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In my near future I see multiple one hour flights around the UK, France, Spain and Portugal.

This is because the rail service, while the track exists, is not fit for purpose.

Dear Europe, stop fucking about with fascism and sort the bloody trains out. euronews.com/green/2024/07/02/…

euronewsWhere in Europe has the most and least direct trains to other cities?Greenpeace is calling for more investment in European railways to create more direct train routes and encourage people to fly less.
FeralRobots

@goatsarah
this makes me sad, as one category of things I've had on my retirement list was using some of the extensive European rail networks I've been reading about my whole life.

@FeralRobots Spoiler: They're actually shit, and the experience is slow, byzantine, and about ten times as expensive as "just buying some carbon offsets (which may be a scam) and fucking taking Ryanair"

@goatsarah have they always been that way, & just had better PR in the past?

(My token experience is that at least British rail service has gone downhill in recent years. We were in England/Scotland for our honeymoon c2007, then again for a conference in 2019, & took a train north from London both times (Edinburgh in '07, York in '09, so same line). In just those 12 years, the experience degraded really strikingly.)

@FeralRobots I think it’s that the comparison people often make is with North America, which is the lowest of low bars.

The comparison they should make is China.

@FeralRobots @goatsarah imo interrail/eurail are pretty fantastic for exploring Europe.

A couple of weeks ago I needed to get to Vienna from Nice, so I took some trains down to the Cinque Terre, explored those for the day and then took a night train from La Spezia to Vienna. I could have flown direct with WizzAir instead and it would have been quicker, a lot simpler and a little cheaper, but much less memorable.

@FeralRobots @goatsarah For touring around on holiday, they're fine, especially because you can get an Interrail/Eurail pass and tickets become much cheaper then. But if you just want to travel from A to B, flying is a lot cheaper.