Yeah! I have no problem spending 6, 7 hours in a train if I have a comfy seat, Wifi and someplace where I can get a coffee and some food, like a dining car or a nice vending machine. A clean WC would also be a plus. There is no comfier way to travel, IMO, and you can be productive if you want to, too.

As someone who used to use the Munich - Paris TGV regularly, I'm a bit sad that they will use German ICEs, as the french trains are a bit nicer food-wise :D

This is going to be very dependent on the route/times. I've flown transatlantic flights where I've had entire rows to myself (on multiple occasions). Trains are regularly running at capacity, especially on commuter lines.

There actually was a lot of overcrowding in the local and regional trains.

The cost of the train can be amazing. I'd like to know what train users will say if offered the choice between 'decent seats' and a decent price.

That's not true at all. There's lots of direct service to notable destinations. It's rather if you want to go to un-notable destinations (which is of course something that people do a lot in their daily lives) that you can expect to have to transfer.

I'm happy for you but it doesn't seem like a typical commute though.

I thought that was normal. Is there anywhere that this isn't the case?

I don't know if you're American, but I think you've just got funny ideas about how trains work. You don't really need an advance booking - you just turn up, buy a ticket, and take the train. It's not a big deal - they go every hour or so between major locations so you don't have to wait long. Trains are more like busses than aeroplanes in most places - Amtrak is an outlier in trying to be like an airline.

Oh, why is that? Never heard of it or had to do it anywhere. My last train trip starting from France was about 15 years ago, though. And most trains have several stops so you couldn't possibly be so early except at the initial departure, not without slowing down the whole trip unacceptably.

What I did:

- got a DB Bahncard 25 (25% reduction on all prices)

- use the DB site or app to find the lowest-cost connections (enable "Show our best prices", only works 2 days in advance or later)

- select the lowest-price connection which has a bearable number of changes and waiting periods, for me this ends up between 6 and 10 changes for the trip from Sweden to the Netherlands which I make quite often. The price tends to end up about half of what it would cost to fly, sometimes a bit more, sometimes even less. I sometimes travel first class when the price difference between first and second is less than ~20%.

- as soon as there is a delay or reschedule - which seems to be "nearly always" - I reschedule to a route with fewer changes which normally would be sold for 3 or 4 times the price I paid. I then get reservations on the new route (easily done online, not always available though).

I just returned from a trip to the Netherlands where my original 10-change route ended up being a 4-change route including the NightJet to Bonn, ICE from Bonn to Hamburg through the night (train nearly empty so I could stretch out between the seats), Hamburg to Copenhagen followed by Copenhagen to Gothenburg. This is a long trip, about 22 hours. Travelling by car it would take around 16 hours but then I'd (a) have to have a car (which I don't) and (b) would have to drive while I can sit and walk and talk and work and rest in the train. Compared to a flight the train takes much longer (including travel to and from airports) but it is cheaper and I can take much more luggage and have much more freedom since I'm not treated as cattle to be herded. When I have the time I take a train, when not I either wait until I have the time - i.e. I change my plans - or I take a plane.

If you waste time while you're travelling with public transport you're doing it wrong. For example, something like an e-reader is pretty thin and weights a few hundred grams and can hold thousands of books. Noisy? I bought half decent earplugs the other day for just 12 EUR. All you gotta do is take them with you. But you'd do that in an airplane as well. Add to that, airplanes are terrible for the environment; trains are less bad.

Well, you get used to it. I like reliably crowded trains much better than occasionally crowded trains.

People who know the plane is cheaper.

Didn't use to be, but the cut-throat budget airlines and the greed and privitization of train networks made it so.

Why, yes. I remember taking the high-speed train from Madrid to Barcelona some years ago in the preferente+ class, which cost me about 90€, and there was so much room that, with the exception of my side chair, I couldn't touch anyone else if I reached out in any direction.

And IIRC each carriage had about a 50-seat capacity.

That's a far cry from your typical sardine can experience in any airline, including in high-end seats.

If they get the beds and service right, it would be because it’s convenient and fun. Like, have a Michelin-class meal, good wine, reliable service that knows the regulars and comfortable beds and good shock absorbers and you’re trumping planes as the first-class option.

It doesn’t have to bear flying in all cases to be successful. Cheaper always seemed like a weird niche for passenger rail to target versus amenities.

Yep. I could tolerate the longer travel times, but long distance train travel gets really expensive really quickly. For the price of a round-trip train ticket across Germany (Berlin to Cologne, around €100), I could also fly to London, Paris, Amsterdam, etc.

Love to see a comparison of trains vs air travel here. My last few trips have had around a 50% success rate for flights.

I live in the EU. There is nothing similar. Two hours at the airport being put in several different queues, often in a high stress atmosphere.

Train travel: Five-ten minutes at the station, all done.

Yes, I’m partial to trains.

It really depends on the line and the company. Virgin from London to Manchester is a reasonably good experience. Anything Northern (as a for example) makes me fume when I even think of taking any of their trains.

Also, prices for spontaneous bookings are outrageous. Even compared to Switzerland.