tl;dr The simple matter is air travel is stupid convenient between any two points not directly connected or where the two points are far apart. Its faster by f

tl;dr The simple matter is air travel is stupid convenient between any two points not directly connected or where the two points are far apart. Its faster by far on longer distances and scheduling is far more flexible. ... long way around The cost structure that exist is because train transport suffers some serious disadvantages airlines are not stuck with. If you want to claim an externalized cost that may not be paid in full your only choice is fuel costs but understand only a little over half of rail in the EU is electric. Even with higher fuel taxes trains will be at a disadvantage as shown below. Airline travel schedules, capacity, and routes, can be varied as needed. Trains are locked into sharing tracks, may have have service requirements, and as a result cannot vary their schedules by much if at all. Airline travel can also add and drop destinations with ease. Trains obviously require connections to each point separately. Rail construction, maintenance, to include tracks and facilities, can rival or exceed air ports. Trains have the additional cost of staffing requirements imposed by various governments along with capacity requirements that can be out of date. Finally, while trains have the advantages of lower cost for the train and carriages adding routes is just terribly expensive and their environmental advantage is being eroded as other forms of ground transport move to electric and all bets are off once air can be done that way