That's an ideal and not actual reality. Taking London as an example, there aren't many ways to cross London in such a way using commuter rail (ThamesLink curre

That's an ideal and not actual reality. Taking London as an example, there aren't many ways to cross London in such a way using commuter rail (ThamesLink currently and Crossrail in the future are probably the only two?). Most people would still use the tube. That's why 1hr + journeys in London are not uncommon. (edited to add) London and New York are also much much larger cities than Madrid. It's not really a fair comparison.