Interesting article on air travel today

Yep, I read an interesting article. It asked why aeroplane flights (which are quite polluting) were so cheap compared to train travel which takes long and is definitely expensive.

They compared a flight from Amsterdam to Prague for €40 to a train journey of 11 hours, costing €180. (This can be reduced to €100 but that is still 2.5 times the price of a plane ticket.)

To make a change, trains should become MUCH faster. It's possible (TGV from France, Japan's Bullet Train, and several high speed trains in China prove this) but for some reason there is no incentive to invest in trains. It is apparently better to fly or drive a car (despite all the traffic jams), because both these give options to ask more and more money from the passengers and drivers.

I know. I once had a temp job that made me sit in the car 4 to 5 hours each day. Doing that by train would have me travel 8 to 10 hours a day. That is a pretty bleak comparison, isn't it?

I'm afraid it will take a long time before politicians, who should have the power and also the wisdom to see benefits to faster trains, have the stamina to do something about this. Until they stop being governed by big companies, we're in a dark spot which is getting polluted more and more...