Originally Posted by
highupinthesky
I have tried trains in DK, SE, DE, UK, JP, Austria, Switzerland, France Singapore, Thailand, China, Australia, US etc. DK might get a low rating by me as I live here and have a busy train track in my backyard. My experiences in the other countries are from assignments up to a couple of months and vacations.
In my rating JP is in a league for it self. Switzerland is a clear second place. Singapore takes the third place. SE, DE, UK, Austria and France fight for 4th. Thailand, China and DK fight for fifth. Australia is a clear last, miles away for any other country. The subway in the cities is slow and unpredictable. Information about disruptions are none existing. The trains will be announced as normal and disappear as normal without any train passing the platform.
Train service between cities is almost none existing. There is one train a day between Sydney and Melbourne. It takes almost 12 hours for the 900KM and the average delay is above 1 hour. CPH-FRA is about 100KM shorter but the train only takes around 10 hours and this includes 1 hour on a ferry and 2 train changes. And last but not least. There are multiple train options every hour.
There are 2 trains between Sydney and Melbourne daily. But given the choice I would take a 1 hour flight over an 11hr train journey, particularly since the train can be more expensive than flying.
Given the population of Australia (~24mill) and its vast distances, there’s little incentive for governments to improve the rail network, or for passengers to choose the train over flying or driving.