That "car is slower than train" really only works when everybody happens to live near train station A and when the group of friends plans to take its vacation

That "car is slower than train" really only works when everybody happens to live near train station A and when the group of friends plans to take its vacation near train station B. By plane it can be even worse : time to go to the airport + buffer of one or two hours to not miss the plane + landing and waiting for luggage and then time to go from the airport to your destination. For our usual vacation, car takes 8 hours (950 kilometers) while plane takes 6h30... Still a win but then you're left with no car or having to rent a car: renting the car is another 30 minutes. So 7 hours vs 8 hours and you re stuck with a car inevitably (for me) shittier than yours. Train isn't even close to competing time wise in our case. But I have fond memories back when, as a kid, we d put the car on the train and then take the same train. I have nothing against rail and it s great it s developing in the EU. But on many cases it's simply not a time saver compared to car.