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Comment by __mp | Hacker News Reader

For airport trains to be effective they need to be connected to public transport. Otherwise these trains will not be used.

For reference: I checked on the Swiss Rail Network operator page and there are 18 transit options to get from the main station in Zürich to the airport (https://i.imgur.com/GJTC0F3.png ). Some of these connections are trams and take a while longer. There is even a direct train to get from Zürich Airport to Geneva Airport. It takes 3 hours and 9 minutes which is about the same as taking the plane with checked-in luggage.

Also here's a simulation of the timetable of the rail network: http://maps.vasile.ch/transit-sbb/

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Having done ZRH-GVA many, many more times than I care to count in both directions, may I recommend the plane.

The flight itself is REALLY quick and very scenic, even (especially?) at night with the moonlit snowy mountains [1], which are to your side, not under you (try to look south), and the stars. You're barely getting used to being in flight and they are already handing over the little chocolate and asking you to fasten your seat belt. Both ZRH and GVA (especially GVA) are ultra fast airports where check-in and security are a breeze (I recommend the mobile boarding pass) and there is fairly little walking. You can definitely door-to-door it in much less on the plane even with checked-in luggage (unless it's substantially changed in the last 3-4 years). Price wise I used to fly that route for 30-40 CHF, very competitive. It was sometimes cheaper to fly to London via ZRH than direct from GVA.

Meanwhile, whilst there are a few direct trains, most have a stop in the middle to change trains (from memory: Bern? maybe Biel or something that starts with L) and you have to carry your bags back out and stand in the cold for a few minutes and stress about whether you're on the right platform. Also, the bag space in second class is quite limited. On the plus side, you avoid taking trains to/from the airports, or getting frustrated with Switzerland's low speed limits on the highway.

I'm surprised the OP uses North American cities as examples of airport connectors. Hong Kong, Tokyo (NRT) and Shanghai to cite three big international destinations have great airport connectors which make sense considering the distances at play. I've always wondered why planners don't send their team to visit the top 10-20 airports in the world to check what the competition is doing.

Singapore is an example of the airport being close enough that you might as well take a taxi and a rapid transit to the "centre" (what is the centre, anyway - CBD, Orchard? there are a lot of hubs) makes less sense. Montreal's situation looks more like Singapore's than Tokyo's.

London is an example of where the extremely expensive airport connector (Heathrow Express) ends up somewhere with nothing except cheap hotels and slow connections, which is why they're finally getting round to building Crossrail, which goes from the Heathrow terminals all the way to all the major hubs (including the City and Canary Wharf, great news for those who have to fly transatlantic).

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hvWN3jOvvM&t=1m20s

You make good points. Personally I have problems timing flights even with "fast" airports. I usually end up at the airport way too early. But then I'm not so much of a frequent flyer and my employer asks me to take the train to nearby destinations (mostly ZRH -> FRA). I don't mind watching the landscape rolling by while working.

Yes, for some connections you'd have to change in Bern.

I had a really shameless colleague who flew to London twice a week. He never checked in luggage, stayed in his suit, and arrived at GVA about 20 minutes before flight departure. If there was no queue, he'd make it easily; if there was a queue, he'd use the final call as an excuse to skip to the front and said people always let him (hence my calling him shameless).

Without getting that extreme, there's definitely a case to be made for knowing expected processing time from arriving to the airport to being in the plane (and generally, the distribution of probable door to door time when you buy your flight). I've done LCY in under 10 minutes once, but was turned away at LHR because I arrived there 44 minutes before the flight and BA cutoff at 45. The biggest queues in Europe are usually going out, rather than into the flight.

Train is great if it is well planned. I did MRS-GVA by train and it took 5 hours as it was going 30kph between Lyon and Geneva. SNCF oversold the TGV and there were 10-20 people standing per carriage. The queue at Geneva Station customs added a further 10 minutes. Next time: Blablacar.

> I'm surprised the OP uses North American cities as examples of airport connectors

I'd do the same thing because (well, I assume,) North America has a unique level of motorisation and city density. It makes sense that people who regularly drive to work will choose drive to the airport as well.

Your knowledge of London transit is shockingly bad.

There is an express rail connector from Heathrow to Paddington that costs around 15 pounds and gets you into London in about half an hour. If you have more time you can take the Picadilly tube line from Heathrow to Victoria station in about an hour. More stops and less room for luggage on the tube, but it will cost less.

Crossrail is not about connecting heathrow, it is to connect the southeast with London, the phase II link to Heathrow is just bonus. In fact, it will use the exact same line as the heathrow express uses now when it goes from Paddington through Heathrow and further west. A crossrail link just means you don't have to switch trains at Paddington to finish the trip to Heathrow if you started in the SE commuter belt.

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