The trains in many European nations trains can be inefficient. Internationally they are often abysmal

While it is difficult at the present time to find a way of replacing long haul flights for business/leisure/etc (although I am confident a concerted effort could lead to a solution) the more pressing need of reducing the flow of Northern Europeans for holidays in Spain/Italy and the Mediterranean could be achieved by a push towards rail travel.

Internationally, rail travel faces considerable obstacles in the case of Africa and Latin America, in Europe nations such as Germany/Spain/France and Italy are home to world class networks.

However, the problem with the national rail networks in Europe is that they are suffering in the face of competition from cheap air fares. In particular, sleeper trains are a dying breed as few opt for relatively expensive private cabins over the efficiency and comfort of a plane.

However there are two major advantages to rail travel. The most important is in the reduction of your carbon footprint and the fact that you can continue to enjoy your holidays and weekends away with a relatively clean conscience (well the travelling part anyway). While aviation only contributes a small percentage of global emissions, for wealthy individuals in western Europe and North America they are often by far the biggest contributor to someone’s carbon footprint.

The second is that trains offer a sense of adventure and fun that is sometimes lost with modern travelling.

The disparity in costs between air travel and train fares is due to a number of factors. One of the most obvious is that rail networks require extensive investments in their upkeep and infrastructure. Hundreds of miles of tracks have to be laid to create a new European route, whereas a new air route simply requires a stand at an airport and a plane.

The challenge will be to help generate public interest in enormous expenditures in the national and private rail companies of many nations. Trains are seen as expensive in the UK in particular where the trains are a poor shadow of many of our European cousins.

However as far as the individual traveller is concerned trains should be the first option for destinations in Europe if travelling from within the European mainland. Prices can be kept low by booking ahead and it can offer the luxury and style that a flight to a foreign country cannot.