In Europe, where people seem to improve their trains as fast as we in the United States retire ours, we have living proof that railroads can compete with, and often outstrip, airlines and cars. “If the distance is seven hundred miles or more, people in Europe might prefer to fly,” says an official of the French National Railroads, “but when you get down to four or five hundred miles, the train is automatic. In France, a businessman says to his secretary, ‘What’s
the next train to Lyons?’—not the next plane. Taking the train is a way of life.” As the fleet of European trains continues to cut the time between major cities in the bid to clock the magic 125 miles per hour mark, airlines are halting or diminishing short-haul service and
concentrating on the longer runs.