For me, airplanes are preferable to running train tracks across the landscape. It's also cheaper. I live in southern France near Marseille and for me to get to Frankfurt by train -- it's a time consuming mess. I can be there by airplane in about an hour. Getting to Geneva from Marseille is faster by airplane by multiple hours and even driving a car is more convenient than the train depending on the connections and road conditions -- especially if I'm ultimately going to Chamonix.
I could take a train from Marseille to Brussels -- but why would I? I can spend almost 7 hours on a train or 1.25 hours on an airplane AND I don't have to drive all the way into Marseille, find a place to leave my car and risk getting attacked or robbed in the station [1][2]
> Train stations are also in the middle of each city, saving you about an hour of time on each end
That's assuming that you actually want to be in the middle of each city.
SFO to Cupertino by car is about 50 minutes.
Downtown San Francisco to Cupertino is roughly double that.
Not everyone traveling to San Francisco (or LA) actually wants to be in the city center. LAX to Santa Monica, Venice or most other west LA destinations is faster than downtown Los Angeles to those areas. LAX to Long Beach is faster than from downtown LA.
I could take a train from Marseille to Brussels -- but why would I? I can spend almost 7 hours on a train or 1.25 hours on an airplane AND I don't have to drive all the way into Marseille, find a place to leave my car and risk getting attacked or robbed in the station [1][2]
> Train stations are also in the middle of each city, saving you about an hour of time on each end
That's assuming that you actually want to be in the middle of each city.
SFO to Cupertino by car is about 50 minutes.
Downtown San Francisco to Cupertino is roughly double that.
Not everyone traveling to San Francisco (or LA) actually wants to be in the city center. LAX to Santa Monica, Venice or most other west LA destinations is faster than downtown Los Angeles to those areas. LAX to Long Beach is faster than from downtown LA.
[1] http://ktla.com/2017/10/01/at-least-2-dead-after-knife-attac... [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/17/world/europe/marseille-fr...