No. For a destination where I am going this summer a train trip is 12h with a stopover and if I want a sleeper cabin, the whole trip is 300€. Plane takes 1.5h and costs 50€.
Also as I’m in the middle of one of those routes, if I were to return home by train, I’d need to get off at 3am.
Here’s my solution: tax the living hell out of aviation please, use this money to subsidize trains. There will be more supply and more demand on the rails. We will suddenly have frequent and convenient connections. And we all will be co2-neutral.
Your case is very clear cut, but for some journeys where travel times are closer together, e.g. 1 hour flight versus 4 hour train people do tend to forget that there is extra time wasted going to the airport, checking luggage, boarding, whereas the train is “just there”. Depending on your location going to the train station may also be faster than going to the airport, maybe even cheaper!
That said, the price of each journey most likely will always favour flying at the moment.
The problem is that cross country trains are a hassle, because many eu countries have there own booking system, gauge width, traffic control infrastructure. Unless you take a popular route between mayor cities, you need to buy multiple tickets and change trains.
The reason the tracks are not standardized is because in the 1800s the military did not want neighboring countries to just roll into their country by train.
You exaggerate somewhat - there are only track-gauge changes at the border of Spain, former Soviet-Union (Moldova, Ukraine, Lithuania) and Finland (way up north…) Also some narrow-gauge mountain railways. Often you do have to change train at the border due to differing electricity systems (openrailwaymap.org shows both). Anyway many borders are in pretty places in the hills or by the sea, good to see the view and get some fresh air. For a really comprehensive exploration of border crossings check out Jon Worth’s site
I use trains to move around within my country, from a couple of hours to 4 or 5 for some long weekend trips.
I’ve been trying my best to stick to trains for longer trips but it’s not easy: it takes a lot longer (and that’s, well, expected and the least of the issues), it’s less confortable (I took some night trains and the quality of my rest was very bad, so much so it impacts the quality of my first day abroad) but most of all, it’s not less, not as mu ch as, but MORE expensive than planes.
I keep myself motivated by running this https://lowtrip.fr/ and keeping a lifelong count of the CO2 I’ve contributed to.
It’s essentially a luxury though.
