european rail forum
#61
Original Member, Ambassador: External Miles and Points Resources
Join Date: May 1998
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Given how important European rail is to TRAVEL and how passionate people are about it I'm generally in favor of giving this a shot. I've used European rail extensively (from a Eurail pass during college 15 years ago to a recent Eurostar Chunnel crossing) and I agree that the distances, complexity and population densities in Europe make European rail a unique thing, different than rail in any other region of the world. However, unlike Amtrak there is no loyalty program to hang its presence on FT on.
Even so, overall I tend to think it's worth giving it a go, unless I can be convinced otherwise.
#62
Join Date: Sep 2005
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#63
Original Member, Ambassador: External Miles and Points Resources
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Digital Nomad Wandering the Earth - Currently in LIMA, PERU
Posts: 58,626
#64
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: BRU
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Posts: 6,856
www.railteam.eu - one alliance at least!
#65
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Home
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Posts: 7,676
At least we just flushed koko out!
Don't you know Europeans are more "complicated" than Americans?
#66
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 975
I would like to see a Train forum on here - and not solely for Europe. I crossed the US by train a few years ago and it remains one of my travel highlights. Please proceed with the creation of a forum to discuss worldwide train travel.
#67
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Venice-Munich-Paris travel ... would that fit in europe forum? Italy forum? Germany forum or France forum? Eurostar from London to Brussels? would that be UK & Ireland forum, France forum, Europe forum? ....
#68
Moderator: Luxury Hotels and FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Palo Alto, California,USA
Posts: 17,857
At the very least, it would be hugely useful to have a sticky about how to buy tickets online for the various European train systems. A European train forum would be the logical place for this, but even if there isn't one, there should still be such a sticky.
As a regular poster to the Japan forum, I should note that I too would recommend that the Japan forum doesn't need a separate forum or subforum for train travel since it's just one country. The situation is entirely different in Europe as numerous previous posters have pointed out.
As a regular poster to the Japan forum, I should note that I too would recommend that the Japan forum doesn't need a separate forum or subforum for train travel since it's just one country. The situation is entirely different in Europe as numerous previous posters have pointed out.
#69
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: PEK
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Posts: 8,958
Please create a forum.
Having traveled on ČD, DB, Öbb, SBB, UZ, RZD, ŽSR, TCDD, BDZ, MÁV, ŽSR and UKRail, I can say that policies are very different, tickets from point A to point B don't cost the same as point B to point A. In some places time also matters, and having a dedicated forum for this would be quite helpful.
Having traveled on ČD, DB, Öbb, SBB, UZ, RZD, ŽSR, TCDD, BDZ, MÁV, ŽSR and UKRail, I can say that policies are very different, tickets from point A to point B don't cost the same as point B to point A. In some places time also matters, and having a dedicated forum for this would be quite helpful.
Last edited by Palal; Dec 19, 2008 at 6:30 pm
#70
In Memoriam, FlyerTalk Evangelist
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It's especially informative/helpful for those of us lame-o's who are not familiar with the European rail system.
All others could certainly benefit from a forum with the ability to display graphics.
#71
Join Date: Dec 2000
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Posts: 6,786
Sounds good. How about a VIA Canadian Rail forum as well--or include it in the Amtrak forum?
BTW, Via Preference points will soon be usable on the French SNCF! Details R2B announced in mid-January!
BTW, Via Preference points will soon be usable on the French SNCF! Details R2B announced in mid-January!
#72
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 1.050MM, PersonalCar 0.275MM
Posts: 1,718
+1 interested in the creation of such a forum.
(Long-distance European rail O&D cities I have known: London, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, Munich.)
(Long-distance European rail O&D cities I have known: London, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, Munich.)
#73
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Another FTer in support of the forum.
I'll leave the details of where to put it to be sorted out by others and the TB (though as someone who enjoys train travel, I would not be opposed to a specific Rail Travel forum as proposed by AZ Travels the World ), but regardless, it would be tremendously useful. I recently traveled by TGV and TER in France, and a place to unravel the mysteries of booking tickets (especially from the U.S. while bypassing that silly raileurope.com site) would have been most welcome (fortunately, I found some great Web sites and blog posts that helped, but it was scary venturing off FT! ). Yes, I know I could have posted it in the France forum, but I wasn't sure if it would have been a welcome post there--on reflection, it probably would have been, but still, having a place to discuss just trains without cluttering up the discussions on French wines in the France forum would be nice!
I'll leave the details of where to put it to be sorted out by others and the TB (though as someone who enjoys train travel, I would not be opposed to a specific Rail Travel forum as proposed by AZ Travels the World ), but regardless, it would be tremendously useful. I recently traveled by TGV and TER in France, and a place to unravel the mysteries of booking tickets (especially from the U.S. while bypassing that silly raileurope.com site) would have been most welcome (fortunately, I found some great Web sites and blog posts that helped, but it was scary venturing off FT! ). Yes, I know I could have posted it in the France forum, but I wasn't sure if it would have been a welcome post there--on reflection, it probably would have been, but still, having a place to discuss just trains without cluttering up the discussions on French wines in the France forum would be nice!
#74
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: UK
Posts: 7,560
As a regular poster on various European forums I must say I'm in two minds about the idea.
On the plus side it would be good to have all European rail travel threads in one place.
On the minus side a rail-only forum would take traffic away from the Europe forum and the various country forums.
I don't have strong views either way, but think that perhaps the effect on existing forums needs to be considered before a final decision is made.
On the plus side it would be good to have all European rail travel threads in one place.
On the minus side a rail-only forum would take traffic away from the Europe forum and the various country forums.
I don't have strong views either way, but think that perhaps the effect on existing forums needs to be considered before a final decision is made.
#75
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as moderator in most of the forums you mentionned, I think that would bring additional value and traffic. the rail forum could generate threads in the destination forums as well as existing threads like the Bahn thread in the Germany forum can be moved. finding a thread, knowing where to search - this will help alot of FTer