Yeah true, in France the SNCF [0] both maintains and operates the railways. In most other EU countries (and the UK) the railway infrastructure is maintained and

Yeah true, in France the SNCF [0] both maintains and operates the railways. In most other EU countries (and the UK) the railway infrastructure is maintained and developed by a state-owned organisation and operated by a mixture of state-owned and private operators. In fact there are quite strict EU rules about tendering out railway services, which is one of the few things I dislike about it. Note that France has had true high-speed rail (>200kph) since the 80s, and the newer lines allow speeds exceeding 320kph. Denmark does not have any rail exceeding 200kph. The Netherlands has had high-speed rail since 2009, though I'm not sure if it's used by private operators. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNCF https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNCF