The environmental costs of flying are much higher, and the government subsidises rail travel, so what explains the baffling price difference when travelling domestically?
I would love a genuine answer to this question with a proper analysis of costs, subsidies and profit margins, but this article ain’t it. I would guess - but don’t know - that the difference is mainly because the fixed infrastructure of a rail network consists of far more stuff that needs to be built, paid for and maintained than does an airline.
Also the emissions figure (“double”) is way off - a domestic flight is something like 250g of CO2(e) per kilometre (per passenger) whereas a train is about 35g. Source.
I would love a genuine answer to this question with a proper analysis of costs, subsidies and profit margins, but this article ain’t it. I would guess - but don’t know - that the difference is mainly because the fixed infrastructure of a rail network consists of far more stuff that needs to be built, paid for and maintained than does an airline.
Also the emissions figure (“double”) is way off - a domestic flight is something like 250g of CO2(e) per kilometre (per passenger) whereas a train is about 35g. Source.