kottke.orgFrance has banned short-haul flights to destinations where the same journey can be made by train in under 2.5 hours. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65687665
Paul Woodford@kottke Wow! Imagine living in a country with a functioning rail network. There was some talk about a high speed rail connection between Tucson, Phoenix, and Las Vegas ... my wife is boarding a SW flight from Tucson to Las Vegas tonight, come to think of it.
Michael Hartle@kottke Sigh. A specific distance would have been more robust, wouldn't it. My pessimistic self is now betting for train connectivity to deteriorate past the 2,5h limit at some point, re-enabling short-haul flights.
Pomax@mhartle the TGV would pretty much have to stop operating for that to happen.
anatsuno@kottke the threshold was originally meant to be 4hrs but they changed it :(
Martin Vassor@kottke This banned only 3 flights : Paris-Orly to Nantes, Bordeaux and Lyon. For each of these flight, it is still possible to take the plane from Paris-Roissy. This represents 2.5% of all national flights, and 2.6% of CO2 emissions w.r.t. national flights, 0.23% of emissions w.r.t. all flights (national and international). Said otherwise, this is just our government bragging, while actually doing nothing.
(more info, in French : https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2023/05/24/l-interdiction-des-vols-interieurs-courts-en-france-une-mesure-videe-de-sa-substance_6174641_4355770.html)
FeedMe Doughnuts@kottke and when the trains go on strike?