Bullet trains coming to the UK

[norrahe]

As a matter of interest, how much is the Eurostar to Brussels realistically for a weekly commute? I know the web site goes on about 'from £49' or whatever but by the time you've clicked through ends up as £286.......

Yes, just had a call 'Got a contract in Brussels you might be interested in......'

Depends on how long in advance you book, but you won't get reasonably cheap fares for peak travel times.

[Mich the Tester]

We don't subsidies the roads. The costs are covered by road tax and petrol duty to my knowledge.

We do subsidies the trains though. If people were productive on the trains, companies would be happy to pay more for their train ticket because they knew they would get more productivity out of their employees vs letting them drive.

Firstly, roads are paid for by tax and duties.

Secondly, if you go in first class on a train from London to Paris, Hamburg to Frankfurt, Amsterdam to Cologne etc, you'll notice lots of people sitting there working on their laptops, making phone calls etc etc. They're working. Some of them are self employed, and we can assume they'll have done the sums. Some of them are employees, and you seem to assume that their bosses are idiots for paying the train fares. In other words, profits are being made, taxes are being paid, and some of those taxes are put back into the railways. It seems to work for the Germans at least.

[TimberWolf]

I sometimes wonder about the calculations that say rail is more efficient than air, and whether they've taken infrastructure costs and maintenance into account, rather than just the fuel used to get from A to B. Prices just don't seem to stack up to the claims. At least when I compare budget airline prices of getting me to the Med for £50 return compared to the hundreds of pounds it would cost by rail. And that's comparing rail to a mode of transport that isn't subsidised and makes a profit on top.

[Mich the Tester]

I sometimes wonder about the calculations that say rail is more efficient than air, and whether they've taken infrastructure costs and maintenance into account, rather than just the fuel used to get from A to B. Prices just don't seem to stack up to the claims. At least when I compare budget airline prices of getting me to the Med for £50 return compared to the hundreds of pounds it would cost by rail. And that's comparing rail to a mode of transport that isn't subsidised and makes a profit on top.

Yep, but air transport is arguably subsidised as the airlines don't pay tax on fuel. Plus, high speed trains aren't about getting you to the Costa del Chav cheaply to spend 2 weeks getting plastered on Bacardi Breezers and shagging syphilitic Sharons from Swindon. The trains are more often used for work and business travel.

[TimberWolf]

Yep, but air transport is arguably subsidised as the airlines don't pay tax on fuel. Plus, high speed trains aren't about getting you to the Costa del Chav cheaply to spend 2 weeks getting plastered on Bacardi Breezers and shagging syphilitic Sharons from Swindon. The trains are more often used for work and business travel.

Plus getting from A to B by rail requires the entire route from A to B to be covered in rails, bridges, tunnels, maintenance workers, etc whereas with air, only points A and B need infrastructure.

[Mich the Tester]

Plus getting from A to B by rail requires the entire route from A to B to be covered in rails, bridges, tunnels, maintenance workers, etc whereas with air, only points A and B need infrastructure.

Yep yep. OK, so I'm running out of arguments so it's time for the geek argument. High speed trains are cool.

[d000hg]

We don't subsidise the roads. The costs are covered by road tax and petrol duty to my knowledge.

So roads are 100% subsidised then... whereas trains are only partly subsidised (it's tax they use to make up the defecit from ticket prices)

[AtW]

I thought they were Maglev systems?

Only China can afford it with all that Western money it earns.

[stek]

Bring back the Fairey Rotodyne! Lands on an extremely large sixpence!

[TimberWolf]

I don't suppose Japan can send some drivers over too:

London 2012 Olympics: Train drivers to stage three days of strikes during Games | Mail Online

Mind you a squaddie could drive a train after two minutes instruction no doubt. And kerchinnnnggg if he's paid the train driver's wage.