This is a strawman argument. In Europe university students travel hundereds if not thousands of kilometers to do exchange which can be done by train and many a

This is a strawman argument. In Europe university students travel hundereds if not thousands of kilometers to do exchange which can be done by train and many actually do. This is usually the most suitable and most likely time for someone to travel really long distances. There are also those things called planes which many trains have an express line to. Even medium speed rail enable people to commute distances like 80 km (50 mi) under 40 minutes, ~30 times each day. There are people who are doing that in my company.