Author Topic: AR18 Transportation Primary Options  (Read 38460 times)

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Offline apskip

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #50 on: April 09, 2011, 07:00:32 PM »
Neobie:

I have been looking at more detail into the routes from Vaduz that end up in Zermatt. I believe you are not quite correct in your statement that through Buchs it is necessary to go to Zurich (possibly with Sargans in between and Bern after Zurich). Eventually all trains have to go to Brig and then Visp to reach Zermatt. I found one out of 4 routes goes direct from Buchs to Zurich and you then change there to reach Visp. It doesn't seem to save time, but is more direct.   

The Chur routes go to Zurich, some changing again at Bern and to to Visp.

Offline Neobie

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #51 on: April 10, 2011, 01:00:35 PM »
Hi Apskip, in my above analysis I only described the journey made by LaKisha/Jennifer, who were seen on a train that was going from Chur to Zurich. As you said, there are direct trains from Buchs to Zurich, so the sisters, if they had started their journey at Buchs, would not be on the train they were on. They must have started riding the train at Sargans.

IR 1776 from Sargans to Zurich, 1239-1348 (LaKisha/Jennifer seen on this train)
IC 826 from Zurich to Visp, 1402-1602
R 249 from Visp to Zermatt, 1625-1734

If they had started at Buchs (false theoretical scenarios):
RJ 364 from Buchs to Zurich, 1212-1320
IC 826 from Zurich to Visp, 1402-1602...
or
R 7955 from Buchs to Sargans, 1310-1325
IC 576 from Sargans to Zurich, 1328-1423
IC 828 from Zurich to Visp, 1502-1702...


It is unsure whether other teams would start from Sargans or Buchs, but if TPTB likes to keep teams close together they may have arranged for everyone to start at Sargans, either by explicit instruction, or by having the moped drop-off be at Sargans.


Offline apskip

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #52 on: April 11, 2011, 05:35:16 AM »
Dec. 3 or 4

 Teams had the opportunity based on using the airport Kingfisher Airways booking service to take any flight from about 5pm on, yet all except maybe Nate/Herb and Jet/Cord waited for the late Kingfisher flight. Why? I bet it's was due to other flights being unavailable or to being steered to IT604 2038 2352 CCU DEL. Those same booking agents put those teams plus Nate/Herb on the first flight (which happened to be IT608 0909 1120 Kingfisher DEL VNS.
« Last Edit: April 11, 2011, 05:44:43 AM by apskip »

Offline DrRox

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #53 on: April 12, 2011, 03:04:07 AM »
Teams flew from Kolkata to Varanasi on Dec 2/3.....not Dec 3/4. Peach has said that teams were directed to a hotel on arrival in  Delhi to spend the night. We do know that TPTB require all teams to book in Y-Class. Teams could book on one airline at ticketing and then find an earlier flight and change, much as Mirna/Charla did in TAR11. I do not see any of these racers just sitting around the airport in Kolkata till late at night waiting on that Kinfisher 604 except Flight Time and Big Easy. Since they left the Pit Stop so much later than any of the other teams. Kisha/Jen were the last of the top 6 teams to leave the Pit Stop and they left at about 1413 if I remember correctly.

Jet/Cord booked with Jet Airways and we know from spoiler report that they were inside security at 1510 on Dec 2. That gives them the possibility of three Jet Airways flights to Delhi from Kolkata:

9W 7096    1520-1800
9W 913      1725-1935
9W 2283    1945-2200

We have no clue as to which one they flew on

From Delhi to Varanasi:
9W 723     1030-1145

The other 6 teams booked with Kingfisher Airlines. Kingfisher's one flight that night from Kolkata to Delhi was:

IT 604      2122-2348

On Dec 3 Delhi to Varanasi:

IT 231     0930-1045

Aside from the 3 Jet Airways flights and the 1 Kingfisher flight, there were 7 other flights on various airlines from Kolkata to Delhi, after the 1510 spoiler sighting of the racers in the Kolkata airport on Dec 2, 2110.

I know if it was me, I would have been going between gates trying to get to Delhi as soon as I could. The sooner I got to Delhi, the more time I would have to rest in a hotel room, in stead of sitting around an airport departure lounge. Also sitting around waiting for that one flight could increase delays incase there was some kind of problem with the plane. This seems like a good set of questions for teams, if any of them get to TARcon.
« Last Edit: April 12, 2011, 03:27:35 AM by DrRox »
Matthew 7:15

Offline Neobie

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #54 on: April 17, 2011, 10:38:58 PM »
Since LaKisha/Jennifer made it onto a train that leaves Sargans, Switzerland at 12.39pm, they must have arrived in Feldkirch, Austria (and by extension, left Salzburg) pretty early. Here are the options by train from Salzburg to Feldkirch:
0602-0946
0653-1110 (last possible train for LaKisha/Jennifer)
0802-1146
1002-1349


Offline apskip

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #55 on: April 18, 2011, 09:43:23 AM »
I am operating 12 hours behind Neobie, but I concur with the basic train options Salzburg to Feldkirch. I might point out that leaving their cars is not preordained, as autos on that route would be slightly faster at that time of day through rural Austria. It is unclear when the teams give up those vehicles, although just after or just before Feldkirch is as viable as in Salzburg.

Offline apskip

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #56 on: April 18, 2011, 09:55:14 AM »
So, here are the complete flight options for Varanasi to Vienna on Dec. 5/6:

1. Conservative Route (Jet/Cord) - for Varanasi to Delhi, choice of:
IT336 1355 1517
9W724 (shown in a shot during this episode)1526 1650
AI405 1550 1715
SG119 1645 1820

connecting with OS34 DEL VIE (12/6) 0231+1 0539+1

2. Potentially Safe Route if Seats Available on IC195 VNS BOM (sole flight) 1345 1545 and OS35 0115+1 0504+1

3. Probable Safe Route with any above flight VNS DEL plus OS35 - need connector from DEL to BOM. There are 16 flights leaving Delhi after 4pm and arriving Mumbai before midnight, so the chances are high that some seats were available.

Offline apskip

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #57 on: April 24, 2011, 10:25:36 PM »
I will have more on the precise rail schedules later, but for now a key point is that any of the first 5 teams knew that they had at least one hour head start on Jet and Cord. The train arrivals in Zermatt from Visp were:

dep. Visp 1625 arr. Zermatt 1734 probably the train that Zev/Justin and Kisha/Jen were on
dep. Visp 1710 arr. Zermatt 1814 probably the train that Flight Time/Big Easy, Kent/Vyxsin and Gary/Mallory were on
dep. Visp 1810 arr. Zermatt 1914 probably the train that Jet/Cord were on

So the teams in the middle group knew, if they bothered to research train schedules (which any on-the-ball team would do) that Jet/Cord had to be one hour behind when they did not show up in Sargans for the same originating train. That gave all of the teams except Flight Time/big Easy the luxury of not having to use the U-turn and have the historical issues associated with its use.

Offline apskip

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #58 on: April 25, 2011, 09:38:25 AM »
The rail schedule from Salzburg to Feldkirch indicates all teams on the 602am train arriving 949am. With the time to get a safety briefing for their mopeds and about a 1 hour (13 mph for 22km) quickest trip, the fastest teams would be getting to the Castle by about 11am and going down to the bus stop. The buses run about every half hour and given the bus schedule they could not make a 1139am train from Sargans.

I have now analyzed the Swiss rail timetables to determine what logically happened on schedules for the teams. There are 3 groups:

1. Zev/Justin and Kisha/Jen
depart Sargans 1239  arrive Zurich 1348
depart Zurich   1402  arrive Visp    1602
depart Visp      1625  arrive Zermatt 1734

2. Kent/Vyxsin, Gary/Mallory, Flight Time/Big Easy
depart Sargans 1328  arrive Zurich 1428
depart Zurich    1432  arrive Bern   1528
depart Bern      1534  arrive Visp    1631
depart Visp       1710  arrive Zermatt 1814

3. Jet/Cord
depart Sargans 1439  arrive Zurich  1548  (note- consistent with the need to do 44 km round-trip moped more than group 1)     
depart Zurich    1602  arrive Visp     1802
depart Visp      1810 arrive Zermatt  1914

Therefore, Flight Time/Big Easy started in Zermatt with a one hour lead on Jet/Cord.

Offline apskip

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #59 on: May 01, 2011, 10:35:54 PM »
I have been searching for an appropriate timetable for the Gornergrat Bahn back into Zermatt with one scheduled time at 1108am. The only match is logically in the timetable for 12-12-10 to 12-18-10:
 http://www.gornergratbahn.ch/en/timetable_tickets/timetables/december/Pages/default.aspx

That misses the actual period  by a few days, but is the only available schedule I can find that has any 1108. That schedule has downward trains from Gornergrat every 24 minutes and it takes 19 minutes from Rifflealp to Zermatt. The relevant train which the first 4 teams caught was 1108 arriving Zermatt 1127. Zev and Justin could have caught either the 1132 dep. Riffelalp and 1151 arr. Zermatt or the 1156 dep. Riffelalp and 1215 arrive Zermatt. They needed to either make up 24 minutes or 48 minutes.


Offline apskip

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #60 on: May 08, 2011, 09:37:21 PM »
Transportation from Zermatt to Rio

Zermatt is 6km above Tasch, so teams somehow got local transportation (it looked like a tram leaving around 739am) to bypass the Zermatt rail station and go direct to Tasch. The train from Tasch to Visp left at 0751am and arrived Visp 0847. The connecting train left Visp at 0857am and arrived Zurich Hbf at 1058. Next would have been on one of several short connecting trains to Zurich Flughafen similar to departing 1107am arriving at 1116am. Then there was a minimum 5 hour delay until the first of the best flight combinations to Rio departed.  

Flights choices Zurich to Rio are:
LX656 ZRH CDG 1640 1755, connecting with JJ8055 CDG GIG 2100 0455+1

AF5109 ZRH CDG 1945 2110, connecting with AF442 CDG GIG 2220 0635+1

LH5777 ZRH FRA 1625 1730, connecting with JJ8069 FRA GIG 2015 0447+1

TP927 ZRH LIS 1905 2055, connecting with LIS GIG 2330 0650+1

LX092 ZRH GRU 2240 0645+1, connecting with JJ8081 GRU GIG 0940+1 1041+1

I have no idea why teams would have passed up the earlier Swissair flight connecting through Paris to reach Rio at 0455 and a Lufthansa flight connecting Frankfurt to reach 0447 but maybe the earlier flights were full (although I sort of doubt it). It looks to me like World Race Productions told them which flight connection to take, the Air France connection through Paris arriving Rio at 0635 the next morning.

For those who believe based on the purchase of their final tickets at the Iberia Air ticket counter that the connection may have gone through Madrid, let me offer you this:
The only nonstop flight from Madrid to Rio on Dec. 10 OR 11 was IB6025, scheduled to depart and 1200 and arrive at 1940.
« Last Edit: May 09, 2011, 06:12:45 AM by apskip »

Offline apskip

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Re: AR18 Transportation Primary Options
« Reply #61 on: May 08, 2011, 09:46:33 PM »
It appears that teams get to Sao Paulo airport by late evening on 12/12. Why this is the case is totally unclear, since there were several good flights from Rio (GIG) to Miami:

JJ8056 2208 0352+1
AA904 2225 0348+1

From Sao Paulo (GRU), here are the flights:
AA906 2352 0509+1
JJ8090 0005+1 (12/13) 0539+1
AA930 0336+1 0936+1 (departed and arrived 90 minutes late)
AA998 1043+1 1526+1 (major delay due to reported problems with pilots; teams were switched to AA930)

However, the times do not match at all and the episode stated that the flight was AA998, which left at 0110 and arrived 0630. Unfortunately, that flight experienced a huge delay, so I understand that passengers, particularly Amazing Race teams, were switched to AA930. There was no way they could arrive by 0630 given the later departure and the delay for AA930. It actually arrived 90 minutes late at 0936. Shame on CBS/World Race Productions for trying to put one over on us!

One final piece of "evidence" is that Miami airport was shown as totally light as teams landed. Sunrise on Dec. 13, 2010 was at 658am. At 0630 it could not have been brilliant sunshine.


« Last Edit: May 09, 2011, 06:04:19 AM by apskip »