While I’d like to believe this, if Putin comes to some peaceful agreement with Ukraine, the international community will just wait until people are distracted by the next big news story and then let Putin back in.
I’d rather be cynical and happily surprised than optimistic and disappointed.
And they are being built and encouraged in Europe. I’d recommend anyone travelling within Europe first check for train routes before booking a flight.
That said, while they are improving the situation, building new rail lines, tunnels, bridges, etc., and changing the regulatory environment to allow more competition, these are slow improvements to make.
I checked and Zurich-Bilbao has few high-speed sections. They’re building new high speed lines near Bilbao, but infrastructure takes time…