Speaking of best practices in rail transit

Note this piece in Sunday's New York Times travel section, "Travel by Rail in Europe Is Set to Get Even Faster." From the article:

European rail companies are cutting the time it takes to get from one city to the next. Thanks to a series of new international fast rail projects, taking a train from Edinburgh to, say, Moscow may no longer be unthinkable, and perhaps even preferable to flying.

First up is the TGV Est, set to begin service in June, which will not only cut the travel time from Paris to Strasbourg nearly in half (to 2 hours and 20 minutes), but will also open up fast routes between Paris and cities in eastern France and Luxembourg, Germany and Switzerland.

Then, in November, Eurostar plans to open St. Pancras International station in central London. The completion of Britain’s first high-speed rail line, which will serve the station, will cut the London-Paris journey to 2 hours and 15 minutes and will make travel from northern England and Scotland to the Continent faster.

During the next two years passengers will also benefit from the completion of a high-speed rail line that will run from Brussels to the German border and an Antwerp, Rotterdam, Amsterdam line, as well as high-speed lines in Spain, Italy and Germany.

Anticipating a boom in train travel, Eurostar, part of the Railteam alliance that includes international rail companies in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and France, is working hard to integrate its networks so that travelers booking cross-border journeys will have little waiting time between connections. “The goal is to make it easier for the traveler to get to Western Europe and beyond,” said Lesley Retallack, head of press for Eurostar.--------