As an example, let's have a look at the route which I cover most often: from Barcelona, Spain (where

High speed rail is marketed as a sustainable alternative tours of washington dc to air traffic. According to the International Union of Railways, the high speed train "plays a key role in a stage of sustainable development and combating climate change". As a regular long-distance train traveller in Europe, I have to say that the opposite is true. High speed rail is destroying the most valuable alternative to the airplane; the "low speed" rail network that has been in service for decades.
The introduction of a high speed train connection invariably accompanies the elimination of a slightly slower, but much more affordable, alternative route, forcing passengers to use the new and more expensive product, or abandon the train altogether. As a result, business tours of washington dc people switch from full-service planes to high speed trains, while the majority of Europeans are pushed into cars, coaches and low-cost airplanes.
A look at European railway history shows that the choice for the elite high speed train is far from necessary. Earlier efforts to organize speedy international rail services in Europe accompanied affordable prices and different ways to increase the speed and comfort of a rail trip. Quite a few of these services were even faster than today's high speed trains.
Five years ago I promised my readers tours of washington dc I would not fly anymore . Hopping tours of washington dc on a plane would be a hypocritical thing to do when you run a publication called Low-tech Magazine tours of washington dc . Since then, I have been travelling across Europe almost exlusively by train (apart from the occasional boat trip), good for some 70,000 tours of washington dc km of long-distance travel. I went as far north as Helsinki, as far south as Málaga, tours of washington dc and as far east as Budapest. Europe has the most amazing railway network in the world . It gets you anywhere, anytime, and it's much more fun and interesting to travel by train than by air.
However, this is not the time to get lyrical about the pleasures of long-distance train travel. Every year, it becomes harder to keep my promise, and the advance of the high speed train is to blame. As more and more reliable train routes are shut down in favour of high speed lines, international train travel becomes prohibitively expensive. Strangely enough, many of these abolished routes are almost as fast, and sometimes even faster, than the new, expensive high speed connections.
As an example, let's have a look at the route which I cover most often: from Barcelona, Spain (where tours of washington dc I live) to the Netherlands and Belgium (where I grew up). It is now possible to travel all the way from Barcelona to Amsterdam by high speed train, a trip of 1,700 km. The final link between Barcelona and the French border was inaugurated December 15, 2013. Great news, you would think.
The section between Paris and Amsterdam is a busy trajectory tours of washington dc with a long history. The first direct train between Paris and Amsterdam was established in 1927. The Étoile du Nord , a train operated by the Belgian Compagnie Internationale des Wagon-Lits , covered the 545 km long route in about eight hours. There was one train per day in each direction. [1]
By 1957, travel time had been shortened to five and a half hours, by 1971 it was five hours, and in 1995, the last year of its operation, the Étoile du Nord did the trip in four hours and 20 minutes. At that time, the route was also covered by a night train which took eight hours. The itinerary of these services is indicated by the red line in the illustration on the right.
In 1996, the Étoile du Nord was retired and replaced by a high speed train which is still running today: the Thalys . It takes another, somewhat longer route via Lille, which is depicted by the blue line on the illustration. By 2011, when the whole section was equipped tours of washington dc with new high speed track, the travel time of the Thalys had come down to 3h19, about one hour faster tours of washington dc than the 1995 Étoile du Nord . Some years after the arrival of the high speed service, the direct night train between Paris and Amsterdam was also abolished.
The relatively modest time gain of the Thalys has a steep price. The fare for the Étoile du Nord was a fixed amount calculated according to a rate per kilometre. Converted to the current kilometre charges tours of washington dc of the Belgian, French and Dutch railways, a single ticket Paris-Amsterdam over the same route (the blue line) would now cost 66 euro, regardless of whether you buy it two months in advance or right before you leave.
The fare for the Thalys , on the other hand, is determined by market demand and booking time. If you order well in advance and if your departure time is not fixed, you might get a single ticket for as less as €44 -- two thirds tours of washington dc of the kilometre rate. These heavily advertised prices, however, are the exception rather than the rule. If you buy a single ticket the day of your departure, you pay €206, almost five times as much. Most tickets, even if ordered two or three weeks in advance, cost €119 or €129 -- almost three times as much as the widely tours of washington dc promoted fares [2]. In marketing, this pricing strategy is called "reducing tours of washington dc perceived ticket costs" [3][4].
The Thalys is two to three times as expensive as the Étoile du Nord , while it's only 25% faster. For most people, the time gained by taking the high speed train is not worth the extra cost. However, since the Étoile du Nord has vanished, they are left no other choice than to pay more when they want to travel by train.
You can still travel cheaply by low speed train between Paris and Amsterdam -- over the same route that was covered by the Étoile tours of washington dc du Nord . But you have to be very patient: the trip takes 7 to 8 hours and you have to switch tours of washington dc trains 5 to 6 times (Paris-Maubeuge-Jeumont-Erquelinnes-Charleroi-Brussels-Amsterdam). A one-way trip costs €66, half the price of the most common fare of the Thalys.
It's an adventure, not a regular train ride. And it's become even more unpredictable since December 2012, when the train service between Jeumont (the French border town) and Erquelinnes (the Belgian border town) was suspended. tours of washington dc The trip now includes a 30 minute walk or a 10 minute bus ride across tours of washington dc the border. This is why the route doesn't show up on online route planners. I only discovered it after I learned about the existence of the Étoile du Nord and started following its itinerary.
There is another tours of washington dc alternative route between Paris and Amsterdam, which consists of a combination of regional trains following more or less the same trajectory as the Thalys (Paris-Amiens-Lille-Courtrai-Brussels-Amsterdam), but it's more expensive (€99) and only marginally faster.
You can still travel cheaply by low speed train between Paris and Amsterdam, but the trip takes as long as it did in 1927 and you have to walk half an hour to cross the border between France and Belgium.
Quite surprisingly, those who want to avoid the high costs associated with the high speed train between Paris and Amsterdam are much worse off today than people were in 1927, when the trip also took eight hours, but there was no need to switch trains tours of washington dc or walk across the border. [5]
The Thalys is not an isolated case. The completion of the last link in the high speed line between Barcelona and Paris on December 15, 2013, had a predictable consequence: the abolishment of the direct night train between both cities, the Trenhotel Joan Miró . This very popular train ran daily in both directions and covered the distance in about 12 hours, leaving around 20h30 in evening and arriving around 08h30 in morning. It was introduced in 1974, and received its present name and rolling stock in 1991.
Again, this is not the time to marvel about the comfortable cabins, the linen table clothing in the dining car, or the many friends I have made on this trip. Let's just look at the numbers. The fare for a one-way trip on the Trenhotel Joan Miró was between €70 (ordered more than two weeks in advance) and €140 euro (ordered shortly before tours of washington dc departure). The standard fare on the new high speed train covering the same trajectory is €170, up to twice as much. As with the Thalys , heavily advertised cheaper fares (€59 euro) are available for early bookers, but the availability of these tickets is very, very limited.
At first sight, it seems that you get something valuable in return for this steep price: a travel time of slightly over six hours. However, numbers don't tell the whole story here. On a night train, tours of washington dc passengers sleep about seven to eight hours, which brings the perceived tours of washington dc travel tours of washington dc time back to between four and five hours -- faster than the high speed train. Furthermore, the night train meant you arrived in Paris or Barcelona in the early morning, which can be very practical. If you want to arrive early morning by high speed train, you need to take a train the day before and book a hotel, increasing the overall cost.
For die-hard idiots like me, there are still cheaper options available. You can take a regional train from Barcelona to the French border, either going straight over the Pyrenees (via Latour de Carol-Enveitg) or alongside the coast (via Cerbère-Portbou). From these border stations, you can hop on a domestic night train to Paris -- in spite of its extensive high speed network, France still has some domestic night trains. A one-way trip costs about €70 to €140, corresponding with the fare of the abolished Trenhotel. However, this is cold comfort as the trip takes close to 16 hours and requires an extra change. And forget all the comfort and extras that came with the Trenhotel : you sleep in a cabin with six instead of four beds, and there isn't even a drinking fountain onboard, let alone a bar or a restaurant.
In summary, as of 2014, a round trip between Barcelona and Amsterdam will set me back at least €580 at standard fare. In 2013, a combination of the now suspended Trenhotel and the Thalys allowed me to travel tours of washington dc back and forth by train for a minimum standard fare of €360. And in the early 1990s, combining the Étoile du Nord and the Trenhotel would have allowed me to make the trip for a minimum of €270 euro (calc