Train or airplane?

Image by Wolfgang Eckert from Pixabay

This Monday, I had a morning meeting in Gothenburg. Since I am a tired old man nowadays, I detest the morning flights, especially with connections. It means waking up before going to bed and feeling like a flipper ball with all the transfers, security checks and stress. I sincerely hate it. However, a mate of mine advised me to grab the night train. When the train works, it is fantastic. There are two killer features with the train. No connections and when you wake up you are precisely in the city center.

A flight would have been so much worse. I would have had to fly the night before and grab a hotel room. With regards to time, it is possible that flying would have taken even more hours between door to door. Certainly, with less sleep hours compared to the train. Flying tickets, a hotel night and airport transfers in combination with equal or more travel hours make the night train a very attractive choice. With the night train you kind of get the hotel night included. I traveled in my own compartment. The comfort is thus miles better than a cramped airplane seat.

A couple of years ago, I lived across the street from the train station in Umeå. That was fantastic. I used to book 1st class tickets including breakfast and lunch on a “bullet train”. I just got out of bed, walked across the street, got into my seat and then breakfast was served. I could then easily work for a couple of hours on a big table before lunch was served. After lunch, we would arrive in central Stockholm with a total time of around 6 hours. In comparison, flying takes 1 hours, but you must include the early check in and transfer time (1-2 hours) and the transfer time on arrival (another hour) which means you get at least 4 hours and several transfers. It is much harder to get any work done under these conditions. So, even if the train takes 2 hours more, I get 4 hours on a proper desk to get some work done and overall, a lot less stress. Once again, it is an easy win for the train.

I would probably choose the train every time if it weren’t for the unpredictability. I have had some very bad experiences with the train too. Two times, my train has been cancelled with less than 24 hours’ notice. Which means I am stranded. Those times I had to panic book flights. After those mishaps, I gave up on the train for a couple of years. This was in the winter, and it seems as if the train operators did not consider the climate in the north of Sweden when they purchased their trains. If you have an important meeting, 1-2-3 hours delay is unacceptable. And sometimes even more. When I checked the statistics, Umeå to Stockholm had an abysmal track record of 63% if I remember correctly. This means, that you might miss every third business meeting. When it works however, the train is the best thing ever. My approach is that I think it is probably worth it in the summer months, but I am quite skeptical about choosing the train during the winter months.

One of the problems with Sweden is that it is an extremely long country with very few people in it. It must be a nightmare trying to turn train operation into a successful business. I don’t know what to do about that, but I am keeping the train as a viable means of transportation. A funny anecdote is that my mate who advised me to take the night train attended the same meeting in Gothenburg as me. However, he had chose to fly and was unlucky and was severely delayed by several hours in total. So, maybe I am completely delusional in my skepticism with trains on time. I hope am wrong at least. I would like it very much if trains can become my 1st choice.