It's a commonplace to believe that train travel makes sense for medium trips where the cost of getting to/from the airport (plus boarding bullshit) dominates time in the air -- 2-3 hour flights.
But the pandemic has shown an additional possibility by increasing the acceptability of working remotely. It may become more attractive to have a slightly longer but less-hassle trip (board in city centers or at least locations closer than an airport) if you are continuously net-connected and able to have quiet video conferences and do other work.
In the 90s I spent a lot of time on Shinkansen and TGV and had good phone service and networking (even at GPRS speeds) which meant it wasn't really "lost" time. And certainly I was not alone. (It helped that there was a culture of having actual phone conversations away from the cabin).
That can be a feature. It can also be a bug for all the people who don't live in the city. If I had to board Amtrak in downtown Boston (rather than the suburban station I use), that would probably tip the scales against me using the train.
My commuter rail doesn't even come into the same train station as Amtrak headed south does.
Amtrak to NYC is already a bit marginal for me because I drive an hour in basically the wrong direction to a suburban stop. If I had to go into Boston which is even further in the wrong direction, I just wouldn't do it.
Paris's different rail stations are well inter-connected by the Paris Metro. Said network doesn't have to be made up of just one form of transit; again, the Swiss network does an absolutely phenomenal job of matching up train, bus, etc. schedules into one unified transit network.
And Boston's (and New York's) rail stations are connected by subway as well. But (like in Paris or London) I need to build in some generous buffer to catch a long distance train. I have no doubt Swiss trains do an unusually good job of aligning schedules but AFAIK that's not true of most places in Europe or Japan for that matter.
I wonder what the difference is in potentially likely riders? The only time I’ve used Amtrak in the last 5 years was to get to Boston, and I wanted to be in the city. I used Acela Express and it worked great.
Faster trains for major city to major city, but slower trains to reach the suburbs?
The primary problem in Boston (from my perspective and I expert alot of other people) is the schedule of the commuter rails is terrible. They just make zero sense. You can take a train into Boston between 6-10am and a train out of Boston between 4 and 7pm, otherwise, you have to wait hours for a train.
Hours is a bit of an exaggeration (probably more like 90 minutes on my line) but that's basically true. And you have to tack on buffer if you need to take the subway to the train station.
I'll take commuter rail by preference to go into the city but only if I'm basically going in and out at normal commuting hours. I won't take it if I'm going in for an evening event or even, generally, if I have an evening event following something in the daytime. But they're basically designed for commuters (hence the name) and, in my experience, are pretty empty the rest of the time.
To your basic point, I don't think I've ever used commuter rail to connect to another mode of transportation whether train or plane. Just too much overhead.
Route 128 Station is very popular and much more convenient than South Station for anyone from at least the western or southern suburbs. Anecdotally, it feels like about the same number of people get on there as get on in Boston.
There is a commuter rail network into Boston. But many of the lines go to a different train station. It definitely wouldn't make sense for me. At that point I might as well just drive to Manhattan (which would actually be faster anyway) or maybe New Haven, where I could pick up a MetroNorth commuter rail. (Have been thinking of trying the latter anyway next time.)
But the pandemic has shown an additional possibility by increasing the acceptability of working remotely. It may become more attractive to have a slightly longer but less-hassle trip (board in city centers or at least locations closer than an airport) if you are continuously net-connected and able to have quiet video conferences and do other work.
In the 90s I spent a lot of time on Shinkansen and TGV and had good phone service and networking (even at GPRS speeds) which meant it wasn't really "lost" time. And certainly I was not alone. (It helped that there was a culture of having actual phone conversations away from the cabin).