Comparison with Europe and North America is very difficult. Our freight rates are one-quarter of what they are in Europe, but our passenger service is nowhere near as good as European passenger service. That doesn't mean that the passenger fares are necessarily cheap in Europe. They have some great plans, though. In Switzerland you can get an annual pass and you can go anywhere on Swiss railways for a very reasonable price if you buy the annual pass.
The problem we have that is so different from the Europeans is geography and distance. I live in Montreal, and as I have to explain to people about some of these things, you can put the whole of western Europe in the province of Quebec geographically. We have a totally different problem with intercity passenger train service.