Originally Posted by
Freetotravel
I just travelled from Scotland to Munich via London and Paris and had a wonderful experience. But that journey cannot be done in 1 day. I reckon the cost (travelling first class except on the Eurostar, when I went standard, and booked as all advance tickets) was about the same as a business class ticket on LH from Edinburgh would have been. No way it can be done for the price of an economy Ryanair flight but that isn't the point of taking the train at all.
I will definitely take the train for similar trips in the future.
[I used Rail Europe to book the travel from London and LNER to book the travel between Scotland and London]
Unless train travel comes close to 2x the price of an economy Ryanair flight, or with complete walk-up flexibility including the freedom to travel on any off-peak departures on the same day without paying more on a more expensive ticket (free same-day change in airline terms), train travel isn't competitive enough to replace planes even if trains offer a much better travel experience than planes.
If the trains are operated like airline-on-rails, for example, by using airline-like dynamic pricing and compulsory reservation, I will take an actual aeroplane instead because it is much cheaper and also faster. (If I don't need to board a specific train, I don't need to arrive early at the train station because I can simply wait for the next one)
One of the point of taking the train instead of the plane is the complete freedom to travel when I want without making reservations, for example, holding a Dundee - London flexible ticket, I can stop off at Edinburgh, have a side beach trip if the weather is good, and board the first outgoing train to London regardless of its schedule.