4 ms·

I could fly Glasgow-London for far cheaper than the train ticket. Yet an airplane is far more expensive to operate. I wonder why that is.

pjc50 9y ago
No, the railway "permanent way" is far more expensive to operate. That's the problem. The UK railway network has rather a lot of 100+ year old bridges in it, along with some less ancient but still pretty old signalling equipment. (extremely high detail PDF on costs: http://orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/4933/toc-benchmarking-report-2012.pdf http://orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/4933/toc-bench...)
frereubu 9y ago
That (plane operating costs > rail operating costs) may not be the case when you take into account the cost of maintaining the physical infrastructure (hundreds of miles of railroad) compared to that of airports (a few hundred metres of tarmac).
- fastball 9y ago
  Not to mention that there are only two stopping points (London / Glasgow airports) where as a train needs to stations all over the place.
Maarten88 9y ago
The airplane gets tax-free fuel to burn and doesn’t have to pay for environmental damage it creates.
sitepodmatt 9y ago
True. But if Heathrow you'll pay 20gbp (or is it 25gbp now?) on Heathrow Express to get from central London to the airport unless you take the slow tube.
- MaxBarraclough 9y ago
  > unless you take the slow tube. That's competition, no?
- 24gttghh 9y ago
  Is the slow tube the one that takes an hour?
- isostatic 9y ago
  From Heathrow the options are Heathrow Express - Heathrow Connect - Bus to Hayes+Harlington then train - Picadilly line - Coach - Uber - Taxi Only one of those options is for mugs, and it's not the Heathrow Express. However from Glasgow you can also fly to Gatwick, or City if you want to avoid thiefrow. However comparing the cost of a non-flexible ticket from Glasgow to London with a flexible train ticket is ingenuous at best.

pjc50 9y ago

No, the railway "permanent way" is far more expensive to operate. That's the problem. The UK railway network has rather a lot of 100+ year old bridges in it, along with some less ancient but still pretty old signalling equipment. (extremely high detail PDF on costs: http://orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/4933/toc-benchmarking-report-2012.pdf http://orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/4933/toc-bench...)

frereubu 9y ago

That (plane operating costs > rail operating costs) may not be the case when you take into account the cost of maintaining the physical infrastructure (hundreds of miles of railroad) compared to that of airports (a few hundred metres of tarmac).

fastball 9y ago
Not to mention that there are only two stopping points (London / Glasgow airports) where as a train needs to stations all over the place.

Maarten88 9y ago

The airplane gets tax-free fuel to burn and doesn’t have to pay for environmental damage it creates.

sitepodmatt 9y ago

True. But if Heathrow you'll pay 20gbp (or is it 25gbp now?) on Heathrow Express to get from central London to the airport unless you take the slow tube.

MaxBarraclough 9y ago
> unless you take the slow tube. That's competition, no?
24gttghh 9y ago
Is the slow tube the one that takes an hour?
isostatic 9y ago
From Heathrow the options are Heathrow Express - Heathrow Connect - Bus to Hayes+Harlington then train - Picadilly line - Coach - Uber - Taxi Only one of those options is for mugs, and it's not the Heathrow Express. However from Glasgow you can also fly to Gatwick, or City if you want to avoid thiefrow. However comparing the cost of a non-flexible ticket from Glasgow to London with a flexible train ticket is ingenuous at best.