h     vs. 9 h      vs. 6 1/2 h

    Cologne-Munich     -- 450 km -- 4 1/2 h vs. 9 h      vs. 6 h

    Frankfurt/M-Munich -- 300 km -- 3 h     vs. 5 h      vs. 4 1/2 h

    Nuremberg-Munich   -- 150 km -- 1 h     vs. 2 h      vs.  2 h

Conclusion: The long distance trains are aprox. twice as fast. On longer distances the car is half-way in-between, on shorter distances, the car is only marginally faster than local transport.

Train times from bahn.de; Car from Google Maps.

EDIT: I found an interesting exception, where long distance trains and the rest differ a lot on a short distance:

    Mannheim-Stuttgart  -- 93 km -- 38min   vs. 1h 50min vs. 1h 23min.

We call them Regionalbahnen -- if you want to get an understanding of speed and price, go to https://www.bahn.com/en and click on "Further Options" and select only Regionalbahnen (you'll have to click the "From" or "To" box first). They are quite slow, but more importantly during the last 9 euro ticket they were so overcrowded as to be unusable (.. well, obviously not since there's a reason they were overcrowded, but you get me..).

edit: in the English version the correct thing to tick is "Types of Transport" > "Regional services, other trains", after you click the "Further Options" button.

edit2: w.r.t

> monthly pass to the suburbs upstate where my in-laws live (a 50 min ride)

This is usually covered by S-Bahnen in Germany, and those are usually under the same ticket as the underground. In most places ~it's around 80ish for such a monthly ticket.~ (edit3: this last part about the price is wrong, see below.)

> In most places it's around 80ish for such a monthly ticket.

Sure about that? A one-month ticket just for the city of Cologne (1 Million people) is 109.70 Euros. A regular one-month ticket that would include surrounding towns as far away as Bonn (30 minutes) costs 259.30 Euros [VRS level 4]. If you want to reach Düsseldorf (40 minutes) or Aachen (50 minutes), that's 351.40 Euros [VRS level 7].

Of course it's a bit cheaper if you get a yearly pass and much cheaper if your employer chips in, but the 49 Euro ticket will be a _huge_ improvement. And NYC doesn't sound all that bad in comparison to the regular rates of today.

Huh, you are right. Sorry, I was basing it on my own experiences, but I forgot I'm no longer covered under the youth laws and that was a long time ago. I will update.

With long-distance-ish I was thinking about the RegionalExpress [1], a series of trains that travels with around 80km/h (50mph), connecting cities of all sizes on routes of about 150km/90mi each. If you want to cross the country you will have to switch trains a couple of times, but you get there (though much slower than with a ICE).

Commuter rail typically covers about 30mi in about an hour, unless it's a tram or an underground.

1: German, but has pictures: https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional-Express

It varies from region to region. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metronom_Eisenbahngesellschaft does 160kph between Bremen and Hamburg.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-Bahn_Mitteldeutschland with the https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardier_Talent_2 should do it, too, in parts.

But haven't used the latter, so can't vouch for lack of personal experience.

Anyways, 160kph==100mph, so even the slowish stuff is really 'highballing' it :-)

The closest analog to commuter rails – RegioExpress – is included. It's possible to get across the country in that kind of train, but for longer distances it takes you ~2x longer, e.g. Munich-Hamburg is 12hrs instead of 6hrs via InterCity Express (still the only itinerary where domestic flights are justified).

But does it matter, if you aren't in a hurry, and mobile? With this ticket you aren't bound to one specific train connection, can hop out anywhere and anytime it suits you, maybe leave your luggage in a lockerbox in station, and explore downtown, eat, relax in whatever lies between A -> B, probably multiple times, if you feel like it.

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