@UniversalTrader; from the late 1930s to the early 1960s Victoria's 'Spirit of Progress' was the fastest, most reliable, affordable and luxurious train on Earth. I even had the privilege of travelling on it!
Only now is a train service approaching anything like that level being returned to the people of NE Victoria ['sprinter trains' - NOT VFTs].
The problem is not demand for fast rail services and economics.
The problems include government subsidies to airlines and airports, traffic congestion in large cities, damage being caused to the troposphere by environmentally ugly jets and the whole rigmarole involved in getting to an airport, being processed, flying and then the reverse process.
Once you've travelled by VFT from somewhere like Madrid to Barcelona and then onto Paris you realise how short-changed Australians are.
