Remo Marco Freuler + Trains thread

[Dino]

Las time I was in China (2008) was in Shezen and they were building stuff like crazy. They were building high rise blocks at the rate of one story every 5 days which is incredible really. But with all that bamboo scaffolding it didn't look too concerned with H&S!

I've visited China a few times (mainly Shanghai) over the years, and have always been amazed at the rate of development and change every time I've been there.

Agree re H&S, never has been a priority for the Chinese!

 

[Dino]

I've spent the last couple of weeks doing a mini-tour of Italy by train with the Mrs for our (slightly delayed- damn you Covid) honeymoon. Started in Venice, then Verona, Florence, Pisa and ended in Rome with a couple of days in each city. Aside from the incredible scenery out of the window, there was not a single delay, double decker trains with seats for all and there are screens everywhere telling you to the minute when your train would reach each individual station on the line (including an airplane style map showing you where you are and allowing you to track you progress between stations), to the point where they didn't even bother to do tannoy announcements. I was on the Pisa to Rome leg whilst the West Ham game was going on and I had no problem following it on my phone at any point.

All for a fraction of the price of a UK rail ticket.

It really did show just how inadequate our rail network is and what a disaster privatisation has been.

PS I can't wait to see Freuler. I really think he could well be our most important signing of the window.

PPS Florence was my favourite city out of all of them. It is absolutely magnificent- I would recommend that everybody takes the opportunity to visit if you get the opportunity.

Spot on re Florence, absolutely amazing city.

 

[Strummer]

My time in Germany (30 years ago now) the trains wer really poor, they were literally never on time. I still have friends in the south and they still seem to treat DB as a bit of a joke. Allegedly last winter they were running at close to 30% late?

I do agree that the nationalised model is better but a lot of money has been spent in the UK. The new Azuma trains on the LNER are very fast and comfortable and lots of stations have been modernised but with an eye to retaining their historical elements. St Pancras is now a really good and pleasant station. Where the Uk trains fall down a little is the local trains many of which are quite old stock but they are getting better.

DB gets absolute pelters, mostly because of punctuality issues, that is absolutely true. This primarily is caused by significant under-investment in the rail network, a buck passed by successive coalition governments until recently.

The punctuality problems are often caused by creaking infrastructure that is sometimes exceeding its design capacity, especially in the North-West of the country, but as the main ICE network geographically loops in an anti-clockwise location from Berlin, via Hamburg, Dortmund, Bonn, Köln, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and to München, a delay earlier in the routing can cause knock-on issues.

Also, the ICE trains in some areas have to share tracks with the slower regional trains and commuter trains, and in those cases, a delay there can often block an ICE (or it would run into the back of the slower train).

Germany is - belatedly - tackling some of these issues, new tracks are being rolled out and older areas upgraded with additional capacity and new straight-through stations are being built (Stuttgart and soon, Frankfurt) which will improve things (everyone hopes, anyway).

 

[Strummer]

I've visited China a few times (mainly Shanghai) over the years, and have always been amazed at the rate of development and change every time I've been there.

Agree re H&S, never has been a priority for the Chinese!

I did a project, designing some network architecture for our test-track in Donghai.

In around 18 months, it went from being in the middle of nowhere to being surrounded by newly built infrastructure, including a fast rail link. It really is staggering how they simply throw resources at these building projects and just get them done.

They must have Dane Murphy‘s Chinese cousin running them.

 

[Steve B]

I've spent the last couple of weeks doing a mini-tour of Italy by train with the Mrs for our (slightly delayed- damn you Covid) honeymoon. Started in Venice, then Verona, Florence, Pisa and ended in Rome with a couple of days in each city. Aside from the incredible scenery out of the window, there was not a single delay, double decker trains with seats for all and there are screens everywhere telling you to the minute when your train would reach each individual station on the line (including an airplane style map showing you where you are and allowing you to track you progress between stations), to the point where they didn't even bother to do tannoy announcements. I was on the Pisa to Rome leg whilst the West Ham game was going on and I had no problem following it on my phone at any point.

All for a fraction of the price of a UK rail ticket.

It really did show just how inadequate our rail network is and what a disaster privatisation has been.

PS I can't wait to see Freuler. I really think he could well be our most important signing of the window.

PPS Florence was my favourite city out of all of them. It is absolutely magnificent- I would recommend that everybody takes the opportunity to visit if you get the opportunity.

You picked a great route there L’boro. I loved Florence too, my favourite place was Siena.

 

[Steve B]

I was in Germany for the Union game. They were doing a deal on all train journeys across the whole country (excluding ICE trains) you could pay 9 euro a ticket for the whole month of July, could go anywhere.
I went to Newcastle on train from London - bought the ticket week in advance - £120.

 

[Statto]

 

[Strummer]

I was in Germany for the Union game. They were doing a deal on all train journeys across the whole country (excluding ICE trains) you could pay 9 euro a ticket for the whole month of July, could go anywhere.
I went to Newcastle on train from London - bought the ticket week in advance - £120.

That offer was June-July-August, and has proved so wildly popular, that many politicians are trying to work out some way of keeping it going (but not at €9 though, as that would cost too much to subsidise).

Also, if you had a monthly ticket (as I do, for my commute) that also dropped to €9 for the past three months, which was nice.

 

[HBB]

I've spent the last couple of weeks doing a mini-tour of Italy by train with the Mrs for our (slightly delayed- damn you Covid) honeymoon. Started in Venice, then Verona, Florence, Pisa and ended in Rome with a couple of days in each city. Aside from the incredible scenery out of the window, there was not a single delay, double decker trains with seats for all and there are screens everywhere telling you to the minute when your train would reach each individual station on the line (including an airplane style map showing you where you are and allowing you to track you progress between stations), to the point where they didn't even bother to do tannoy announcements. I was on the Pisa to Rome leg whilst the West Ham game was going on and I had no problem following it on my phone at any point.

All for a fraction of the price of a UK rail ticket.

It really did show just how inadequate our rail network is and what a disaster privatisation has been.

PS I can't wait to see Freuler. I really think he could well be our most important signing of the window.

PPS Florence was my favourite city out of all of them. It is absolutely magnificent- I would recommend that everybody takes the opportunity to visit if you get the opportunity.

Love Florence - I was lucky enough to have a girlfriend take me there for a birthday surprise - at one stage we were sat having coffee after a trip to the Uffizi when we heard music and a bizzare pageant/parade went past turns out by accident we had the fantastic luck to be there while the Calcio Storico was on - its a city tournament between the 6 suburbs of the city from medieval times where they play a game like beach football with rugby and extreme violence. Fantastic watch and I think they should do a version in the market square - Arnold vs the Meadows etc

 

[valspoodle]

For many years I had an oil lamp from our local MNGN station (Gayton Road) when they closed it in 1959. My mother threw it out when they moved house many years ago.

Little did I know that within a decade Beeching would literally destroy the British railway infrastructure and determine that, forever, we would have a mutilated system that would be not be suitable for goods or people. Until that time, I can remember my grandmother receiving a box of chicks delivered by a railway van from the local station a mere 5 miles away.

 

[Loughborough_red]

You picked a great route there L’boro. I loved Florence too, my favourite place was Siena.

Yes we went to Siena for a few hours on a day trip that took in the rest of Tuscany. Wish I had longer, it's a beautiful place.

 

[Master Yates]

I’d like to think Remo is a big train fan and this thread has immediately made him feel at home


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[Canadian_red]

Imagine if he's doing a little opinion surfing on the old internet, he's likely confused as f***.

 

[Redemption]

Love Florence - I was lucky enough to have a girlfriend take me there for a birthday surprise - at one stage we were sat having coffee after a trip to the Uffizi when we heard music and a bizzare pageant/parade went past turns out by accident we had the fantastic luck to be there while the Calcio Storico was on - its a city tournament between the 6 suburbs of the city from medieval times where they play a game like beach football with rugby and extreme violence. Fantastic watch and I think they should do a version in the market square - Arnold vs the Meadows etc

I feel you're onto something here. I'm hoping it's called British Ball Bag - a hybrid between British Bulldog, Football and something else.

 

[IJPS]

I was in Germany for the Union game. They were doing a deal on all train journeys across the whole country (excluding ICE trains) you could pay 9 euro a ticket for the whole month of July, could go anywhere.
I went to Newcastle on train from London - bought the ticket week in advance - £120.

I got that deal aswell when i went over for Germany v England in Munich this year.

 

[HBB]

I feel you're onto something here. I'm hoping it's called British Ball Bag - a hybrid between British Bulldog, Football and something else.

Exactly - imagine all the "I'm hard" idiots from each area getting in huge sandpit and then beating the shit out of each other, better than letting them out to do it on a saturday night.

 

[gamble]

So Freuler I wonder if he'll start tomorrow.....

Oh shit sorry wrong thread, this is the trains thread

 

[Steve B]

So Freuler I wonder if he'll start tomorrow.....

Oh shit sorry wrong thread, this is the trains thread

He’ll be conducting our red rocket train tomorrow

 

[Strummer]

Exactly - imagine all the "I'm hard" idiots from each area getting in huge sandpit and then beating the shit out of each other, better than letting them out to do it on a saturday night.

This is one thing I absolutely do love about living in Germany; I can go out for a Bier or three on a Saturday in Stuttgart, safe in the knowledge that I am not going to be confronted with pissed idiots trying to thump the shit out of eachother, or being confronted by pissed-up drunks vomiting into the gutters.

It just doesn‘t happen here.

 

[Huxley]

This is one thing I absolutely do love about living in Germany; I can go out for a Bier or three on a Saturday in Stuttgart, safe in the knowledge that I am not going to be confronted with pissed idiots trying to thump the shit out of eachother, or being confronted by pissed-up drunks vomiting into the gutters.

It just doesn‘t happen here.

Same.

It’s difficult to put into words the feeling of not wondering if the chap approaching you is going ignore you, throw up on you or punch you. It’s quite liberating.

 

[Erik]

So Freuler I wonder if he'll start tomorrow.....

Oh shit sorry wrong thread, this is the trains thread

Please try to keep on topic and not derail the thread.

 

[Strummer]

Same.

It’s difficult to put into words the feeling of not wondering if the chap approaching you is going ignore you, throw up on you or punch you. It’s quite liberating.

Yeah, I have spent some time in La Bella Italia - mostly for work, and around Bologna, Parma and Modena - and I have found that the enormous majority of Italians I have met are warm, friendly and welcoming.

I have had some absolutely fantastic nights out on the piss in Parma, and never once have I seen any real trouble.

 

[Battered Sausage]

So Freuler I wonder if he'll start tomorrow.....

Oh shit sorry wrong thread, this is the trains thread

And to tie things together neatly, a big red Swiss train


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[Canadian_red]

If anyone wanted to know, the trains over in western Canada are shit. We don't even have one running to the nearest big city (Edmonton).

 

[Strummer]

Bitch I‘m an ICE Train:

My ride home at the weekend.