Ha! One of? I'm going to tout it right now as the world's best, hands down, full stop, not even close. Second and third place - maybe Germany and France? Western Europe fills out most of the top 10. One can argue about exactly who goes where.
But you can't argue with number one, it's Japan, by a mile, in fact by 19,029 miles.
I hear from German friends that Germany’s train system has encountered a similar fate.
If only it were just the trains - but our government has gutted similarly education, healthcare, … it really is disheartening.
In a country the size of Germany clamoring to have an environmentally oriented politic, train should be a convenient alternative to both car and airplane but unfortunately the train network is a joke.
When can I move to Germany ?
In the UK if your train gets cancelled its either:
1. "Tough shit. Suck it up buttercup"
2. The infamous Rail Replacement Bus Service
So yeah, you would not find me complaining if the train company offered me a taxi voucher if my train was cancelled !
After that experience, I purchased a car and motorbike and I will never be convinced to give up my independence in exchange for that abysmal service. It was completely morale breaking. What's worse is I then worked in Japan during 2019 and experienced some of the best service I could possibly think would be reasonable. It's hard to defend in any form the absolute depressing state of the UK rail service.
Japan has many things going for it but also some notable issues. The various private operators can be confusing ("oh, your train doesn't leave from platform 4 in this building, it leaves from platform 4 in the Odakyu building"). There is virtually no transit available at night, even within the large metros. Once you leave the main lines the service frequency can be very spotty and the transfers very badly designed. No bike transport even on smaller regional trains (not counting "disassembled in a bike bag" as bike transport).
This also somewhat prevent having unified ticketing systems like you have in Switzerland.
The ticket you can buy in the train station is also valid for the local buses. Or even better (from a practicality point of view), you can use an app that track your start and end point and automatically bill you accordingly (you rare have to stamp your ticket when using public transport; you just come and go and there's sometime controls by agents).
I'm sure that there's some exception in Japan, like JR West, Central and East are technically different companies but the tourist JR pass allows you to go wherever, but it's hard to beat the convenience of the Swiss transports.
That's not even a high end or expensive train... Japan's rail system is for sure #1.
We will never have that in America in any shared public space ever.
Japan is just lovely.
In one of Tokyo's high end districts you'll see 5 grand bicycles parked with locks that more resemble a shoe string than an actual lock.
Can't imagine the horror that must be the rest of the world through a Japanese person's eyes.
Both have strong points, I would say people in Japan probably behave better than Swiss people.
Obviously, users still often complain.
[1] not that expensive if compared to owning a car