Artikel über europäische Bahnen in der Jakarta Post

[Hannes]

Hallo,
habe vorhin in einem anderen Forum einen Link zu einem interessanten Artikel über europäische Eisenbahnen in der Jakarta Post gefunden. Schön zu wissen, was die Asiaten über unsere Bahnen denken.
Hier der Link zum Artikel, leider nur in Englisch:
Hier klicken

Hannes

[Simon aus Tarp]

Moin,

ist schon wichtig, dass man für die Interessen des traditionellen indonesischen Fischervolks kämpft - gut so!

Bis dann:
Simon aus Tarp

[Hannes]

Hallo,
der Fehler liegt bei der Zeitung, nicht bei mir. Anscheinend wurde der Link zum Artikel geändert oder der Link, den ich gepostet habe, führt zum entsprechenden Artikel des Tages. Wer also den Artikel am Sonntag nicht lesen konnte/nicht gelesen hat, hat leider Pech gehabt.

Hannes

[Flo K (der erste)]

Schade, der Artikel war (obwohl englisch) doch sehr informativ!

Schon sehr spannend, wie ein Indonesier das europäische Eisenbahnnetz beurteilt!

Habe den Artikel leider auch nach längerer Suche nicht mehr finden können... - Sorry!

Flo

[günni]

Moin Hannes,
schade, daß der Artikel weg ist, ich hätte ihn gerne gelesen.
Ich hatte zwar Deine Titelzeile gelesen, wurde aber dann familiär wieder
voll gefordert, kam also nicht dazu, ihn in Augenschein zu nehmen.

[Simon aus Tarp]

Moin,

ich habe nochmal geguckt, und den Artikel nach längerer Suche noch gefunden. Da ich den Copyright verletzen würde, indem ich das hier jetzt rein kopiere, guckt alle lieber selber nochmal:

1: Auf den Link oben klicken
2: Ganz links auf "Past Editions" klicken
3: Den 23. April 2006 wieder ganz links anklicken (Achtung, man kann nur die vergangenen 6 Tage sehen, dannach ist Ende im Gelände!!)
4: Den Eisenbahnartikel in der Auswahl anklicken ("From Italy to France: Europe's culture of trains")
5: Viel Spass beim lesen!

Bis dann:
Simon aus Tarp

[günni]

Danke, Simon

[Qrt]

..... Den 23. April 2006 wieder ganz links anklicken (Achtung, man kann nur die vergangenen 6 Tage sehen, dannach ist Ende im Gelände!!)

Wenn die Tage zu ende sind ist es immer sinnvoll nach den Artikel zu Googeln. ("From Italy to France: Europe's culture of trains") obwohl der hp ein 404 ist gibt es dort häufig ein Cache zu lesen.

[Felix (der erste)]

Vielen Dank Simon.
Der Artikel ist es wikrlich Wert gelesen zu werden.

Das zeigt uns doch mal wieder, dass die Bahn gar nicht so schlecht ist, wie wir immer alle meinen.

[Björn]

Ich war ja ehrlich gesagt erst skeptisch, habe mir dann aber mal die Zeit und Ruhe genommen den Text durchzulesen. Und ich war freudig überrascht: es ist eine Hommage und fast schon eine "Lobeshymne" an die Europäischen Bahngesellschaften.
Obwohl komplett auf englisch, so ist der Inhalt doch recht verständlich. Er zeigt auf wie facettenreich die Eisenbahn in Europa doch ist. Ein sehr guter Text den ich als sehr lesenswert empfehlen kann!

Das zeigt uns doch mal wieder, dass die Bahn gar nicht so schlecht ist, wie wir immer alle meinen.

Dem kann ich mich nur anschließen.

Liebe Grüße

Björn

[Flo K (der erste)]

Und weil es sonst demnächst verschwinden würde, hier der gesamte Text:

From Italy to France: Europe's culture of trains
Features - April 23, 2006


Andre Vltchek, Contributor/aboard a train in Europe

For most people living in Asia and North America, the train is just a type of transportation designed to bring people and goods from one point to another. In Europe, trains are much more than that: they are part of the culture, lifestyle and expression of egalitarian principles.

Trains are immortalized in films, novels, even poems. They are marking time, symbolizing a hope for reunions and the sadness of parting.

Europe has an enormous, complex train system that spreads from Portugal to the Ural Mountains in Russia, from the northern frozen hills of Scandinavia to the blue sea of southern Sicily.

Almost each and every country has its own distinct cars and locomotives, its own colors and logos. Some super-express trains run at tremendous speeds of 360 kilometers an hour; others slowly crawl through snow-covered mountains and green meadows at speeds hardly faster than walking pace.

Almost every city or town in Europe has its own station -- major metropolises have many of them -- which, together with its city square, represents a real urban center.

Some stations are architectural marvels, like those in Leipzig, Prague, Paris or Milan; others, like Termini in Rome, speak of a dark Fascist past and obsession with grandeur.

Comfortable train compartments that usually seat six are venues where people meet and part, flirt, exchange stories, complain about life, experience unusual encounters, or simply watch the scenery of lush countrysides and magnificent cities passing beyond the windows.

Many international, long-distance Euro-city trains carry the names of famous composers, writers, philosophers and painters, supplying passengers with small printed timetables and information about the person after who the train is named. The express from Munich to Paris is called Maurice Ravel (French Impressionist composer), while that connecting Amsterdam with Germany is called Erasmus (Dutch thinker from Rotterdam), and the northbound express from Rome is proudly called Michelangelo.

Historically, trains used to carry everything and everybody.

Russian tsars used to travel almost exclusively by rail, as did Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, who arrived by train from his exile in Finland, delivered his famous speech at the St. Petersburg station and triggered the Communist revolution.

During World War II, Adolf Hitler allegedly refused to accept Spain's invitation to join the war only because Francisco Franco's train from Madrid arrived late, leaving the German Fascist dictator stranded on the platform for several hours.

Trains have also carried men and women to exile, brought victorious generals to conquered lands. They carried millions of Jews to Nazi concentration camps, and later transported liberation armies to free them.

Great composers of the late 19th Century shuttled by train between the most important musical centers of Europe on the line connecting Berlin, Prague and Vienna. French and Spanish Impressionist painters rode trains almost exclusively on the line connecting Paris and Riviera.

In literature, trains were immortalized by several great writers. In the 19th Century classic Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, the protagonist commits suicide by jumping under the wheels of a speeding train after experiencing an unfulfilled, tragic love affair.

In Emil Zola's Human Beast (La Bete Humaine), two men fight on the platform of a powerful steam locomotive then fall in a deadly embrace, leaving the enormous Paris-Rouen passenger train rushing forward out of control -- a symbolic description of a blood-thirsty Europe speeding toward World War I. And Georges Simmenon's The Train depicts escape and exile.

Almost all great European filmmakers were obsessed with train stations and trains. In the final scene of the great 1966 classic A Man and a Woman by Claude Lelouch, the main character races against a train to Paris in his car to meet the woman he had almost lost a few hours earlier.

Rainer Werner Fassbinder marks the beginning of each segment in his eternal film Berlin Alexanderplatz with the spinning wheels of a steam engine. A woman betrays her husband in the train compartment in Between Us (Entre-noux), while Pedro Almodovar marks lapsed time with images of express trains speeding between Madrid and Barcelona in All About My Mother (Todo Sobre Mi Madre). And the list goes on.

Almost all Italian neo-realism filmmakers have included beautiful images of trains in their films. In those days, trains were the lifelines of Italy and of Europe entire, and in many ways they still are.

Across the Atlantic, the United States (which still uses trains, but mainly for cargo) opted for highways and trucks to transport goods. It exported this approach to many of its consumer partners. After the U.S. sponsored the 1973 coup in Chile, American advisors convinced the Chilean military junta to abandon their well-functioning rail network and invest in highways. Thirty years later, flooded with cars, Chile is again spending large sums of money to improve its railroads.

Even the U.S. has recently built several high-speed corridors to connect major urban centers including Boston, New York City and Washington, D.C.

But the biggest railroad project may soon begin in Southeast Asia, which has for years dreamed of connecting Singapore with the Chinese rail network -- and thus with Europe via the Trans-Siberian railway. Brand-new, modern tracks are planned to link Singapore to Malaysia and then continue through to Cambodia, Vietnam and southern China.

Another gigantic railroad project in Asia is to connect southern Japan with South Korea via an underwater tunnel. For this, new railroads would have to be built in North Korean territory, connecting both South Korea and Japan with China and the rest of the world.

This renaissance of trains all over the world is possible mainly because of the success of European -- and to a great extend, Japanese -- train services.

Europe considers trains to be more efficient, faster, safer and environmentally friendlier than any other mode of ground transportation. Trains can carry up to 50 cargo carriages or move hundreds of people by electric engines, without pollution or traffic jams.

Accidents are rare; the death toll on railroads is just a small fraction of that on the roads. And thousands of commuter or suburban trains bring millions of people daily to urban centers, relaxing traffic congestion.

Comfort has always been another important issue. In Europe, intercity buses are no competition for trains, and are considered to be too confined (no chance to stretch, walk around or visit an onboard restaurant) and slower. Buses are used mainly by students and older people with pre-booked tours.

No matter how luxurious the car, it cannot match the space, comfort and freedom of movement provided aboard trains, especially long-distance ones. Some modern intercity expresses are equipped with computer jacks, video monitors, audio channels and plush reclining seats. Almost all long-distance trains have either restaurant or buffet cars, bathrooms and plenty of storage room for luggage.

Speed is another concern. France's TGV (Train … Grande Vitesse) moves at an incredible 360 km/hour, Germany's ICE (Inter-City Express) is not much behind, while Italy's Eurostar and Spain's AVE (Alta Velocidad Espa¤ol) "fly" on rails at almost 300 km/h. No matter how fast a car, it can never hope to match the speed of modern high-speed trains.

Historically places for relaxation, trains are where family members and friends can spend hours in uninterrupted intimate conversations or simply watch the scenery and browse through books, newspapers and magazines over a cup of coffee. Each European station is equipped with newsstands, and major stations offer first-rate bookstores, restaurants, cafes and other facilities.

Almost all European trains have two classes -- first and second -- the difference is usually only in the size of the seats. Some older trains have smoking cars and compartments, although smoking has almost entirely disappeared from the super-fast, hermetically sealed trains, as well as from local commuter trains.

European trains are some of the most egalitarian institutions in the world, used by the rich as well as the general public. For a single traveler, it is generally cheaper to take the train than the car, mainly due to the high price of gasoline.

Railroads also offer countless discounts, including weekend family passes and other incentives, including Euro-rail passes for foreign travelers from other continents and students. Some cultural institutions, like concert halls and theaters, offer free train rides with the purchase of an entrance ticket.

High-speed European trains were the brainchild of the French government and its plan to rationalize energy production (and consumption) by providing a fast and reliable transit system.

This is how it works: Around 90 percent of all energy in France is produced by safe, state-owned power plants, which in turn provide cheap energy to an almost entirely electrified train system, the SNCF. While gas is heavily taxed and highway tolls are some of the steepest in Europe, trains and public transportation are subsidized.

The super-express TGVs are now traveling to Marseilles and Nice, stopping at Lyon and Dijon, to Bordeaux and the Spanish border city of Irun, then on to Lille, Brussels, Amsterdam and Geneva, thereby forming the most advanced and complete high-speed train network in the world, challenged only by Japan Railways (JR).

Germany (strapped for cash after reunification) and the UK partially privatized their rail networks. Privatization failed squarely; fares went up while service quality fell dramatically. Concerned mainly with profit, the private companies failed to maintain tracks and trains, a fact that led to several fatal accidents in both countries and finally culminated in a gruesome tragedy -- the derailment of an ICE in Germany that left scores of dead and injured.

While DB (German Railways) used to pride themselves in punctual service and impeccable cars (the Germans and Swiss used to say that one can set a watch by the arrival of their trains), present-day service, although still excellent by world standards, can hardly be compared to those of the past.

The foundation of the European railway system has long been complete, and major additions consist only the Euro-tunnel connecting France and the UK, and the spectacular tunnel-bridge link between Denmark's Copenhagen and Sweden's Malmo.

Further improvements are planned, mainly to enhance speed, quality of tracks and stations, as well as to expand dedicated high-speed corridors.

Germany's Siemens is developing the Maglev -- a magnetic train "floating" above the tracks at a speed of over 500 km/h. So far, Siemens has found practical application only in Shanghai, connecting the city and its international airport -- more a showy display of technology than a practical mode of transportation.

In fact, many passengers wonder whether it would be comfortable to cruise at that speed close to the surface of the earth. Even the 360-km/h TGV makes many travelers dizzy.

It is impossible to imagine Europe without its trains. Luxury or super-fast, or local, romantic and slow; they are all part of the folklore and culture of a continent obsessed with discovery and travel.

Two red lights at the back of the last carriage disappearing into the night are unmistakable symbols of sadness, nostalgia and parting. A sleek TGV flying on elevated tracks is symbol of progress. A Eurostar connecting Paris and London symbolizes European integration. A slow train crawling through evening in a pristine Alpine countryside, its roof covered by snow and windows lit, is an unmistakable symbol of coziness and beauty.

It is also a symbol of homecoming: of course the people standing on the platform, impatiently waiting for arriving long distance train.

Flo

..der nach einer solchen Betrachtung doch immer wieder froh ist im "paradisischen" Europa zu leben!



Flo