Sure you're not going to do 6+ hours. However you may choose to take the 2h30 train rather than the 1h30 train to save 30%. We did this a few months ago when we

Sure you're not going to do 6+ hours. However you may choose to take the 2h30 train rather than the 1h30 train to save 30%. We did this a few months ago when we went on a break to London. Most european countries spend far more per passenger-mile in subsidies for the rail network. This would allow cheaper tickets, but that would mean more students taking the train instead of the coach, and therefore even less room. Until we build more infrastructure we can't sensibly reduce ticket prices. The changes in discussion now are nothing to do with removing shareholders, it's about 'simplifying' the tickets. This will cause 1% of passengers to pay £50 more, and 99% of passengers to pay 50p less, all because that 99% value their time over buying their tickets from someone other than 'thetrainline' (which saves £1 a ticket straight up) However if you do remove shareholders, you'll save about 3% on the price of train tickets -- i.e. they'll cost the same next year that they do today. Whoppee. I went to Exeter Uni, I drove down from Warrington. The train is expensive, but the reason for that is that crosscountry trains are massively overcrowded, and the decision not to run longer trains on crosscountry routes is down to the government, not to Arriva (or whoever runs crosscountry) Last time I took the train to the south west I chose to travel on ATW and FGW rather than Cross Country. However if I were going to travel Leeds to Exeter tomorrow, I would go to 'trainsplit.com', type "Leeds", "Exeter", and select the date, and within 30 seconds find a fare for £62.61 (including the fee for using the service) Now if you were to buy it at the station it would cost £153, which is silly. Banning split ticketing ("simplifying") will not drop the price Renationalising the rail network may drop that price to £148 The reason that "simplifying" tickets and "removing anomolies" is again in the news is because more and more people are doing it, and this is harming profits.