[prawn]

Wouldn't the hassle in coordinating things across multiple countries be much higher?

Not sure why anyone would make excuses for the US on trains. There are some great opportunities to get it right. Or ignore it and wait for automated bus services.

[_delirium]

Yes, and international trains are not where the European network shines. It's getting better, but it has historically been hard to even figure out how to buy a ticket involving multiple countries. Deutsche Bahn is one of the better ones. If you originate or terminate in Germany, their booking engine can figure out how to get you to a neighboring country (and they actually have these countries' timetables in their system, too). But if you want to go through Germany, say from France to Poland, good luck getting that booked, unless you split it into two tickets, each terminating in Germany.

Specific through services make it easier a few routes, such as the CityNightLine sleeper services, since there is one train and one operator for the whole route.

[pothibo]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TGV Might be worth a read. While it may not be up to par to your standard, it's one of the train system the most complex and speedy in the entire world.

[_delirium]

Oh, TGV is great in France, or if you travel on a TGV-operated train to a neighboring country. I'm just complaining about timetable engines and ticketing for international trips across Europe, when they involve more than one operator. For example if you want to buy a ticket from Paris to Copenhagen, there isn't an integrated timetable/booking system. For this, bahn.de is better than most national train companies, because their search engine at least includes other operators' timetables (though they aren't always able to actually sell you a ticket).

[pothibo]

Not excuses, just maths. I'm not a US citizen. But I'm canadian. And my province has tried to get high speed train through the border, but the economics never added up.

That's the problem with N. America, airplanes are cheaper for our geographic situation. Because routes are not set in stone, they can be changed as the demand adjusts itself.

When you lay out train track, you can't change your mind in 20 years or you need to change your infrastructure.

[DiThi]

> Wouldn't the hassle in coordinating things across multiple countries be much higher?

Not much more than across US states. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Agreement

(although as someone else commented, it's not easy to get trains going through more than one border).

> Or ignore it and wait for automated bus services.

Buses won't reach 330 km/h (210 mph, speed of trains made in my country, Spain).

[6t6t6]

The Spanish new High Speed train infrastructure is, except for the line that connects Madrid and Barcelona, a massive nonsense that has been build only for political reasons. Spain has more km of high speed lines that Japan, but some of the lines have only tens of passengers per day!

It is an economical calamity, for a country already in a deep crisis, that the taxpayers will have to pay during decades.

The AVE is an example of how infrastructures should never be planned and deployed.

[DiThi]

I agree. There were slower but cheaper lines that were just eliminated, and now it's too expensive (for some people living there) to go to some places by train.

My point, though, was about the trains that are made in my country, not how they make use of them.