@infobeautiful
Looks the same in France.

Short distance: by bus now (some old lines have not been electrified).
Long distance: by fly because it's fast and cheap?! (frequency diminished maybe with train). TGV still works well, too.

When I was child I've done Geneva - La Coruna (Spain) a lot of times: it was 2 train days. Challenging, but still fun for landscapes view. :0)