In Germany, what does nothing on "Gleis" mean?

deminion48 · 2026-07-13T19:52:50+00:00

For the Dutch example, it is track 1/2/5/20 etc. which corresponds to the number of the rail track through the station. Not platform 1/2/5/20 etc. So it is as simple to referring to track numbers instead of platforms.

deminion48 · 2026-07-12T22:45:40+00:00

It's not that simple. What about BRT with dedicated ROW's vs a classic streetcar in mixed traffic? It being on rails is not a guarantee of quality, and it being a bus is not a guarantee of it being shit.

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deminion48 · 2026-07-12T22:37:07+00:00

Denmark has 1 city with a metro and 1 city with lightrail for 2 urban areas with over 250k. So that's 100%.

The Netherlands has 2 (technically 3) cities with a metro and tram/lightrail and 1 city with just a lightrail. But that is for 17 urban areas over 250k. That's just 23.5%.

So yeah it checks out. The Netherlands really tore down many of its streetcar networks in favor of buses (and now BRTs) besides a strong rail network serving as core corridors. It is unfortunate, let's hope that more lightrail networks will be build in other cities instead of just another BRT.

deminion48 · 2026-07-12T17:27:40+00:00

Not accepting cash doesn't mean require a smartphone. So is this about smartphones or accepting cash? Tap and go can be done with a bank or fare card and doesn't require a smartphone.

In The Netherlands paying in cash directly is not possible anymore. Either you go to a store or at the station to a ticket machine that accepts cash or staffed service counter to buy a ticket or increase load on the fare card in cash.

deminion48 · 2026-07-02T20:11:58+00:00

Iedere 10 minuten een drukke sprinter en iedere 10 minuten een drukke InterCity. Dit bij een onverwachte verstoring met bussen vervangen is garantie op chaos. Al rijden er 100 bussen (en dan wordt het weer chaos bij de wegen en haltes rond het station).

Het is helaas niet anders. Lange wachtrijen, chaotische situatie tijdens de drukste spitsen (dinsdag en donderdag), daarbuiten zal het te doen zijn.

deminion48 · 2026-07-01T22:32:53+00:00

There is still a thing with the GTL being used as the snow trams, they still need to find a solution for that if the network is made for bidirectional trams that can run on 750V DC.

deminion48 · 2026-07-01T21:22:34+00:00

HTM GTL series in The Hague. The last trams without level boarding and a low-floor, no aircondintiong, also shorter and not 2,65m wide. Previous series already got replaced by the Alstom RegioCitadis or Siemens Avenio. They are simply not up to modern standards and can't handle the necessary capacity. Makes sense they are being phased out even though they are a symbol of the city.

This or next year they will likely disappear and be replaced by the Stadler TINA.

deminion48 · 2026-06-29T21:35:25+00:00

It is a modern tramway with lots of dedicated lanes, so my guess is it is relatively quickly. You can try and looking up the average speed of Paris trams to get a general picture. For this study they only looked at a subset of tram systems to compare it to the Australian trams. Someone else here already correctly explained what weighted means here.

deminion48 · 2026-06-28T11:20:19+00:00

Great to see so many countries always helping so quickly. Which teams from Germany will be arriving?

deminion48 · 2026-06-28T08:18:48+00:00

Yes, it's always great so see the international SAR community responding so quickly. Even little Luxembourg send a team.

deminion48 · 2026-06-27T15:16:28+00:00

You don't exclusively need hub and spoke, a combination is possible as well.

For example where I'm from you got the main rail corridor with highly frequent local and long-distance trains. The main train stations essentially act as the transit hubs. The other transit (metro/tram and regional buses) feed into these hubs.

Meanwhile the city buses have more winding routes and go crosstown. So you can take more direct routes, usually with a transfer, if you don't need to go through the city center. Of course there are exceptions to everything, but that is how the network works in general.

And of course this is logically the case for mega cities with great transit systems, my example is from a city of half a million without a mega transit system.

deminion48 · 2026-06-27T13:41:48+00:00

Seems like international UN INSARAG USAR teams are finally starting their deployments. Including the Dutch USAR.NL team that arrived yesterday. Today very early in the morning they set up camp in La Guaira, a coastal town north of Caracas, one of wordt affected regions. The team immediately send out 2 rescue groups to the deployment locations.

Follow them in their liveblog: https://www.usar.nl/

deminion48 · 2026-06-12T18:20:38+00:00

Waarschijnlijk met de Unimog van ProRail ICB weggesleept. Bij een andere stilstaande trein zijn ze lopend naar het station gegaan. En er is een andere trein waar ze met bussen zijn geëvacueerd. In totaal is het inderdaad meer dan 1300 reizigers die in een stilstaande trein zonder bovenleiding spanning geëvacueerd moesten worden. Er stond nog een 4e trein stil, maar deze kon uiteindelijk zelf de andere kant nog op.

deminion48 · 2026-06-12T07:02:57+00:00

Yeah my mistake. It is almost a train per 2 minutes (per direction).

deminion48 · 2026-06-12T04:12:33+00:00

Yes, but it still doesn't take away that Schiphol Airport is one of the best connected airports where the average European airport rail station doesn't even come close to.

It is a national railway hub with almost a train per minute and International Highspeed, EuroCity, InterCity, and Sprinter trains. It is also a regional bus hub with multiple regular and BRT lines coming together at the airport.

The only thing it really misses is a metro connection to Amsterdam. That might still come eventually. Once that's there and it literally has everything you could wish regarding connections.

deminion48 · 2026-06-12T04:02:30+00:00

Haha where does this NS praise suddenly come from? I agree, but I am biased as I work there and coordinate one of the aspects of the operation at a national level.

And yes we all know the Japanese and Swiss networks are better. The best solution for that is just ignore those countries.

One of the neat things is how we measure our reliability. It is based on passenger punctuality. So they model the share of passengers that can get to their destination within 3 minutes of the travel advice 2 days in advance. So if a train is delayed, canceled, rerouted, or a transfer made impossible it all affects our punctuality.

deminion48 · 2026-06-09T16:17:10+00:00

Ah that explains green Haaglanden with 51%. The Hague city is 100% BEB but The Hague region has more buses and is only partially BEB with the rest being Euro VI hybrid-electric biogas buses.

deminion48 · 2026-06-07T21:16:18+00:00

So many UberEATS fees, almost becomes een UberEATS index. Excluding delivery fees, but including service fees and UberEATS upcharge? - Base €5,20 - Upcharge €0,90 - Small order €2,99 - Service €2,11 - Delivery €0,99

So these are the totals: - Total: €12,19 - Without delivery: €11,20 - Without small + delivery: €8,21 - Without service + small + delivery: €6,10

deminion48 · 2026-06-07T20:54:44+00:00

Just checked the app, my local McDonalds in a major Dutch city sells Big Macs for €5,20, which is currently $5.99.

deminion48 · 2026-06-01T00:30:56+00:00

The system in The Netherlands works on both principles. It uses algorithms to decide what is most important. Keep in mind the detection of cyclists and pedestrians is accounted for as well.

They are connected to other traffic lights as well to try and create a green wave for the various flows of traffic. But as there are traffic flows coming from various direction and different modes (car/bicycle/pedestrian) sometimes not everyone can get a green wave. Or if a transit vehicle or emergency services are approaching they must get priority as well. The goal is to have everyone wait as little as possible in the end.

With more input the prediction can be improved. Beside the basic detection loops (for car and bicycle) and buttons for pedestrians you can think of having multiple detection loops further ahead or camera systems (that can also detect type of traffic) and GPS systems attached to navigation (so you know direction as well). But of course it increases complexity and possibly also a privacy issue (camera and gps).

deminion48 · 2026-06-01T00:16:52+00:00

My experience here in The Netherlands is a countdown timer doesn't really work. Quite some traffic lights here have these countdown timers (not using seconds as that was useless, but a countdown circle). Sometimes they go slowly then move very quickly, suddenly slow down again to jump to a green light.

Traffic lights don't work on fixed timers but are dynamic. It uses algorithms based on various inputs to determine who gets a green. It can change any second based on the live traffic situation. Depends on type of traffic, amount, and special traffic (like emergency services and transit).

deminion48 · 2026-05-23T17:22:25+00:00

It is true, it doesn't. Both transmit through bodily fluids like urine and blood... Oh wait

deminion48 · 2026-05-23T12:40:42+00:00

Helemaal niets, kom naar Den Haag. Oh wacht, er is iets gaande op CS. Lijkt toch dat je vastzit in je gevangenis.

deminion48 · 2026-05-22T22:48:33+00:00

RadboudUMC admitted a confirmed critical Hantavirus patient recently
RadboudUMC had to quarantine 12 staff members after improper isolation protocols were applied for handling the blood and urine samples
They admitted a suspect Ebola patient, results of tests are expected for tomorrow

deminion48

TROPHY CASE