There is more to Sweden though. Lot of people still air-commute between Umeå and Stockholm. I'd argue that a proper high-speed train with a _few_ stops along major hubs running from south to north would be a great boon to the country. Then you'd be able to take slower trains to get to these hubs, as opposed to having the train stop so often that it becomes inefficient.

Stockholm and Göteborg are not a good example (or the opposite..) since they are too close to each other, ~500km, to cancel the wasted time going to and from the airport and waiting to board the plane. The fast trains from those city centers are indeed better than flying, although the price compared to low cost flights is too high. I don't totally agree with your conclusion- I would take trains from Stockholm to central Europe even with kids but only if prices were significantly better than low cost flights, I don't mind a 24 hour ride to Berlin with a stop over or two, but the price is actually higher than most low cost flights e.g. Norwegian

Trains in Europe and probably elsewhere too, cannot compete on price as 1) fuel is taxed and they are paying emissions fees, which airlines don’t [a] 2) the operator is often obligated to run trains at times where there are very few passengers (I.e. hourly schedules on underused routes).

[a] http://www.airportwatch.org.uk/2019/05/te-found-the-eu-sat-o...

Kudos to you! I couldn't fathom taking a 24 hour train from Sthlm -> Berlin over the 1.5 hour flight. Is that an environmental decision or do you have other reasons?

We are not environmentalists at all (well, one of the kids is but I am paying) but we enjoy the journey as much as the destination?

For the right price I don't mind changing the itinerary, but like I've said at the moment flying is cheaper then a train ride even sthlm -> copenhagen in some cases.

I see. And I do indeed agree with you on the price - instead of shaming us into not flying (although that apparently seems to be working, too) develop comfortable and affordable alternatives.