Why is train travel so expensive?

Just priced up a return from Cardiff to Liverpool in the new year and it’s over a 100 quid

Are they for real ? How can they justify that ?

Does any one know why train travel is so expensive and is there plans to get it cheaper ? I remember the train system in Holland was a lot better than ours more people used it and it was cheaper and better for the environment, be good if we could take a leaf out of there book

Just priced up a return from Cardiff to Liverpool in the new year and it’s over a 100 quid

Are they for real ? How can they justify that ?

Does any one know why train travel is so expensive and is there plans to get it cheaper ? I remember the train system in Holland was a lot better than ours more people used it and it was cheaper and better for the environment, be good if we could take a leaf out of there book

Need to book at the earliest time cheap tickets come out around 3months in advance as limited availability.... also if possible get rail card (£30) there are several different kinds and one may suit you but need to use it several times a year to make it pay.......as for being expensive like all things privatised Joe public pays at least twice for the privilege of using it? tax payer pays company to run it in way of subsidies and then company screws public to make money again in fares.

Trains are expensive here in Britain because they've all been sold off to private companies, rather than being owned publicly. There's only one thing companies care about, money.

Under Thatcher's government the argument was that privately owned train companies would create competition which would drive down prices. As with most of Maggie's policies it was a load of shite. Competition breeds from a variety of choice but there isn't a lot of choice at all. You really only have 1 or 2 options for most trips in the UK so you have to take the service you need, and pay whatever price is charged.

I may be misremembering but I'm pretty sure I read an article about commuter trains to London saying from places like Reading, Oxford, Luton etc the majority of their sales come from workers buying monthly and annual tickets so when a train breaks down or is standing room only, there is very little incentive to add an extra carriage or swap out the engines because the passengers have already prepaid and can't take their business elsewhere, they just have to wait for the next train.

It's also why they can announce increasing ticket prices with little to no backlash. There is little alternative travel.
The sane reason why the train networks in mainland Europe for a lot of countries are far more modern and efficient. There's no incentive to improve the network here.

Trains are expensive here in Britain because they've all been sold off to private companies, rather than being owned publicly. There's only one thing companies care about, money.

Under Thatcher's government the argument was that privately owned train companies would create competition which would drive down prices. As with most of Maggie's policies it was a load of shite. Competition breeds from a variety of choice but there isn't a lot of choice at all. You really only have 1 or 2 options for most trips in the UK so you have to take the service you need, and pay whatever price is charged.

I may be misremembering but I'm pretty sure I read an article about commuter trains to London saying from places like Reading, Oxford, Luton etc the majority of their sales come from workers buying monthly and annual tickets so when a train breaks down or is standing room only, there is very little incentive to add an extra carriage or swap out the engines because the passengers have already prepaid and can't take their business elsewhere, they just have to wait for the next train.

It's also why they can announce increasing ticket prices with little to no backlash. There is little alternative travel.
The sane reason why the train networks in mainland Europe for a lot of countries are far more modern and efficient. There's no incentive to improve the network here.

our rail network is defo not as good as some other countries....but BR was shocking..

Trains are expensive here in Britain because they've all been sold off to private companies, rather than being owned publicly. There's only one thing companies care about, money.

Under Thatcher's government the argument was that privately owned train companies would create competition which would drive down prices. As with most of Maggie's policies it was a load of shite. Competition breeds from a variety of choice but there isn't a lot of choice at all. You really only have 1 or 2 options for most trips in the UK so you have to take the service you need, and pay whatever price is charged.

I may be misremembering but I'm pretty sure I read an article about commuter trains to London saying from places like Reading, Oxford, Luton etc the majority of their sales come from workers buying monthly and annual tickets so when a train breaks down or is standing room only, there is very little incentive to add an extra carriage or swap out the engines because the passengers have already prepaid and can't take their business elsewhere, they just have to wait for the next train.

It's also why they can announce increasing ticket prices with little to no backlash. There is little alternative travel.
The sane reason why the train networks in mainland Europe for a lot of countries are far more modern and efficient. There's no incentive to improve the network here.

our rail network is defo not as good as some other countries....but BR was shocking..

I can't comment as I was born well after the rail network was privatised. How did our rail network in the 70's and 80's compare to the rest of Europe at the time, do you know? It might just be that was the standard quality at the time?

During the BR era little was spent on it, so the modernisation had to take place and things are very expensive in the UK especially as you get closer to London.

I never catch a train, i grew up in the east side of Cardiff so wasn't on the commuter belt, so except the odd football specials which were the pre BR coaches, i never used them.

The question for me has always been why should I pay (subsidise) for something I don't use. I believe in socialised medicine, because at some point we'll all need it, some more than other, but travel ?

I've never understood why Transport for London didn't take over all the London commuter trains as they are heavily reliant on them and a far higher percentage don't own cars. Then I remembered, they want the rest of the country that doesn't have the same network to pay for it through nationalisation.

Believe it or not I really do believe in good public subsidized transport, but it needs to be fair. It may be how i see things, but in Cardiff the stations are in the wealthier suburbs. This is why the metro will be great but apart from a paint job on arriva trains to TFW nothing has happened, and i don't expect it to change.

Lot of councils ran cheap transport but the gvmnt at time said cannot do that so removed the subsidies and
deregulated public transport forcing councils to charge higher prices.....TFW is now run by WG as new company running it didn't do a good job or something like that.....the service is appalling only decent service probably is from swansea as it got it's own service to london Manchester & Cardiff and commuters got trains coming through from west wales all connecting with Cardiff services to rest uk..
Ps doubt if Swansea locals will agree

Didn't I hear that Transport for Wales (TfW) were taking back control of the railways?

Not sure how it would work but reduced fares 'for the people' would surely be at the top of their agenda?

Didn't I hear that Transport for Wales (TfW) were taking back control of the railways?

Not sure how it would work but reduced fares 'for the people' would surely be at the top of their agenda?

Yes they have Chris. Well the train side of things. Track still network rail... but don't expect cheap travel .....

TFW (Transport for Wales) who process tickets alongside Trainline.com, Have suspended ADVANCE tickets (where you used to purchase cheaper tickets from 30 days to 7 days prior to travel on specific trains).

The advance tickets were suspended when Covid hit back in spring 2020. (I suspect because of restricted/cancelled journeys because of covid restrictions)

I have contacted TFW on this matter and all I get is that ADVANCE tickets have been suspended for sale and no date for resumption of them? Maybe, as people have stated that now that the WAG has taken control from next spring, we may well see cheaper or Advance tickets resume ?

For example - pre-covid an advance single from Newtown (Powys) to Birmingham International was £9.50 but since covid and No advance tickets the same ticket is £28.00 for single or a return.

To rub salt into the wound even more is that if you look at the website/purchase online, they are now showing all advance tickets as SOLD OUT rather than UNAVAILABLE ?? Could that be because TFW have had so many complaints/inquiries about advance tickets or is it a nice little earner !!!

Either way, to use SOLD OUT as an excuse is naughty if not verging on illegal.

I travel to London regularly by train, and generally the service is good. Europe’s railways are very good, but they are heavily subsidised. Travel in the 70s and 80s was fairly basic, and it’s a lot better now. To say it’s down to privatisation is a little narrow, it’s something the Unions like to trot out now again because no one listens to them anymore..

I bought a train ticket in the summer from Cardiff to Southampton and was given multiple options for who I wanted to buy it off, I chose transport for Wales so it took me to their page, bought the tickets and they were posted to me from Edinburgh :S

My fare was reasonable, was around £60 for an open ended return which I thought was a fair price.

You have to put it into perspective, where I live its £4.60 for a return on the bus for a 3 mile journey each way. If you did that once a week over a month you pay nearly £20 to do 24 miles is a bus which makes £60 to do 260 miles on a train seem like a bargain

Just priced up a return from Cardiff to Liverpool in the new year and it’s over a 100 quid

Are they for real ? How can they justify that ?

Does any one know why train travel is so expensive and is there plans to get it cheaper ? I remember the train system in Holland was a lot better than ours more people used it and it was cheaper and better for the environment, be good if we could take a leaf out of there book

What does "in the new year" actually mean? Next year? Jan 1? be a little more specific with the date.

Compare the fares and service to those of Holland though and it’s ridiculous, you could get a sprinter from Amsterdam schipol to the centre for something like 4 euros and get a day ticket for the sprinters as well, I’d imagine it would be a boost for the economy all over the uk if you could get to the major uk cities for cheaper than 100 quid and faster as well, are they still electrifying the lines ? I worked on the rails when I was 18 and there was work from Swansea to London but that was nearly 10 years ago now and still no nearer

It's because at times there's people like me stood about in oranges watching work being done by machines picking up a wage and other costs lol

Trains are expensive here in Britain because they've all been sold off to private companies, rather than being owned publicly. There's only one thing companies care about, money.

Under Thatcher's government the argument was that privately owned train companies would create competition which would drive down prices. As with most of Maggie's policies it was a load of shite. Competition breeds from a variety of choice but there isn't a lot of choice at all. You really only have 1 or 2 options for most trips in the UK so you have to take the service you need, and pay whatever price is charged.

I may be misremembering but I'm pretty sure I read an article about commuter trains to London saying from places like Reading, Oxford, Luton etc the majority of their sales come from workers buying monthly and annual tickets so when a train breaks down or is standing room only, there is very little incentive to add an extra carriage or swap out the engines because the passengers have already prepaid and can't take their business elsewhere, they just have to wait for the next train.

It's also why they can announce increasing ticket prices with little to no backlash. There is little alternative travel.
The sane reason why the train networks in mainland Europe for a lot of countries are far more modern and efficient. There's no incentive to improve the network here.

our rail network is defo not as good as some other countries....but BR was shocking..

I can't comment as I was born well after the rail network was privatised. How did our rail network in the 70's and 80's compare to the rest of Europe at the time, do you know? It might just be that was the standard quality at the time?

my experiences of train travel abroad back then was very limited... but the few times i did get on a train they were more modern than ours as were the stations.... and much cleaner was what struck me... ..should they be nationalised now ? i dont know.. but something desperately needed to change back then...

Problem we've had in wales is only basically had arriva for past 15 yrs whose contract allowed them to make profits but not invest in trains! Hence massive cost to replace obsolete trains now. What WG are going to do now they own services god may know but doubt it.

Do you think the welsh government will ever reinvest tax payers money into bettering the rail network here ?

Saying that going by the amount of potholes in Blaenau gwent they aren’t too fussed on investing in the road networks