alt Hacker News> Worst during the interrail trip.
That wouldn't surprise me. "your worst train experience" still would, unless the person only taken trains in Europe. But the world is big, and some places are just on a different level. Ever taken a train in India? I'd like to hear those people complain about the German train experience :)
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I guess it depends on what you expect. If you expect the train to be on time .. yes, India is much better than Germany. ~80% trains delayed 15 min or less vs Germany 36% trains delayed 15 min or less. It can get pretty bad when your train is delayed so you miss your connection and now you’re stranded in a random town waiting for the next train .. which is coming .. at 5am the next day. Or you can take the regional and hopefully make it in 12 hours with 3 connections instead of your original 4 hour leg. :D
If you expect a comfortable and quiet experience, then I’d agree with you, Germany can be a much nicer experience.
So it’s really about what you value, I guess
doesn't it say quite a bit about the german train system when you have to compare it to india to make it seem not that bad?
The problem with Indian rail is the eccentric booking system. All intercity trains are booked out days or weeks in advance. This is because Indian Railways deals with excess demand not by varying the prices (yield management) but rather by allowing people to cancel reservations at no cost, with a waiting-list system for latecomers. I suppose it allows poor people to travel cheaply by planning in advance, but then so would yield-management pricing. A bit of a mystery.