Tag: Rail

The Swedes are the Greatest People on the Face of the Earth

Swedish passenger operator MTR Express opened up a new line between Stockholm and Gothenburg, and they held an online contest to name it, the obvious happened, but unlike the killjoys at the Natural Environment Research Council, they decided to name the line Trainy McTrainface:

A Swedish rail operator has vowed to name one of its trains Trainy McTrainface after a public vote, saying it would bring joy to people disappointed when Britain rejected the name Boaty McBoatface for a polar research ship following a similar poll.

Trainy McTrainface won 49% of the votes in the naming competition, conducted online by train operator MTR Express and Swedish newspaper Metro, beating choices such as Hakan, Miriam and Poseidon.

“[This is] news that will be received with joy by many, not just in Sweden,” MTR wrote in a statement.

The train will run between the Swedish capital Stockholm and Gothenburg, the country’s second-biggest city.
………

MTR said another train had been voted to be named “Glenn”, an apparent tribute to an IFK Gothenburg soccer team of the 1980s that featured four players of that name – uncommon in Sweden – including Glenn Hysen, who later captained Liverpool.

This is so cool.

Wrong Lesson Learned


Adopting Delta Seating?

Amtrak is looking at making train travel more like flying Delta, because, much like the major airlines, they hate their passengers.

Amtrak is missing a key fact about their situation:  Unlike the airlines sitting in their fortress hubs, they have a lot of competitors.

A bus is cheaper and only slightly slower than passenger rail:+

If there’s one thing that riding the rails has over flying, perhaps it’s comfort: Train passengers have a bit more legroom than on planes, and can get up and walk around at any time. We all may need to stretch our legs a bit more if Amtrak decides to pack in more seats.

The outgoing co-chief executive of Amtrak says the rail system — which is in need of a major financial boost — is thinking about possibly making it less comfortable in economy class by adding additional seats, Reuters reports.

He didn’t just say that Amtrak is considering adding more seats; he outright admitted that tightening up seat pitch — the distance between the seatback and the seat in front of it — is just one “creative” change under consideration that could make things worse for passengers.

“There will be some other things that just don’t make it quite as comfortable,” Wick Moorman told reporters at a National Press Club talk this week.

Cramped seating is likely nothing new for Amtrak’s recent hire, former Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson. He joined the company as president and co-CEO on Wednesday, and will be sharing the top spot until Moorman steps down on Dec. 31.

When I first read this, I hadn’t realized that the new HMFIC at Amtrak was actually from Delta, I just defaulted to Delta as a standard avatar as agony in air travel.

Delta has long been the standard for poor quality in customer service in airlines, well, it was until United Airlines said, “Hold my beer.”

FWIW, here is John Mulaney on Delta Airlines: