I have an extra giftable copy of Railworks 3 Train Simulator 2012 standby in my Steam inventory, willing to let it go for free. To participate, just share with us your honest, no holds barred opinion / verdict about your local railway system in general. Winner will be decide by yours truly random.org.

I'm gonna let this contest run for couple of hours. By the way, this game require Steam and decent PC to run flawlessly. Thank you.

Special thanks to my friend, talexeh for making this happen.

Edit: I might extend the deadline since most GOGers probably in the middle of busy weekend.

As any Sydneysider knows, the less said about CityRail, the better.

Honestly though, they're a lot better than they used to be. They're Almost always on time, they rarely break down and whenever a line is closed, they always set up a temporary bus route to hold us over. I suspect the resent past and its absolutely horrible service (the "red rattler" era, to be specific) is the reason for its current less than stellar public opinion.

Most of the rails in my area have either been turned into rail-trails wich are for biking, walking, etc. or are use for chemical transporting by Dow. I think the nearest passenger train is near flint.

The rails in my part of town are adequate. The ride is comfortable and it arrives reasonably on time. However they do tend to break down frequently and one train managed to get derailed just as it started leaving the station.

The trains here.. aren't great. The railway system isn't too bad, just a bit so, so the biggest problem is that the trains never get anywhere on time.

Y'know, this may sound a bit odd, but I've never gotten to ride a train (always wanted to, though) and I've never seen anything but cargo trains.

The railway system South Florida is a complete joke. There is only one track that straight down the middle of the trimetropolitan area. No one ever uses it because going by car is much faster even with traffic. The train is literally as slow as snail, and the train stops are all in unusual locations. Not even within walking distance of many residences and only a handful businesses

The trains themselves are old, and it is very uncomfortable to be inside one. The only redeeming quality is how cheap it is, but you get what you pay for. Our railway system is in need of a complete overhaul. And I wish people cared enough to make it so because it would benefit the environment and reduce congestion in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale.

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That kind of problem is normal here. But our railway is getting better. Sets of Class 91 & 92 EMU are on the way just in couple of months. Waiting time might be reduced from 30 minutes to 15 minutes sharp and 8 minutes during peak hour. Right now we are using old model Class 81, 82 and 83 EMU. Not too bad, but certainly not reliable on peak hour.

Never ever been near a railway, they're in some weird corners in my country, that I've never visited.

Horrifying.

PS Don't want to be entered into the draw.

Here in Sweden they usually work, but the trains are late. SJ (the ones running the trains) don't consider 10min to be late, so according to themselves they have a decent track record, but in reality you can expect them to always be a bit late (which can be a problem when you have to switch train).

When it snows, trains don't run well at all. Or at all to begin with.

The biggest issue with going by train here though is the price. It is expensive as heck. It is usually cheaper to just fly to wherever you want to go, the planes are usually more punctual and faster, which means that, as long as you ignore the environmental impact, flying is usually the better method of transportation, unless you need to go to some place far from an airport.

Rode an overnight train from Germany to Austria once. It was my first and only passenger train experience. Hated it. I've been on some scenic trains, which aren't bad since you are only on for a few hours. That is the extent of my experience with riding them.

Most trains I've seen are for freight transport.

Thanks for having this giveaway, though I'm not sure my computer would handle it.

EDIT: There is an in-city train where I live now, but only one line and I'm not near it. Amtrak also passes through I think, but I've never ridden Amtrak.

The train system in Japan is an absolute wonder. Not only they have Shinkansen (bullet train) every 10 minutes all day long, but in addition the trains are divided into reserved seats and non-reserved seats, meaning that you can virtually always find a train ticket at the last minute.

The downside is that Shinkansen is pretty expensive...

On the local train system, well, in big cities like Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, etc... it's so developed and useful that you basically don't need a car to live there. You generally have subway lines and 5-6 private companies. Trains are always clean and most important, on time!

When there is a delay (weather, accident, incident), the information system is quite good so you generally know what to expect. And even for 5 minutes of delay, they will apologize a lot for the unconvenience.

The downside is that when you live in the countryside, you better have a car. Local lines are not so developed and trains not so frequent.

But in Japan, you still can say that the train network is quite fantastic and the level of service very high.

Japan has one of the best public transportation in the world. No doubt about that.

Btw, i'm gonna close the entry soon. It's a pleasure to read your opinions.

Well, uh, where to start?

While our railways are being modernized with the help of EU funds, it is still a big mess. Yes, our railway station is better now, but who the fuck cares because a bit more to the north, the train slows to a snail pace because there is the track being worked on.

Sure, that is to be expected, though add old wagons, raised prices (last time in November) and as a bonus, hordes of students when you happen to travel when they migrate home or to school. With all their luggage, there is barely place to stand. And in summer with poor ventilation....

I love travelling by train, but there are times when I regret that I did not go by bus.

And btw I don't want to enter the draw, I am merely venting my frustration :)

Finland has, without question or shadow of doubt, the single worst railway system in the entire world.

The problems are manyfold, so bear with me. First of all, the trains themselves are a joke. They are Italian Pendolinos, and they only had to pass European regulations, so they have to be able to operate in temperatures of about -5 Celsius, but may as well break down as soon as the mercury dips below that. In fact, they do. They can usually improve their reliability record during the short summer, but winters always wreak havoc on their pathetic engines. Naturally, if one train breaks down in the middle of its journey, it's game over for every train that was supposed to travel in the same direction within 24 hours or so. The Allegro high-speed service to St. Petersburg broke down on its maiden voyage, just as I had predicted.

Secondly, our climate. Well, so they say at least, although I think that the climate is blamed to mask problems occurring elsewhere. During summer, the trains are only a bit late. Come autumn, and suddenly wet leaves that are decaying on the tracks somehow manage to slow down trains by what feels like weeks. Winter brings slow and ice, which melts into slush during spring. They could just adjust timetables to take the poor conditions into account, but this never happens.

Third, the rail network itself. There are numerous switch problems every year which no one seems to be bothered to fix.

Fourth, prices. If I travel alone, it might be a little bit cheaper to use the train than a car, but then again I'm a student and therefore pay half price. For most people, the car is the cheaper alternative. Long-haul coach tickets cost about the same as train tickets, so they aren't much of an alternative.

Fifth, service. The workers feel as though they don't care anymore, and with the problems VR, the railway company, has had over the years, I guess they don't. Many workers take days off, especially during winter (who can blame them), and there aren't enough substitutes to go round. VR tried to introduce ticket automats recently, and even that went wrong.

Sixth, administration. Probably the root of all problems to some extent. Mind you, the administration changes all the time as the head manager realises he's got an impossible task ahead of him and then immediately resigns. If your train is late or never shows up at all, good luck getting even some of your money back - you probably won't. There's not enough money to address all problems, not that they could all be solved by throwing money at them. Once I had to board a train that was completely different from the one mentioned on the ticket. No warning, no information, no nothing. I did get a small refund though, but yeah.

I visited London during summer and rode four trains there, one to Beaulieu and another to Cambridge (and back from both, so four). I could hardly believe how much better things worked there. Not that that's much of an achievement, but still.