Railway as a reflection of society

Recently I have heard something very interesting from an acquaintance. It was a nice sunny day, we had a BBQ and were chatting, "solving the world problems", sharing experiences of life in Croatia and Denmark and discussing problems that both societies face. As we touched on traffic issues in Zagreb, I mentioned that for me the biggest surprise was how good Danish railways are.

When I moved here and Luci and me decided that we are going to live in Roskilde, I immediately started thinking that I will have to find some work in Roskilde. My statement surprised Luci and she asked me why do I think that. And I said because of commuting. How should I commute every day from Roskilde to Copenhagen when the two cities are 40 km away without a car?" By train ofc., she added, we have good railways. I was very sceptical about that considering that I come from Croatia.

Commuting on a daily basis by train&bike in Croatia would be mission impossible. First of all the round trip would last too long in order for it to be a feasible commuting option and putting the bike on the train would be madness. It just couldn't be done because Croatian railways are horrible and the service isn't very user friendly.

Train ride between two cities 60km away lasts for over an hour and the trains are not going often enough in order for it to be feasible for commuting. But the real train ride horror story is the train ride between Zagreb and Split. These two cities are a bit over 300 km apart and it takes the train 9 hours! Fortunately for me, I didn't have a lot of first hand experience with Croatian railway but there was one that put things into perspective. I was traveling from Zagreb to Brno by train. It was a looong ride in general but the part in Croatia was a neverending story. For those first or last 50 km it felt like the train was crawling at the speed of a bicycle. It was just so slow! But when it entered Slovenia, it started flying.

With having this knowledge and experience with Croatian railways, it is no wonder that I was a bit sceptical of the train rides when I moved to Denmark. But then I tried it and boy was I in for a surprise. 

First and most important thing is how fast the trains are. It takes a train from Roskilde to Copenhagen between 19 and 25 minutes, depending how many stops they make. There is no way you can make that trip with a car in that time. If the roads are empty it will take you approximately 45 minutes. So the car is a better option only if you are going somewhere that is far away from the railway. Secondly, there is a train going every 10 minutes, so I don't even need to think, what train am I going for. I just go out of the apartment and if the train went in front of my nose, next one will come within 10 minutes.

The usage of trains is very friendly. It is simplest to have a rejsekort with which you just check in and check out on the stations. And you can have everything with you on the train: bike, baby stroller, dog, a lot of luggage. Every train has at least one compartment for people with bikes, baby strollers and dogs. And nobody is bitching about it. In Croatia it was always a struggle to get the bike on the train but I need to admit that my knowledge about that is a bit outdated.

Danish railway system is incredibly reliable. In a more then a year and a half that I have been living here and commuting to work every day trains didn't run 1 time and that was because someone commited suicide so they had to close down the traffic. On 2 other occasions trains were running slower. 3 times in a year and a half! That is impressive.

It is indeed a very interesting correlation, one that I could never figure out my self, but when I started to think about it it makes a lot of sense. A society, that is far from perfect, but that runs like a well oiled machine with full employment and by some measurements with the happiest population in the world has a railway system that is user friendly, fast and reliable.

On the other hand we have a society that is barely lubricated and stutters all the time, having a hard time getting away from its past, that is heavily depopulating has a railway system that hasn't been updated since the 19th century (metaphorically speaking), that is user unfriendly, slow and unreliable. How does all that compare to China or Japan where the trains are running over 300 km/h? It makes me wonder....

Use the elbow

Train rides during quarantine. At the beginning it was a bit spooky. In the course of 5 days, train that starts in Roskilde at 7:40 in the morning, went from completely packed to completely empty. So empty that one day last week there were only two of us that got of the train at Copenhagen central station. On a usual day it takes a couple of minutes for all the people to get of the train.
 

What I find interesting is that the few people who ride the train are acting differently - and I don't mean quarantine differently -  I mean, differently. On an average train ride, bike compartment is full and everybody is absorbed in their own business. Be it smartphone, book, laptop, telephone. Interaction with other people is non existent and communication is reduced to essentials only. That includes people with bikes when they need to park their bikes one on top of the other. At these moments will a person that parks her bike on top of the first one ask "Where are you getting of?" Other than that, it is non-existent. People don't even look at you. That's it! In the train, full of people, that is all the communication you will get.
 

Since the quarantine started, other passengers became much more welcoming. One day I noticed that the people who were in the wagon with me, from time to time would throw me a quick glance and gave me a warm smile. I was completely taken aback with it. I was just doing my train ride, Danish style, reading a book and I started getting glances. When I got home, I consulted with my domestic expert on Danish behavior. She said that what most likely happened is that Danes started to feel solidarity. It is quarantine times and not a lot of people is using the trains. Those few that do, started to develop the notion"we are in this together". I must say, I totally didn't see that one coming because for me it was just another train ride. Plus, it's not like I am seeing people often in the train, on most days I am the only person in the wagon.
 

But one time, when I had a fellow passenger, it was pure gold. I was going home from work. When I entered my bike section, there was an elderly lady inside with her bitchin' electric bike. She was also in great shape, you could see that she is exercising a lot. It became apparent very early into the train ride that she isn't an experienced train rider. When the lady that is checking tickets came, they got into a long discussion about the old lady's ticket. The conductor had a lot of work with explaining to her, how it is working. When that event was over, I heard her talking on the phone, reporting that she is in the train and that she will soon be in Roskilde. Plus she had that vibe around her that was screaming, "OMG I AM SOOO EXCITED WITH THIS TRAIN RIDE!!!!" I am not sure was it because she is usually inexperienced with train rides, or is this train ride extra exciting because it is a corona train ride.
 

The train went past Trekkroner, which means that we will be in Roskilde in about 5 minutes. She got up immediately as the train left the station and started to get ready for disembarking. She corrected her bike clothes and gloves, took her bike and stood in front of the doors ready to jump out. But in these corona times it is not so easy to get of the train, as she is about to find out.
 

When the train stops, if you want the doors to open, you need to press a button. That is something that people usually do with fingers but now a days there is the instruction to use the elbow. The train is passing next to the graveyard and our train ride hero is at a ready. She is at the door with her palm on the shoulder and elbow sticking out ready to lunge for the button at the split second the train stops. The train is entering the station, she is all arched towards the door so the elbow can hover just a few inches from the button. When the train stops she is in the perfect position to jump the button... or elbow it and get off the train.
 

The moment came. The train stopped. The button is ready to be pressed. She lunges for it, as the bike was in the way, her arched out body and the hovering elbow were still a bit too far so she raised herself on her toes, closed the elbow gap and smashed the button AND... nothing, the doors are still closed, but now she is standing normally. Doesn't matter, elbow at a ready, arch forward, raise on the toes and smash the button triumphantly for the second time AND nothing. Disappointment and disbelief started to creep in. The train is on the station for full ten seconds and she is still on it. No matter, this little bump will not prevent her. She notices another button on her right hand side and decides that is the one button to open the doors. She is ready again, elbow, arch, toes, smash, nothing, smash, nothing. Despair, full twenty seconds passed, she elbowed two buttons, four times and she is still in the train. Desperate times require desperate measures. She goes for it again, but this time with a clenched fist. She will smash the button with a fist, with the cykeling glove so she doesn't touch the corona train button with her unprotected finger. BUM! Nothing, the doors are still closed and by this time the whole eternity passed. She is disheartened by now. You can see she is giving up. Slowly you can see the fist relaxes, naked thump rears out its finger nail and gently goes for the button... and the button abides. Hiss of air flies through the wagon and our brave hero is finally free. The fight was long and hard and she gave her best, but failed. At least she will disembark in Roskilde and live to see another day with her coronated finger.