Many of the “trains from London to Germany/Switzerland/France beyond Paris” stories yesterday get a response here “We’d take trains more if they were cheaper” But why would rail firms even try to do this? More passengers are a pain and high prices suit rail firms jonworth.eu/more-passeng... - ThreadSky

jonworth.eu • 1 day ago

Many of the “trains from London to Germany/Switzerland/France beyond Paris” stories yesterday get a response here “We’d take trains more if they were cheaper”

But why would rail firms even try to do this?

More passengers are a pain and high prices suit rail firms https://jonworth.eu/more-passengers-are-a-problem-for-the-railways/

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benjyhere.bsky.social•1 day ago

Did you see the metro article the other day? The link is about 300 characters long so i can't post here but search 'mugged off at every turn' - it's one of the most incredible pivots I've seen in a while...

climatedaily1.bsky.social•1 day ago

The counter might be...if air fares were more expensive (fully costed and taxed) I might take trains more or even travel less. But yes, why would rail operators voluntarily build more capacity to reduce fares?

jonworth.eu•1 day ago

Yes. But this is carrots and sticks. The rail industry can’t offer passengers many (any?) carrots.

climatedaily1.bsky.social•1 day ago

I gave Eurostar some slack after Covid, as they nearly went down (how charitable of me). But subsequently, I have felt rather exploited. That said, I remain most angry about air fare pricing. It is obscene.

phil2hoots.bsky.social•1 day ago

Air fare policy is obscene but it does enable you to travel at an affordable price which rail mostly doesn’t. Plus through booking by train is at best difficult whilst by air I can get a series of inter-connecting trans national flights at one the touch of an internet button

climatedaily1.bsky.social•1 day ago

Air fares do not account for the serious damage done to the environment - more accurately, the planet's life support systems. Affordable in cash terms, for sure, but that cannot be the only justification for flying.

phil2hoots.bsky.social•17 hours ago

All of this is true but it would seem govts. (including ours) are not keen to curb flying or invest enough in our railways so they provide an affordable alternative.

fmo74.bsky.social•1 day ago

Jon, do you think an Autozug type train from Folkestone to places in Western Europe could work? We used to get them in Europe and it made travelling large distances quite a lot easier.

jonworth.eu•1 day ago

No I don’t.

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