this post was submitted on 05 Apr 2026
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[–] MrFinnbean@lemmy.world 11 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Most flights are short haul flights lasting from 1 to 3 hours. Commersial flights could very well be replaced by highspeed trains.

Changing how commersial flights are done does not mean "lets make it impossible for normal people to fly"

[–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 0 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

If you price people out of short haul flights, that just means they're even less likely to be able to afford long flights which cost money even in good times.

[–] MrFinnbean@lemmy.world 2 points 18 hours ago (1 children)
[–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 1 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

How else are you planning to make sure people don't frivolously take short flights, while not banning them outright because sometimes they might be necessary?

[–] MrFinnbean@lemmy.world 2 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Maybe building those high speed rails and pricing them smart enough that they are cheaper so people have reason to use them.

Pros: No check in. Railway stations can be build closer to city centers than airports (hard in USA where rail infra is horrible). Nicer to travel. (Restaurant cars, night cars, can take car with you if needed, can take bike with you, more leg space, more flexible (some trains stop at every station and some only in major cities) can transport both cargo and passengers at once, onboard wifi makes the travel much nicer as you can watch movies or even work)

At 1-3 hour flight the train is not even slower than flying because you dont need to spend 60min at check in and 20/60 min at shuttlebus and waiting your luggage.

You dont need to penalize airtravel. Just offer alternative service that can compete with it.

In fact today i choosed a train for my travel. Flight would have been 1 hour and would have cost 170€ + taxi to and from the airport (add the check in, luggage claiming and transport from the airport to home it would have been closer to 3 hours). I took the train. It cost 37€ + 1,50€ subway ticket, and 300m walk from the station to hotel. I could use my phone the whole time. Nobody asked me to take my belt off, i had plenty of legspace the whole time and i got better meal than in any airplane.

Cons: Somebody needs to build the railways.

[–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Yes, we're doing that. But you still need to make flying too expensive for everyday use too. Current prediction is that when Rail Baltica is ready it'll cost more than flying and it'll also be way slower. It's like a 3 hour flight to get to Germany vs more than likely all day on the train in a decade or two when it's actually ready (deadline is 2030, which is now said to mean 2040 or later).

It's easy for those of you in the center of the EU. The rest of us first have to fly or drive there before we can even take the train and even when the railway is built it needs to turn a profit because the project is so expensive. Meaning it can't be as cheap as flying has been before now. There's billions in loans to pay back after all.

[–] MrFinnbean@lemmy.world 1 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

No shit it wont be easy and working immediadly everywhere. What is? And it does not nees to work everywhere at once. It does not need to be some macical over night build intercontinental mega structure. Simimarilly like good public transportation in cities lessens the need for private cars good inter city transportation lessens the need for cars, trucks and even flying.

If you need to go to Germany fast, fly there. But if you would have options available where you can comfortably travel to your vacation to somewhere with reasonable price you might consider other destinations too.

Also its not like it needs to be single entity bank rolling the whole railway system. Building new tracklines open whole world of cheaper transportation and locistic opportunities to whole slew of industries.

And are you dim? I just said you dont need to penalize the flight systems. Just give people other options so they dont need to default to taking a plane.

And i live no where near central EU.