[lucumo]

> When I’m in DC I swipe a card, walk on, walk off. Same with New York and Amsterdam. Even Netherlands into France is walk on/walk off

What train did you take to France? Everytime I go to Belgium I have to be careful to pick a train that doesn't require me to book a ticket on a specific train. I really like the "I'll get the next train whenever I reach the station" that domestic trains have. For long distance international trains that seems to only still be available to a limited set of trains to Belgium.

[Forgeties79]

Eurostar. Buy tickets online, walk up to gate, QR code beeps on a little scanner, walk onto train. That was it. No TSA-like security experience, no person checking anything (except one guy who walked around on the train and scanned one ticket which registered all our tickets at once, pretty uneventful). UK is a notable exception but they’re also kind of insane about government surveillance/security, especially post-brexit. Also not EU.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to require you to buy tickets ahead of time when you’re going to other countries. All travel requires this and taking autonomous cars across countries is generally not a realistic option nor will it be except in edge cases (and for deep pockets).

Anyway point is daily train travel is generally easy and affordable. It’s not this grueling, burdensome process in places that have actually invested in it. It can be a great way to move lots of people consistently, and a lot of the US would benefit from it. Sooo many cities with crazy traffic between them forcing what should be a 30-60min trip into hours. A train would rip between these places.

Daily commuter trains between Austin/dallas/Houston for instance would be great. Austin to Dallas is a 3-4hr drive. A TGV, decades old tech, would do it in 60min flat. Could you imagine?

[Symbiote]

The Channel Tunnel has security checks because it's a 30km undersea tunnel, and separates an island country with a different approach to weapons to its neighbour. There are no security checks on any other trains in the UK.

It's also not necessary (in Europe) to buy tickets any differently when crossing borders. Advance-purchase tickets are used for long-distance high-speed trains where they don't want people sitting, or wish to spread the demand throughout the day to avoid crowding — that applies whether or not a border is crossed.

I can buy a ticket (paper or electronic) moments before the train from Copenhagen to Malmö leaves, since it's a medium-distance regional train without reserved seating.

[Forgeties79]

Duly noted

[lucumo]

Oh, okay. I misunderstood what you meant by walk on/walk off.

I find the exact planning ahead of time more annoying than a security checkpoint, so was hoping you found a better solution.