@DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social avatar

DiegoBeghin

@DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social

Docteur en physique, data scientist, belgo-brésilien. Vélo et transports publics.

Blog: metrovelododo.wordpress.com

I speak: EN-FR-PT-ES. Learning DE, but it's still bad.

Fan of Paradox games since EU3.

Migration depuis https://masto.bike/@DiegoBeghin

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DiegoBeghin, to random
@DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social avatar

Still can't believe how much of a slog it is to leave Brussels by the train to North or East. 10 min to do the 5 km nonstop to Schaerbeek, then acceleration to 200 km/h but slow down to 110 to cross Leuven station.

DiegoBeghin,
@DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social avatar

On the approach to Aachen, had to wait 5 min for the opposite direction ICE to pass us. There's only one track at Aachen Hbf for both directions for the high speed trains.

DiegoBeghin,
@DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social avatar

I think catching my connection in Mannheim is more the exception than the rule. No luck today.

DiegoBeghin,
@DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social avatar

@Alon @jon It's a 12-min, different platform connection, so the ICE needs to run reliably for it to work

DiegoBeghin,
@DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social avatar

@jon 160 km/h is the theory, 100-110 km/h the practice. Never seen the train go faster through that station.

DiegoBeghin,
@DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social avatar

@jon Zaventem is the point of closest approach to the E40, build a 4 km tunnel and you can get a 300 km/h alignment much earlier.

And I assume you're the first to know that the reason not as many people travel internationally is that the service/infrastructure is bad. There are many bigger cities than Liège beyond the border. On the other side Paris is of course massive.

DiegoBeghin,
@DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social avatar

@jon There's no threshold effect, faster service will always be more attractive.

In any case, new tracks are a great way to improve reliability. I don't think the current Aachen-Köln situation with ICEs, regional trains and even freight trains sharing the same 2 tracks is good for the timetable. And if you're building new tracks, make them fast!

Alon, to random
@Alon@mastodon.social avatar

Machine learning is prime for a "what people think I do" vs. "what I actually do" meme, where the public discourse about it is that it's some kind of AI revolution that will change the nature of work, and what it actually does is provide better modeling for predicting public transit ridership.

DiegoBeghin,
@DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social avatar

@soycamo @Alon There's a sane use for LLMs too, making search queries better. It's already implemented but it's too boring to talk about, better hype that omniscient robot assistant.

DiegoBeghin,
@DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social avatar

@Alon @soycamo Right but you can imagine using an LLM to interpret the query but still output sources as a result. I'm pretty sure this is how search works nowadays

CelloMomOnCars, to thailand
@CelloMomOnCars@mastodon.social avatar

Indonesia is moving its capital to Kalimantan island. And now,

" may have to consider relocating its capital because of rising sea levels.

Bangkok’s city government is exploring measures that include building dikes, along the lines of those used in the Netherlands, he said.

But “we’ve been thinking about moving”, Pavich said, noting that the discussions were still hypothetical and the issue was “very complex”."

https://borneobulletin.com.bn/climate-change-could-force-bangkok-to-move-official-warns/

DiegoBeghin,
@DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social avatar

@Alon @Colinvparker @CelloMomOnCars Yup. It was planned and completed before the military coup. It was part of a developmentalist plan with broad elite buy in to populate the interior. The military regime kept doing it (Sinop) and the last planned city was built after the transition to democracy (Palmas in 1989).

DiegoBeghin,
@DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social avatar

@Alon @Colinvparker @CelloMomOnCars Of those I have to say I dislike Sinop's urbanism the least. It's got cozy streets, but it lacks a real downtown.

DiegoBeghin, to random
@DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social avatar

Green NIMBYism is a mindset of "let's make our city really pleasant to live in... but let's not share it with anybody else". If you create a nice place but don't build housing, rents rise, excluding the poor. Sure, some of your housing may be public/subsidised but those will get waiting lists if you don't build more of them.

(Sorry about the rant, thoughts triggered by my election thread)

DiegoBeghin,
@DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social avatar

And the endgame of a city that builds no housing and no rapid transit is that it will be surrounded by growing car-oriented suburbs.

Sure the core city might be really nice and traffic calmed and pretty... but that will be increasingly irrelevant as the economy gets dominated by the suburbs. Soon you'll be driving to the office park.

DiegoBeghin,
@DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social avatar

You end up like Southeast France: the pretty core city as a tourist ghetto. High end jobs in Aix-en-Provence and Sophia Antipolis, service jobs not catering to tourists will also be in the suburbs. The only people riding transit will be hotel workers and tourists.

/end rant

DiegoBeghin,
@DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social avatar

@djasa
"Of course we need new housing!"
"So let's replace this decrepit house by an apartment building?"
"That historic house you mean? No way"
"What about this greenfield location?"
"And murder that tree??"
"Ok, what about in this former industrial land?"
"We need to thoroughly study the situation."
[10 years later]
"Ok so we've come up with a really good plan, let's build the housing?"
"I'm sorry, but this former industrial land has in the meantime become a beloved park/nature reserve!"

DiegoBeghin,
@DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social avatar

@Alon No racism would be a nice difference, but I believe the land use outcome would be the same.

DiegoBeghin,
@DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social avatar

@failedLyndonLaRouchite @djasa Also, "turn parks into apartments" is the dishonest NIMBY framing, you're really turning undeveloped (formerly industrial) land into a mix of housing and parkland. None of the proposed plans for Tempelhof build housing on the whole thing, there's always half or more reserved to become a real park, with amenities.

DiegoBeghin,
@DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social avatar

@Alon @failedLyndonLaRouchite @djasa Ah well, that concession didn't even appease the NIMBYs.

DiegoBeghin, to random
@DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social avatar

I don't like it that in Belgium, you have to choose which social-green politics to support, because the parties only propose half of the package at best.

Socialists: believe in building housing (especially public housing) and metros. But skeptical about traffic calming and bike lanes.

Greens: Very enthusiastic about traffic calming and new tram lines. Skeptical about new housing and the metro.

The regional/federal/EU elections are approaching and I still don't know which way I'm voting.

DiegoBeghin,
@DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social avatar

@Alon Green is also clear to me at the EU level. But at lower levels I'm undecided! (We have all elections at once in Belgium)

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

🚧 Construction works happen 🚧

So today my ICE is diverted between Frankfurt and Fulda

Yes the trip is longer, but it’s timetabled in, and it’s communicated well ✅

Green: the route I think we’ll take

Map of rail lines east of Frankfurt. A green stripe indicates the likely route to Fulda.

DiegoBeghin,
@DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social avatar

@jon Gotta hand it to SNCF on this one. They do all their routine LGV maintenance at night, so this is never an issue on the main lines.

DiegoBeghin,
@DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social avatar

@jon I've had to cancel a trip to Germany because of scheduled maintenance (timetable was 2h worse on paper, probably even worse in practice), but that was also a situation. DB Netz likes to schedule maintenance during peak intercity travel periods (holidays and summer).

DiegoBeghin,
@DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social avatar

@jon For the smaller span of TGV sevice, I'm sure it makes maintenance easier, but it should also be possible with a smaller night time window like in Japan.

I'm mostly blaming SNCF's obsession with maxxing out the capacity in every single train they run for the early stop in the evening service.

jon, to random
@jon@gruene.social avatar

“Mesdames et Messieurs, votre correspondance a été assurée par… OpenRailwayMap”

TER arrives Dijon 10 mins late

12 mins planned connection time becomes 2 mins

Does train manager help at all with connections? No. Not even an apology for the delay announcement

But I know I arrive Voie 3, and depart Voie F. Thanks to OpenRailwayMap I can deduce 3 is a terminus track, exit right, front of the train - for shortest dash to underpass to F

And it worked!

DiegoBeghin,
@DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social avatar

@jon Also classic drunk French platform naming. Letters and numbers, why not.

Alon, to Eurovision
@Alon@mastodon.social avatar

Okay, I'm finally listening to the top 5 songs, and I like Rim Tim Tagi Dim. Hurricane is great, but it doesn't feel as Eurovision-y?

DiegoBeghin,
@DiegoBeghin@mastodon.social avatar

@Alon My fave was Ireland. Cathartic.

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