[worldsayshi]

It would be so great if the rest of the world could take inspiration from Switzerland and Japan regarding train management.

Also perhaps Ukraine. I heard they had stepped up during war time to the point of being more punctual than many other European countries.

[Ray20]

>It would be so great if the rest of the world could take inspiration from Switzerland and Japan regarding train management.

I would be glad to hear more about their success in the train management. Probably starting with one of the most important parameters - the cost of travel per kilometer per passenger (taking into account all subsidies, infrastructure and operating costs, and everything else)

>Also perhaps Ukraine. I heard they had stepped up during war time to the point of being more punctual than many other European countries.

Probably they have simply returned to the good old Soviet tradition of compiling beautiful statistics. Brought back bad statistics? Perhaps you and your male relatives will be more useful in the trenches. Complaining about train delays instead of productive work? Such active people and their male relatives are exactly what are needed to storm Russian fortifications! And voila - the statistics went through the roof.

[dan-robertson]

Swiss trains are often on time because they are deliberately slow, and so they can speed up a bit if things are delayed. They are sometimes deliberately slow because the Swiss system is designed to have trains arrive and leave interchange stations at the same time to make changing trains easier. Some are also slow because they take routes that wind along mountainsides which are scenic but not particularly direct.

[dkga]

Well, that and their amazing logistics. Their annual time table is even connected to the local public transport in major and medium-sized cities.

[worldsayshi]

Interesting. I wonder if this goes further than just allowing trains to catch up. Like, does going slower lower the chances of failures and failure cascades in the first place?

Maybe trains in many/most systems are running faster than they should for optimal performance?

[ruszki]

I travel between Vienna and Budapest quite frequently, and ÖBB (Austrian railway) does also this deliberately on Austrian side towards Vienna. Trains can arrive about 15-20 minutes early in Vienna if they go full speed in Austria, and they arrive in time to the Hungarian border. This rarely happens, and in that case, they go slower.

Also, there is almost always delay between Budapest and a smaller Hungarian city. ÖBB changed schedule for their own trains quite quickly reflecting that. MÁV (Hungarian railway) still hasn’t done that for almost two years now on the same line. They still basically lie about it.

[cyberax]

Ukraine and most of the xUSSR countries have always had timely service. Trains are usually on time, although they are not always very fast.