> it should absolutely be possible to implement a continent wide railway system, which I believe will happen sooner rather than later.
I wouldn’t count on it.
Most people travel during vacations and typically choose air travel over spending extra vacation days on a train. Likewise, bullet trains don’t make much economic sense across national borders, as few people commute daily between countries for work (in the European Union).
The only way to make train travel economical is by artificially increasing costs of air travel or the costs of owning a car. This has slowly been happening already, but will likely lead to a larger divide within the EU.
Environmental taxation is either 'artificial' or 'fair' depending on where you live in Europe. These taxes will simply further the divide that already exists in the EU.
If you can demonstrate the cost is coming directly from the action, it can only be described as fair. I mean, in an apolitical way.
In the US in particular, so many costs of automobiles are externalized that they genuinely appear to be a decent deal. They're not of course, we just pay for them through other esoteric routes instead of on the sticker.
The topic of 'climate change' (or 'emissions') is highly politicized, especially as most of the costs come from laws that dictate some form of compensation for polluting.
In Germany and many other Western European countries these costs are accepted by society, while in Poland and many other Eastern European countries they are not, especially as they mostly affect the poor.
... and it's incredibly doubtful that people who travel for business would opt for a 2-day train trip (one way) rather than a 4-hour flight.
Personally I love trains, and they're my preferred means of travel. But they aren't very practical, especially when you have time limitations... and at the moment they are very expensive.
OP was talking about "people commute daily between countries for work". People don't commute between London and Paris in great numbers, but the train is full of business travellers. Same as London to Manchester, or Edinburgh to Glasgow, or Edinburgh to Leeds
Obviously business people travel by train from say Glasgow to London, or London to Brussels, or Paris to Geneva, or Brussels to Amsterdam, or Amsterdam to Hamburg, or Berlin to Prague, or Prague to Budapest, or Vienna to Zagreb, or Stuttgart to Milan, or Milan to Marseille
Just because a business traveller might not do a 12 hour trip doesn't mean they don't do a 4 hour trip, and those 4 hour trips all work together in a reliable network.
Atlanta (5m) to Charlotte (1m) is 250 miles, Charllote to Richmond (1m) 300 miles, Richmond to Washington (5m) 120 miles. Population in brackets is the "urban area" population.
Seems crazy there isn't a half hourly service from Richmond to Washington DC to me, and an hourly service to Atlanta. The 6AM from Atlanta would go through, calling Charlotte around 8.30, Richmond by 12, and Washington by 1pm. The 7am would get to Washington for 2pm, etc.
Would many people do Atlanta to Washington? Probably not. Would they do Atlanta to Richmond, or Charlotte to Washington? Probably. At least with a european culture. 4 hours is deemed to be the "it's not worth flying" level.
(That said this year I've done London-Leipzig, Berlin-Geneva, Geneva-London, and New York-Miami for business on the "more than 6 hour" this year)
This isn't really true, as it only happens in the 'Western' part of Europe (i.e. Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands) In the 'Eastern' part (i.e. Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary) and the 'Northern' part (i.e. Norway, Sweden, Finland) this kind of international travel happens only rarely.
You'll need to see the breakdown by region. For example, a lot of people commute in/around Belgium or Switzerland, but not a lot of people commute to/from Poland. The rail links in certain parts of "old" Europe are already very good (or sufficient). But the OP mentioned cross-continent (I assume he means cross-EU).
I wouldn’t count on it.
Most people travel during vacations and typically choose air travel over spending extra vacation days on a train. Likewise, bullet trains don’t make much economic sense across national borders, as few people commute daily between countries for work (in the European Union).
The only way to make train travel economical is by artificially increasing costs of air travel or the costs of owning a car. This has slowly been happening already, but will likely lead to a larger divide within the EU.