The ridiculous cost of train fares

[garlictwist]

I have a few unexpected days off work coming up and thought I might have some time in London as the weather is good there.

The train fare is coming out at over £300 return. I can fly to Spain for less than that. Then I looked at going to Devon on the train - same thing.

I understand they have their book miles in advance thing but a) I don't always know that I want to travel in advance and b) how can they justify such insane prices even at the more expensive end?

They should have put all the money they've slung into HS2 into subsidising train fares. It just makes no sense on earth for it to cost that much.

Tickets can be crazy money. One unavoidable cost the railway's have is the infrastructure. In very simple terms an airline needs a plane, crew and a runway, the air is in effect free. A railway company could have a train, driver and station but then there's the track in-between to pay for. Of course it's more complex than that but that track is very expensive. A coach shares the roads with thousands of other vehicles so the cost of them is spread across all road users.

A much crazier reason the tickets can be so expensive is to reduce demand on very busiest services. HS2 was meant to increase capacity and remove the need to do that.

railways were privatised and the various govts haven't done anything. The Tories certainly have/had no interest in looking into the companies. Only in the last couple of years are eg Northern being looked at. HS 2 won't make things any better. A short piece of infrastructure that is seemingly getting shorter and more expensive.

We were over visiting from Aus recently and fancied a day up in London but for four of us it was coming in at nearly £120 just to get there. So we just didn’t bother.

I regularly use the train to visit my mum. It’s quicker and less stressful than driving. If it’s just me going it’s cheaper too.

My local line was renationalised a couple of years ago. The tickets haven’t got cheaper and the trains haven’t got more reliable. They’ve actually got worse. Most of the cancellations seem to be due to “staff shortages” ie people not turning up to work. Privatisation is not the primary problem.

Thankfully I only need to go to the office once per week but you’re right to point out about the cancellations.

My preferred train route has been cancelled almost every afternoon throughout the whole of the hot weather, meaning I have to take a slow, stop at all station journey, or go beyond my destination and come back.

No compensation or reduced fare though. It’s criminal.

That only works if there is a type of railcard you are eligible for.

Family - no good if you don't have at least one child who will be travelling with you
Senior Citizen's - need to be pension age
Two Together - no use unless you always travel with the same person
Young person's - no use if you are middle aged
Disabled - specific eligibility criteria for disabled people

There doesn't seem to be one for middle-aged people travelling solo who do not have an eligible disability.

Go figure!!!

driving is heavily subsidised by the government. Fuel tax has been frozen since 2012. The cost of maintaining the roads, costs of crashes etc just isn’t covered by the emissions tax and fuel tax. so it’s going to be cheaper to drive.

if fuel tax had kept up with inflation since the 1990s as it used to be calculated it’d be around £10.30 per gallon/£2.28 per liter

We’re not overpopulated at all but the rest is true; they are high because people are paying

Privatisation has been the primary problem, and the actual passenger rolling stock is still in private hands. They are establishing a new state controlled company called Great British Railways some time this year which will manage infrastructure and services. It's still too fragmented as the various train operators' contracts end and government takes over but eventually all the different operating companies will be brought in under GBR, at which point significant improvements should be easy.

I got put off because the one time I tried the coach for my daughter it was cancelled with no replacement but nobody bothered to tell the customers. She ended up getting the train and then I had a hell of a time getting a refund from the coach.

I just checked out the journey we do most often by train. Coach worked out £3 cheaper than off peak return train with railcard. One coach every 2 hours and you have to specify it. Compared with any train on the route of which the there's one every half hour. Don't think I'm going to convert just yet.

I agree though public transport in this country should be cheaper and more reliable if they want to cut down car use. My daughter just drove 3.5 hours and back in a day because the petrol was cheaper than the train fare.

@Arlanymor
Not during rush hour. 16-25 railcard can only be used off peak and you cannot get a discount on weekly tickets with it. I had the same issue with my September born daughter in Sixth Form. We went from £22 to £45 for a weekly ticket. They should change the age on the 16-17 saver as many teens are still in Sixth Form/college after they turn 18.

Go somewhere other than the south east I commute to London and Leeds both with LNER the journey times are similar 1hr 15 and 1 hr 30! I go a the same time But the London ticket is always at least four times the price of the Leeds ticket

One problem is that politicians probably never see the train fares: they just ask their secretaries to book them a first-class ticket, and to claim it on expenses. If they actually knew, they might do something about it.

Definitely invest in an appropriate Railcard. The payback is instant with the savings you make for long haul trip, and the payback is very quick for regular local travel.

Cost me £70 for me and a 12yo Manchester to brum for a funeral. After uber to tram, tram into town, and ds supermarket sweeping m&s I paid £100. I was naffed off.

also paid £160 for 1 adult 2 dc Manchester to London as I really CBA driving into London. Then the train was delayed by over 2 hours and they refused to honour delay repay (which was only on half the journey ) because a bridge collapsed.

The actual rail lines and signalling etc have been publicly owned for years. This hasn’t stopped them being fabulously unreliable. The rolling stock leases haven’t created any problems as far as I’m aware, other than cost - and in any case GBR has no ability to cancel them. The only difference GBR will make to my line and all the other already renationalised lines is a rebranding.

Yup we flew to Poland and got a train around the entire country, 6 cities, all cheaper (yes including the flights) than it was to get the train back for both of us to and from Healthrow to our home town.

I live 2 hours from London on the train, a return ticket is £106 😳

Just spent a couple of days in London travelling by train. Cost an absolute fortune as have a couple of teens and over 15s are adult prices. A lot of countries have free or reduced prices for under 18s or under 25s. I know there are railcards but it is not worth it as only use the train once a year or so. One of my teens has only just turned 16 and is waiting on GCSE results, the other is in college full time education. They would not be considered as adults outside of a Great Northern train carriage.

Also wanted to add that it was rammed full, boiling hot, no air con. Fine but the windows didnt open either 😡

Planing to go to Southampton for the day coming up £50 return or there abouts.

I’ve started driving into London and paying for parking.

Trains are great and way better than driving

I wouldn’t believe the reasons they state for problems. I went to drive a train the other day, and was stood on the platform waiting for it with the guard only to find out it had been cancelled due to lack of train crew. We were both literally standing there. They spin any old lie as to why a train has been cancelled.