2024: Europe wants you to travel by train. But why is it so complex and expensive?

UK is projecting isn't it?
Train is fairly affordable everywhere in Europe BUT the UK.
- Maybe local and some routes with intertrain card, but that's another layer of complexity to deal with.
  We need a better, universal and easy to understand train system across the whole Europe, and it is important to have.
  
  Hard agree. I was just pointing out that the UK are kind of notorious for having expensive railway tickets. But yes I would love to see an improved homogeneous system for the entire europe!
- Nah, PT is expensive as well and there are less trains/lines every year.
- Standard fare 2nd class Intercity in Germany is 120€ can be lower if distance is short.
  Edit: wait no was 120, now 160 I think
  
  ICE can be a lot cheaper if you book ahead.
  Non-ICE on the Deutschlandticket is a goddamned bargain, so long as you navigate the gotchas on the payment and recurring.
- Thanks first-past-the-post!
- An EU study found that Britain was comparable to the rest of the EU in pricing and punctuality. And, of course, the taxpayer pays the difference anyway.
  
  I'd be curious to see a reference or link. That sounds very counter intuitive

I was wondering what the prices would be so here are some numbers:
Booking 1 week in advance on the 20th, Amsterdam Schiphol - Paris Charles de Gaulle 1 way trip.
Flying: €301 for the cheapest direct flight, 1h 20m.
Train: €132 for the cheapest direct train, 3h 09m
So it takes far longer but is far cheaper too, results are about what i expected.
- If you account for check in/boarding times at the airport times are not so different either. However, one datapoint does not give a good overview of the situation and I found with most of my travel plans trains were more expensive than planes for the same routes within europe.
  
  Not only check in/boarding, also location. Most train stations are within the city, most times even in the center.
  Traveling to my home is faster door to door using train, even if thee ride is 3 hours longer. Also you can carry large luggage, food, drinks, use your phones internet and usually have more comfortable seats.
  YMMV.
  
  Here you can find more examples of travel times: EU train travel map
- I think that's an unusually favourable trip towards the train, tbh. Firstly, I'm finding plane tickets to Paris that are similar to the price you have listed for train here. Secondly Amsterdam-Paris is a solid connection with the old Thalys/Eurostar. Try something similar with Marseille, Lyon or any city that isn't on the direct path and you'll need to pay train fares to Paris then to wherever you're actually going, when you can probably get an easy-jet or ryanair for like 50 bucks and the total train fare is 2/300€.
  Also it's still cheaper to get in my car (alone) than pay that train fare to Paris, disregarding parking fees in Paris of course since that's very expensive, but you can park& ride.
  
  Indeed, i chose this route because i traveled it quite often.
  I used google flights and NS international to find the ticket prices, the price of €301 was listed as the cheapest direct flight.
- Takes longer to get in and out the airport. I bet there's not much in it overall
- As a counter example, Berlin Copenhagen takes 7-10 hours instead of 50 minutes and costs less to fly. The only affordable alternative is Flixbus

This is something EU could work together to fix.
Just give me one portal to book the entire trip on one ticket from point A to B, with the options to change the route if a train or bus is running too late for a transfer etc.

It is expensive /complex because the capital class does everything they can to undermine and sabotage public institutions.
- Always but I doubt think that's the root cause for EU that is integrating all those legacy national system but I am sure parasites are running herioic interference on the integration efforts.