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I’ve just priced up Cardiff to Edinburgh on the train for the next half term. Train return was £434. Flying was just over £60
Now every time I watch question time and scrapping HS2 is mentioned it gets a big round of applause. I don’t get it. So much hostility to new infrastructure in the UK.
Why would HS2 make it cheaper?
Stop being sensible!!Originally Posted by Croesy Blue
the trains are ridiculously priced in this country. for intercity travel it should be a no brainer, yet it is frequently quicker and cheaper to drive. how I don't know.
It allows for more capacity on the lines
Why are we in Wales laying for it?
Because we’re very, very tired.
Does the Cardiff to Edinburgh route have any crossover with the London to Birmingham route?
There isn't a Cardiff to Edinburgh route, just different ways to get between the two.
As things stand, travel to the north is often cheaper going through Manchester as advance train prices are cheaper between here and Manchester than between here and Birmingham.
I understand there’s no direct route but it doesn’t go via Birmingham or London. That’s where my confusion comes from.
HS2 increasing capacity will only help trains between the midlands and London surely? So spunking £140B on HS2 won’t change anything about getting a Cardiff to Edinburgh train. Unless I’m misunderstanding the situation?
There are several ways of getting to Edinburgh from Cardiff. Changing at Crewe or Manchester is the best option for cheaper advance fares. Birmingham is an option, going to London would be pointless.
HS2 would have little impact on getting to Edinburgh from Cardiff. It might help North Wales travellers get to London slightly more quickly but it'll have virtually no impact on South Wales at all.
How does that make it cheaper?
The reason fares are what they are as far as I believe is that we are at maximum capacity
Increase capacity, decrease price.
Train travel in the uk is the most expensive form of public transport in the world, FACT. It costs more money per mile to travel on trains in the UK than a first class ticket on Concorde was!
Used to go to away games regularly by train in the 60s, me and my lot fancied it again lately. Horrendous prices, not viable at all. I’d love to go by rail again but I fear it’ll never happen. Checked it out for the Liverpool game, £100 return was the cheapest I could find, we opted for National Express at £41 return.
Train lines are a monopoly even with multiple operators only one can operate a journey. It would be expensive as **** still don’t be naive.
Trains can be the best way to travel but the cost of them in this country are ridiculous.
Flying is cheap as we don’t pay tax on airline fuel. If we paid tax on the fuel it fall into line with other transport. However train travel in the UK is too expensive.
We give train operators billions of taxpayers money which we don't give to airlines.
Airlines don’t pay tax on any of their fuel, so we subsidise in a different way.
I'm aware of that. I presume the answer lies with global cooperation, so there's little chance of things changing that much. In the UK we charge duties on tickets, that barely covers it and if it rose significantly, would result in lots of people ditching plane travel - not good for those who rely on the speed of it for business and government.
Absolutely, not a level playing field or train track even!
What is the solution? I love a train journey and if it was more affordable would use them 100%. Millions must be lost when people like us see the prices and immediately dismiss it and hit the road, madness really.
Renationalising them is a swear word to some, but we pay billions to train operators when they don't make a profit, then when they do, they keep it. The railways cost the taxpayer more in real terms now than they ever did when they were under public ownership.
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