Am 28.06.2023 um 18:40 schrieb Bob:
> On 28.06.23 12:01, Marland wrote:
>> Tweed <usenet.tweed@gmail.com> wrote:. Subsidy maybe high, but that seems
>> worthwhile to have a rail system and therefore a country that functions
>> properly.
>>
>> Their geography helps, relatively compact country that is directly
>> adjacent
>> to others for which it is a link.
>
> Switzerland is about the same geographical size and population as
> Scotland, with a similar distribution of densly populated lowlands and
> sparsely populated mountains/highlands.

No, it's not. Switzerland has 8.5 million people on 40,000 km^2,
scotland has 5 million people on 70,000 km^2, i.e. Switzerland is almost
4 times as densely populated as Scotland.

Austria (8 million people on 80,000 km^2) has a lot more in common with
Scotland in this respect.
Rolf

Rolf Mantel <news@hartig-mantel.de> wrote:
> Am 28.06.2023 um 18:40 schrieb Bob:
>> On 28.06.23 12:01, Marland wrote:
>>> Tweed <usenet.tweed@gmail.com> wrote:. Subsidy maybe high, but that seems
>>> worthwhile to have a rail system and therefore a country that functions
>>> properly.
>>>
>>> Their geography helps, relatively compact country that is directly
>>> adjacent
>>> to others for which it is a link.
>>
>> Switzerland is about the same geographical size and population as
>> Scotland, with a similar distribution of densly populated lowlands and
>> sparsely populated mountains/highlands.
>
> No, it's not. Switzerland has 8.5 million people on 40,000 km^2,
> scotland has 5 million people on 70,000 km^2, i.e. Switzerland is almost
> 4 times as densely populated as Scotland.
>
> Austria (8 million people on 80,000 km^2) has a lot more in common with
> Scotland in this respect.
> Rolf
>

The most noticeable thing about Swiss railways is how up to date all the
infrastructure and rolling stock is. I suspect part of their good
timekeeping is down to lack of failures.

Am 29.06.2023 um 15:14 schrieb Tweed:
> Rolf Mantel <news@hartig-mantel.de> wrote:
>> Am 28.06.2023 um 18:40 schrieb Bob:
>>> On 28.06.23 12:01, Marland wrote:
>>>> Tweed <usenet.tweed@gmail.com> wrote:. Subsidy maybe high, but that seems
>>>> worthwhile to have a rail system and therefore a country that functions
>>>> properly.
>>>>
>>>> Their geography helps, relatively compact country that is directly
>>>> adjacent
>>>> to others for which it is a link.
>>>
>>> Switzerland is about the same geographical size and population as
>>> Scotland, with a similar distribution of densly populated lowlands and
>>> sparsely populated mountains/highlands.
>>
>> No, it's not. Switzerland has 8.5 million people on 40,000 km^2,
>> scotland has 5 million people on 70,000 km^2, i.e. Switzerland is almost
>> 4 times as densely populated as Scotland.
>>
>> Austria (8 million people on 80,000 km^2) has a lot more in common with
>> Scotland in this respect.
>
> The most noticeable thing about Swiss railways is how up to date all the
> infrastructure and rolling stock is. I suspect part of their good
> timekeeping is down to lack of failures.

'Traditional good engineering' versus 'lean':
Ensuring there are sufficient buffers of all relevant resources provides
a high-quality service at a high cost.
Optimizing those buffers to a 'just good enough' level provides a 'just
good enough' service at a low cost.
But when the bean counters start replacing those 'just good enough'
buffers by zero buffers, all hell brakes loose.

I you have a timetable needing 14 EMUs, do you buy 14, 16 or 25 to
provide the service?

The Swiss and Japanese seem to prefer extremely high quality safeguarded
by extremely high buffer levels (odd for the country that invented lean
automotive production), while the UK seems to listen to the bean counters.

Rolf Mantel <news@hartig-mantel.de> wrote:
> Am 28.06.2023 um 18:40 schrieb Bob:
>> On 28.06.23 12:01, Marland wrote:
>>> Tweed <usenet.tweed@gmail.com> wrote:. Subsidy maybe high, but that seems
>>> worthwhile to have a rail system and therefore a country that functions
>>> properly.
>>>
>>> Their geography helps, relatively compact country that is directly
>>> adjacent
>>> to others for which it is a link.
>>
>> Switzerland is about the same geographical size and population as
>> Scotland, with a similar distribution of densly populated lowlands and
>> sparsely populated mountains/highlands.
>
> No, it's not. Switzerland has 8.5 million people on 40,000 km^2,
> scotland has 5 million people on 70,000 km^2, i.e. Switzerland is almost
> 4 times as densely populated as Scotland.
>
> Austria (8 million people on 80,000 km^2) has a lot more in common with
> Scotland in this respect.

CH 212/km^2
Sc 71/km^2
Oe 100/km^2

Switzerland only 3x as densely populated as Scotland, but OeBB’s trains can
be found all over Europe.

Sam

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