at least in france the trains run on time!!.

keith jones, champcol, France

French trains are famously very late and very unreliable. It is simply a case of the grass seeming greener on the other side [of the Eurotunnel].

The Bicycling Chameleon
http://chameleonsonbicycles.wordpress.com - the only blog ever to be discussed at Prime Minister's Questions

The Bicycling Chameleon, Kent, UK,

It's simple - for the last half-century or so, British governments have been anti-public transport. Because they don't like it, they feel able to ignore the millions who use it. Rail users may have a little moan when the fares go up, but they're much less of a worry than motoring groups, lorry drivers and farmers with their tractors, who can physically block the country's arteries if they're upset. As for buses, only kids, old fogeys or idiots use them - people who can safely be ignored. In a rational world spending on public transport would have a high priority, because its users are either not using the congested and polluted roads at all (rail) or using them far more economically by travelling together (buses). But British transport policy is hardly noted for its rationality.

Barry, Wallington, UK

Yes the "speed train system" (TGV) in France works fine even if the TGV 2nd class has little room for your legs if you are taller than...5. 9 !
But the rest of the railway system in French is very poor if compared to Germany or Switzerland.

That speed record is perfectly useless . No way the railway system can use extreme speed permanently because the lines would need extremely expensive maintenace. It was just another show of French Cocorico in a presidential votation year.

Yet the British railway system is very bad,
Luckily you don't have as many strikes as the French do.

bubuda, Lausanne, Switzerland

At least you HAVE passenger rail service in the UK, more or less. Here is the US, we have to drive half the width of Britain just to get to a train station, in the middle of the night, to get on the one train per day.

Once the price of petrol reaches $20/gallon, the people in the US will really regret letting our passenger rail service deteriorate in favor of automobiles and airlines.

Stefan Stackhouse, Black Mountain, NC, US

"The difference is that the French spend their rail investment money on engineering — while we spend ours on consultants’ fees, legal bills, diversity officers, £1.1 million in bonuses for the directors of Network Rail and just about anything other than physically building railways. The result is a bizarrely inflated cost of running trains"

Exactly! But don't restrict your observations to our railways. This is what happens everywhere, throughout our entire economy. And the reason that it happens is that we have encouraged the focus of much of the working population to be on producing income for themselves, irrespective of whether they are actually supplying anything of value. We have been conditioned to believe that our "worth" is unquestionably equivalent to our income, so we never have to ask ourselves the awkward question "what have I done to justify my lifestyle?" And as a result, social success is measured increasingly in terms of how efficient we are at blood-sucking.

Simon Stephenson, Windermere, UK

Love to hear more about the slow, noisy, unreliable trains HJ..as I have not as yet come across them (as a rule)..and maybe take into account that non TGV users are still afforded extremely aggressive prices - unlike the grass smoking offers available in Britain..article rather spot on, I'm afraid..

Jody McStravick, Viroflay, France

"Most French trains are slow, noisy and unreliable compared to ours."
I lived in France for 15 years, have been back in England for 12; and that is far from my experience (Unreliable?! If I have an appointment I now catch the train an hour earlier than I should need to; and that's usually late, or even cancelled).
I wonder how long HJ lived in France using French trains regularly?

Does his knowledge of how most French feel about the TGV come from talking to a lot of French people (in French?) Or just from the UK tabloids?

D Hackett, Bath,

As bad it you think it is, try traveling by rail in the US. Only the Northeastern Corridor is a viable commercial option and the airlines enjoy their monopoly on transportation in the less densely populated Western States. It can take up to 3 days to travel between Chicago and Dallas on Amtrak, or a mere 3 hours by plane. At least y'all have realized that rail can be an offordable comfortable way to travel and create some competition for the short haul air carriers.

Glenn, Dallas, TX USA

SNCF also goes on strike repeatedly. On average I would say there is a strike on some part of France's railways once a month.

Francis, Near Cannes, France

On Monday evening it took 7hrs 30mins to travel the 47Km between London Fenchurch Street and Pitsea, so the TGV announcement the following day held a particular sense of irony. I enjoy travelling on French railways. I can't say the same for UK ones.

LJI , Pitsea, Essex UK

I rather suspect that French rail users who do not use the TGV (i.e the vast majority of them) might disagree. Most French trains are slow, noisy and unreliable compared to ours.

HJ, Reading, UK