To think train travel is too expensive?!

[MissDollyMix]

I'm just booking some travel for work. Recently had to book a return flight from Manchester to New York - cost £350. This morning booking a return train from Newcastle to London - cost (standard class) £390. How is it cheaper to fly to New York than it is to get a simple train down to London???? I mean, I know there are special offers available (I have a friends and family railcard for when I'm travelling for leisure) but still? Something is wrong here.

Policy of government to increase rail fares whilst not increasing fuel duty or even some alternative for large 99% unnecessarily large cars. Also unfair competition for longer journeys for some given the lack of speed limit enforcement and medical standards for car drivers.

I am sure any reasonable employer or supplier would agree to a meeting later than 11am if the cost of getting there was as much as you are being asked for. Or accept a virtual meeting.

Who said anything about a car costing £30k?

Mine cost £8k which is likely to work out at under £1k pa once I've finished with it. Add on insurance, servicing, MOT, road tax, breakdown cover and it's still not likely to exceed £150 pm for everything except fuel, which I can have as much as I like for about 14 p a mile. For transport that I can use to go where I want, when I want with no route or time restrictions or planning ahead or penalties if I change my mind.

£150-200 pm incl some fuel for all that, which wouldn't even buy me one return ticket to London.

I agree op and they're so nonsensical. Getting a train from my local station to nearest major city = £55. Driving 20 mins to catch it from a different station = £20. Getting a train the other way to a further away city = £12.

Yeah, it’s absolutely ridiculous how much we pay. It’s cheaper to fly half the time.

That sounds like a mega cheap flight though! I remember the first time I went to NY in 1999, we had booked the flights (return) through Trailfinders for £206. I find it hard to believe it’s only gone up £150 in 25 years.

The last time I flew economy (2005), I paid around £500 as I got a full refund for a 24 hour delay.

My work is next to a train station in a city centre and it’s still cheaper to drive in and pay parking than it is to get the train.

So that's approx 3k p/a before fuel, lot of train tickets for that

If you look carefully you’ll find there are a few operators, pretty much all household names, doing the likes of MAN- JFK over the next few months charging not much more than £400 return (though you need to be careful because some are not direct).

Until recently air fares generally weren’t escalating at anything like the rate rail fares were, though there are signs of prices starting to pick up.

Its because we have a Tory government that prioritises car driving above other transport options and hates the idea of cheap accessible rail travel that poor people might then use
Almost every European country does it better

I completely agree. There’s been numerous times I’ve wanted to get the train somewhere but it’s been markably cheaper to fly or drive.

That doesn't explain 1997-2010 though.

Absolutely agree, crazy, crazy prices. I would love to see heavily subsidised train travel around the country (just like in London). This is the way to take people off the roads and encourage them to travel - massive benefit to the economy, great for the environment.

Germany decided to tackle an economic dip some months ago by selling monthly rail passes for peppercorn prices. Let's see some of that here too.

As long as I want to live an extremely limited life because I can't just pop out, well anywhere.

Most trips will take about three times as long. I need to go to my second nearest airport next week. I've just checked and I can drive there in 60-90 mins. Or go on the bus and train and walk for over half an hour and do it in 3.5 hours. On the way back, I'll need a night in a hotel because I come back after the buses and trains finish.

There are no train stations out where I go walking in the hills. There are no train stations within 2 miles of my house or anywhere near where my friends and family live.

So instead of spending £3-5k pa on running a car and being able to go out and about every day, you're suggesting I should spend the same amount of money going on the train once or twice a month and spending the other 340 days remaining within walking distance of my house. OK then.

The Privatised train companies work perfectly for what they are designed for.

They are designed to funnel public money (government subsidies) into the pockets of shareholders (usually Tory donors), and they are doing a fantastic job.

They are not designed to be of any use to the consumers.

Fly!

massive benefit to the economy, great for the environment.

But who cares about that ? Not the people in power obviously.

As an update, I’ve decided to fly because it’s half the price of the train ticket (and there is a lot of pressure on budgets at work at the moment) I’m not 100% comfortable from a green perspective but the figures just don’t add up for the train. Which seems ridiculous.

As a side note, to everyone saying I drive- I’m an old lady (ok 40… but I feel old!) with an old car and I’m pretty sure that driving from Newcastle to central London and back in a day would kill one or both of us. Heck, these days I think driving in central London alone would be enough to kill me off….

This is such a good idea! I wish our government (whatever their flavour) could come up with more innovative ideas. Our economy is stagnant and central government seems to be so uncreative about it.

Yes, it's expensive. We use National Express coaches a lot as its cheaper. Much cheaper to uni towns. Eg. Bristol to London, Birmingham to London, Coventry to London.

I only travel by train for work as they pay for the ticket. It's much cheaper to drive, especially if there is more than one of you.

I don't live near a mainline station and it's cheaper for me to get a cab there than it is to get a train from my little local station.

There are much cheaper fares than the one you quite.

Travelling at a different time is a different 'product' so the price varies accordingly. It's not the same journey.

I usually find trains good value and fairly reliable if you can be flexible when you travel.

Yes, a friend whose dd lives in Nice was saying they do that in France too.

The UK was the 2nd biggest net contributor to the EU. Where do you think that money went?

They aren't the entire reason, but very high staff costs (due to the unions) are a very large factor in the price of your ticket.
You'd be surprised how much money has to clear before any profit can be made on this stuff.

Add to that the way that DFT makes them run in a pseudo-public sector fashion, makes the whole endeavour far more expensive than it needs to be.

I don't believe that going laissez-faire on trains would be worthwhile, since there's no real way to compete, but you do need to bust those unions if you want to lower prices.

Good god, Maggie's back from the dead.