There was once a guy who traveled from somewhere in southern England to London by way of Berlin because that was cheaper than simply taking the direct train to London.
It's utterly ridiculous how much air travel is subsidized and train travel is not. Another problem is indeed that trains can't really compete with each other; even privatised, they still end up with local monopolies on specific lines, or else it would become chaos. I suppose there's some competition between high-speed rail and short flights, and sometimes, high-speed train tickets (to France at least) can get surprisingly cheap if you buy them at the right moment, but the competition remains unfair because of all the subsidies air travel gets.
Maybe EU governments should subsidise trains to the point travel becomes free. I'm sure that would cut down on traffic jams on roads too.
It isn't just the air travel is subsidized (it is, but not by enough to explain the cost), it is inherently cheaper to maintain an airport on either and, an airplane. While both of those costs are more expensive than a train station and train maintenance, track maintenance will kill you.
Tracks still is worth it, but only if you use the track a lot.
The infrastructure that is used by the planes (air) is way cheaper than the one used by the trains (rail). Air maintenance costs are about zero. Rails maintenance is far from it.
The nature is subsidizing air travel much more than any government ever could.
It's utterly ridiculous how much air travel is subsidized and train travel is not. Another problem is indeed that trains can't really compete with each other; even privatised, they still end up with local monopolies on specific lines, or else it would become chaos. I suppose there's some competition between high-speed rail and short flights, and sometimes, high-speed train tickets (to France at least) can get surprisingly cheap if you buy them at the right moment, but the competition remains unfair because of all the subsidies air travel gets.
Maybe EU governments should subsidise trains to the point travel becomes free. I'm sure that would cut down on traffic jams on roads too.