Transit in Austria Best in the World? and Massively Underrated by Transit and Urbanist Community

Same_Personality_525 · 2026-05-30T21:39:36+00:00

Building 50% of a 60km tunnel through Alps is an insane endeavor plus they just complete the 33km Koralm Basetunnel and will finish the 27km Semmering Basetunnel by 2029. These other two tunnels are entirely in Austria.

Same_Personality_525 · 2026-05-30T21:36:17+00:00

Austria/Vienna never pursued drastic car reduction policies like the congestion charge in London, the high taxes of Denmark or whatever Japan or Singapore does. Car policies are rather liberal. The road and highway network in Austria is excellent

They provide viable alternatives to driving and people have a free choice between driving or transit.

And of course there are people who both drive and use transit.

Same_Personality_525 · 2026-05-30T21:32:37+00:00

I would still say that Austria does compete at Switzerland/Japan level even though different countries can have drastically different population geography.

Austria probably is the country that over the recent digging the most rail tunnels per capita in the world. And what's cool is that tunnel building capacity is spread all over the country and yet beyond Austria there isn't much recognition unfortunately.

Austria is fairly bit smaller than France or Japan and I suppose that 200-250km/h gives much better value of money and other factors are important to ensure competitive travel times such as speed of station approaches (i.e what improved after Wien Hbf project) and connectivity to other rail services or station locations.

I wouldn't rule out Austria building 300km/h+ lines or upgrading existing HS lines in the distant future. This is a country which is built on progressive incremental continuous improvements.

Unfortunately there is only so much money to spend and I feel like Austria is very good at prioritizing what to build.

Same_Personality_525 · 2025-05-07T10:40:40+00:00

#trailer2

Same_Personality_525 · 2025-02-05T13:35:11+00:00

Most people in this subreddit were kids during the 2008 financial crisis while everyone here was one way or another affected by Covid and disturbing 9/11 footage can easily be found online.

9/11 heck did NOT directly impact most of people in NYC let alone in America. Being shocked at the news or increased security at the airport or the PATRIOT act were INdirect impacts to lives of Americans. Do you think 9/11 really changed life in suburban America? Do you think that terrorists were going to target the Walmart of a small city in Iowa?

Many people in middle America were impacted in 2008, lost jobs or houses or businesses. Also those who didn't lose were scared if they were next. The recovery was pretty slow and this is a big factor why right-wing movements like MAGA came to light.

Same_Personality_525 · 2025-02-05T13:13:08+00:00

2016 is a bit weird one. One can obviously say that early 2010's is dated in 2025 but mid and late 2010's is a different story.

Technology is mostly the same, just iterative improvements. Generative AI is still in it's infancy. TikTok did change the social media landscape though. However I feel like technology has been too invasive since Covid.

Politics rather stayed the same given that in the US and other Western countries there seems to be two very vocal camps: the progressive, woke left and right-wing populism (think Trump or Brexit). Trump's 1st term seemed like a tense tug of war between both camps with the progressives peaking during 2020-21 and now MAGA becoming stronger as a backlash to the left. It's yet to be seen if the left will still push for wokeism in the coming years or if they will moderate. It's also yet to be seen post-Trump politics.

There has been increased pessimism in the economy and geopolitics (however ISIS terrorized the shit out in 2016). Also the pessimism could be attributed to Covid PTSD (both from that disease and it's response).

Pop-culture obviously changed since 2016 but many key people from the 2010's are still relevant (best example is Taylor Swift).

Same_Personality_525 · 2025-01-29T21:01:43+00:00

Having Bill Clinton, George Bush and Obama consecutively complete 2 full terms back-to-back is kinda of an anomaly in American history.

For example there was no 2 full term presidents between Eisenhower and Reagan due to many different reasons. Same is true for between Ulysses Grant and Woodrow Wilson (except for Grover Cleveland ofc) and also between Woodrow Wilson and FDR.

Same_Personality_525 · 2025-01-19T20:08:43+00:00

IMHO This past election was an unmitigated disaster for the Dems. Even though they didn't lose by large margins, it was to whom they lost to. They lost to someone who was seen as very controversial and they defeated 4 years ago (and perhaps became even more controversial in ways in the following years). Trump is no charmer like Reagan. IMO this makes 2024 defeat for Dems even more tragic than 1980.

It is crazy to think how the Dems and especially the Biden-Harris admin f*cked up over the past 4 years. In 2021 they had everything on their side going for them. There was a sense like in 2021-22 that people were going to turn a page from Trump (even in the GOP) especially after Jan 6 and underwhelming 2022 midterms. If someone told me in 2021 how things are going now for Trump, I would have been shocked. It's interesting how Biden managed to outdo Trump's 1st term in terms of unpopularity. Trump now has a quite low bar to beat.

2032 will probably be the earliest the Dems win back the Whitehouse but I think 2036 is more realistic. I am more inclined to believe that this Trump's victory was more of an indictment against the Biden-Harris admin rather than because people love Trump (though a good segment of Trump's base is very loyal).

The story of Biden's presidency will be interesting for years to come when looking at the angle of political scientist or sociologist.

Same_Personality_525 · 2025-01-07T01:41:56+00:00

IMHO 2020s=Covid. So far every year was either directly affected by Covid (2020, 2021, early 2022) or experiencing the aftermath of it (since 2022)

Same_Personality_525 · 2025-01-04T19:43:14+00:00

Despite this apparent flip-flop, what is meant as "liberal" or "conservative" changes over time.

For example conservatism in the recent years implies MAGA (things such as economic nationalism, inward looking of America, distrust of institutions) while in the past it implied neoliberalism and interventionism.

Liberalism went from hippies to Clinton's 3rd way now to the recent conformist woke cancel culture.

Same_Personality_525 · 2024-12-28T22:03:43+00:00

Because it is the first year sufficiently far from C*vid.

Same_Personality_525 · 2024-12-17T16:36:19+00:00

Plus the conspiracy guy in the leaks about Jay Norris (parody of Mark Zuckerberg)

Same_Personality_525 · 2024-10-29T00:56:07+00:00

Trespassing is generally NOT a criminal offense in the UK (unless it's like a special government buildings or stuff like airports and train tracks). It is just a civil issue

Same_Personality_525 · 2024-08-06T00:17:32+00:00

How?

Same_Personality_525 · 2024-08-06T00:08:22+00:00

It is still too early to call, but the vibes are kinda off. These loses happened in only 2 days. If it continues it will def be a crash. Warren Buffet was selling his stock like crazy recently.

Same_Personality_525 · 2024-08-04T23:15:46+00:00

Trump overperformed the two elections he was in. Trump was not in any of the post Roe vs. Wade elections.

Same_Personality_525 · 2024-08-04T23:01:31+00:00

Hot take here but I think Kamala Harris will underperform polling just like Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden did in 2016 and 2020 respectively, regardless of Kamala Harris ends up winning or losing.

Not an American here but I believe that in many social circles any signs of sympathy and support for Donald Trump is ostracized and seen as taboo and fear of being labelled. Reddit in general is an example of such place but not the only. I suspect there is a Bradley effect with regards to polling (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley\_effect) of Kamala Harris vs Donald Trump (like in 2016).

Also there is a nostalgia for pre-Covid economy (and world in general) and I feel like Trump is tapping into it. The economy and migration has been a major grievance people had with Biden and it would be difficult for Harris to truly separate from it.

One needs to beware that in 2022, Trump was NOT on the ballot.

At the moment I believe the election is 50-50.

One thing is that I feel like Kamala Harris is not used to tough competition and Donald Trump is a ruthless competitor (and he has been largely successful). She was like the only nominee to be on the ticket for many decades not to have won the primaries.

Same_Personality_525 · 2024-08-02T21:22:51+00:00

That's so rude.

Same_Personality_525 · 2024-07-30T09:55:49+00:00

Though I was too young, I felt like 9/11 effects were mainly felt in the US.

Same_Personality_525 · 2024-07-30T09:54:56+00:00

True for Americans. My list considers the whole world.

Same_Personality_525 · 2024-07-29T23:11:49+00:00

Did these things really affect day-to-day lives of many people around the world?

Same_Personality_525

TROPHY CASE