I regularly use trains in Europe and they are excellent. DeutscheBahn in Germany are probably the best train operators in Europe (with Switzerland's SBB second, and they have no high speed services I'm aware of). DB run trains all over Germany and into neighbouring countries, and they also run a large number of the trans-Europe night trains.
DB made €1.3bn profit and yet their fares are extremely reasonable. You can currently travel from Cologne, Germany to London, UK for €49 one way (and apparently once the direct services start running in a few years the fare will be even cheaper). I have travelled first class on the ICE train (recently spent 10 hours travelling from Cologne to Vienna) and it was like using a major airline. I was served food and drinks at my seat (just had to ring for the attendant), I had a large comfy reclining leather seat, I was offered numerous international newspapers, and was very impressed with the level of English their staff have (I speak a smattering of German, but certainly not enough to carry on a conversation).