How compatible are european train systems? I know that russian trains use(d?) to run on wider tracks and that Poland in 1918/9 inherited three different track widths (german,austrian and russian). But that was a while ago.

This breaks down into two questions:
a) How compatible are the old low-speed european train systems, especially tracks?
and
b) How compatible are the new (not fake) high-speed european train systems, especially tracks?

I ask this because I feel that if trains are to really compete with fligth we need a common european train system, and we do not really have one today. That does not mean that we need to merge everything, but to set common standards (tracks, trains, personel) so that the usefulness increases.

Hey, is this not what this whole EU-thingy is supposed to be about?

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