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I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done the Berlin-London trip early Monday morning before work. 2h might be an underestimate, but it really is quite fast.

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In the US, Acela--which is as good as it gets in the US--is still a full day trip from Boston to Washington DC while a flight is less than two hours. It's not as just-roll-up-to-the-airport as it was pre-9/11 but it's still something you can do to catch a mid-morning meeting.

The train is pretty much a full day. I've done it when schedule allowed but going down the day before, working on the train, and spending the night in a hotel as opposed to doing an out and back in a day doesn't work for a lot of people.

Of course, shorter segments of the Northeast Corridor work pretty well by train. I pretty much never fly Boston to NYC unless I'm under unusual constraints.

That distance would be perfect for sleeper train. Hop on in the evening, sleep while you traveling and arrive in the morning well rested. You have the entire day for work, and hop on the train back on the evening.

It's not what a lot of business travelers want. And it usually costs multiples of what hopping on a short flight costs because you need a sleeper compartment to do the well rested thing.

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