Even the train companies think rail travel is too expensive

With train fares due to rise yet again, it is no surprise if commuters find rail travel expensive. What’s more surprising is that Network Rail clearly thinks so too.

200 Network Rail staff had to travel to Coventry from Reading for a conference, a distance of 90 miles. As a senior executive noted in a memo: “If we all book our own travel and most of us use trains, it’ll cost £27,000.”

So he ordered that the company hire “spacious” coaches instead. As they cost only £12 a head, instead of £146 for an open return by train, the entire trip set the company back just £2,400. A company spokesman said: “We use rail for the overwhelming number of journeys but, occasionally, if there is a cheaper alternative, we will use that.”