I hear that train a comin', a comin' down the line

I love riding trains

     One of the reasons I love visiting France and Switzerland is the amazing rail networks in those countries.  Other European countries also have great rail, but the ones I am most familiar with are in France and Switzerland.
     Service is fast.  I was on a Spanish train last year that hit about 140 mph.  Yet the ride was smooth, the coach roomy, the food service good, and the overall experience excellent.
     If I took Amtrak from Chicago to Washington DC, it would take 23 hours.  I could drive it in 10, according to Google maps.
     Let's put our train travel in perspective with France's.  To go from Paris to Geneva, about half the distance of Chicago to Washington, takes 3 hours and 5 minutes.
     Of course there can be problems.
     My friend Dan and I were on a train from Geneva to the south of France.  We had a connection to make for our next train.  When we ground to a halt after leaving a station, I started to worry.  We waited.  We waited.  People were getting off the train and wandering the tracks.
     So I got off the train to see what was going on.  In the car ahead of us, two feet stuck out of the door.  They were not moving.  "Morte," hissed a woman behind me.  That means dead. And when someone dies on a French train, it does not move until a complete investigation is made.  That can take hours.
     While Dan and I discussed the situation, it was more out of concern for missing our connection than for the loss of a total stranger.
    And in fact we did miss our connection.
     But the ever accommodating French found a taxi for the six of us who missed the train and drove us to the next destination.  It was a wild ride.  The driver spoke a little English and the info I got was the cab was on its last legs and he hoped it would make it.
     When Sheri, Jackie and I were coming back from Milan, we almost missed our connection in Switzerland.  Jackie does not move real fast....and we only had a few minutes to cross the tracks and board the next train.
     In Switzerland, the conductor blows a whistle and that means get on board or get left behind.
     So I went ahead and got half on the train and half on the platform.  Conductors kept blowing that whistle, but I wasn't moving.  Finally Sheri and Jackie came into view and everyone realized why our progress was so slow.
      I don't know for sure, but I think most of the freight service in Europe runs at night.  I very seldom see a freight train over there.  There are few grade level crossings.....running trains at 100 mph and above means you don't let automobiles on the tracks...ever!
     And someday I would like to take the train west.....getting off in a couple of towns along the way and exploring.   Jackie and I would then fly home, because it would be way to much time on a train to take it round trip.