Thread: Since when did taking the train become a luxury?

I've been doing a bit of planning for my holiday home this summer and one of the things I was most looking forward to was sitting on a train. I know it doesn't sound much but I really like sitting on a train reading my newspapers or else looking idly out the window at the lovely rolling countryside. Britain has some pretty decent papers, some of the nicest scenery, but unfortunately a grotesquely overpriced rail service.

I just did a search for ticket prices in order to give myself an idea of what I might be spending and I was shocked to see some of the prices. A one way ticket from my parents town to london will set you back about 85 quid! That's outrageous. I was planning to use the train a fair bit as I am meeting a few old friends around the country, but I am coming to realise that doing that is going to involve giving a lot of money to these rail operators and I don't think it is fair. It's no wonder everybody drives a car when the rail services are not a convenient nor viable alternative. I could always take the coach which is cheap, but it's just not convient. A coach from Harrogate to Worthing, for instance, takes nigh on 9 hours. I don't want to do that and would much rather enjoy a nice reasonably priced railway journey at half the time.

A party should push through a nationalisation of the railways plan and give the railways back to the British people. What we have now are a bunch of rip off merchants! I can get a return train ticket to Seoul for the equivalent of about 6 pounds. In England that would cost me about 25 pounds. That's not right.

Rant over.