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Trains will replace planes for almost all travel in Britain within 10 years, it was claimed today.
Virgin Train's chief executive Tony Collins said flights between cities across Britain would virtually end because of vast improvements to the
rail network.
The only obstacle is the Government's stranglehold on the rail system which he claims is curtailing private companies' ability to develop their services effectively.
He said: “I could see a situation when you wouldn't need to fly between Edinburgh and London, or anywhere in the UK. You would want to travel by train.
“You could introduce more frequent services, speed up the journey time and offer Virgin Atlantic-style comforts.”
Mr Collins envisages the luxuries of hot meals and movies at your seat, plugs for your iPod and laptop and more leg room for first and business-
class passengers.
But he added: “The Department for Transport has far too tight a grip on the industry. All the key decisions are made by civil servants.
“There should be a minimum public service requirement and the rest should be left to the private sector.”
He proposes linking the West Coast line to Heathrow within a decade, and improving the tracks to reduce the train time between London and Glasgow to less than four hours.
Cutting the journey time between London and Manchester has already helped Virgin secure massive gains from air travel, he said.
Reader views (15)
Looks to me like Tony Collins will become the Willie Walsh of the railways. Were on earth did Richard Branson find this idiot. Thats it Tony, you keep pandering to your First and Business class passengers and totally ignore the "economy" or standard class passenger. No doubt they are called stand(ard) class as seating is a rarity on your trains for them.
- Steve, London
It will never work on these islands as we have the highest train fare in the world. FACT !
- Joe, Swanley Kent
There's no mystery about this coming from Virgin as the airline doesn't do internal flights! Personally I'll stick to the car, especially when travelling 'en famille'
- Paul, London
If the UK were able to do travel, it would probably be the most expensive in the world.
- Mr S.Port, London
Beeching still has a lot to answer for. Another costly exercise to increase rail travel by government. When will they learn to get it the right way round!
- Tony, Herts
Ed - I refer to the payment by the state to each of the franchised rail operators (subsidy), not the building process or maintenance processes (investment).
- Dave Davies, Basingstoke, Hants
Really great ideas - most of us would jump at the chance to hop on at the nearest rail termini and get to wherever in the UK we wanted, instead of traipsing out to Heathrow or Stansted - by the time you actually reach airports, you have usually spent ages fuming in traffic, or have already paid through the nose for a taxi or railway journey there anyway. And then the joy of security..
Back to reality however - three figure (and lately four figure) rail fares, abysmal investment in the network and likelihood of further cuts come 2010 - hardly likely there will be many improvements.
Many may squawk over expenditure on the likes of Crossrail and Thameslink, but these are exactly the sort of services we need to be able to shoot through London quickly to make quick rail (or airport) connections elsewhere. Try hopping on RER through Paris or Metro Norte in Madrid - so quick to get through these cities and link elsewhere.
When you travel around Europe by train, it is much cheaper and quicker. Who cares about business class, iPod connections, hot meals (which are always going to be overpriced) and other "luxuries"? We just want investments leading quick and easy connections, but the chances are we are never going to have a government that is prepared to do it.
- David, N10
Which version of the UK is Mr Collins living in? It certainly isn't the real one. Until there is a viable, fast and most of all cheap rail service, there will always be a place for UK flights.
It took 11 years for 67 miles of track to be laid between London and the South coast to service Eurostar trains. At that rate it will take about 20 years to get to Birmingham and 40-odd years to reach Manchester. Glasgow and Edinburgh will be looking to 2100 before they can lose their domestic flights. And with train fares costing £1,000 for a trip from the South West of England to Scotland, it is easy to see the appeal of a flight for a couple of hundred quid.
- Nobby Clark, Perth, the Scottish one
Dave, interesting that for the railways it is a "subsidy", but for roads and airports it is an "investment". You only have to look back to the early 90's when BR's Intercity division was making an Operating profit, and required no subsidy. Unlike, the airlines which receive an indirect subsidy as they do not pay any VAT (or fuel) tax on their fuels fór National or International journeys.
- Ed, London
Yeah, right! At the prices railways charge?! I'm tired of people bleating at me about the environmental cost of cheap air travel, when I read that the cost of travelling from Cornwall to Scotland return is now over a grand! This is an obscene abuse of oligopoly. Long live EasyJet and Ryanair.
- Jonathan Davies, Fulham, London.
Not at Virgin fair prices.
On some Virgin journeys with more than one person in teh party its cheaper to buy an old used car and travel in relative luxury without the constant whine of sales opportunities over the PA.
- James, City of London
Yes, with the new most expensive train fare of over £1000 and stations like open urinals the world certainly looks rosy for train travel.
- Thomas, London
With rail tickets now exceeding £1000.00 for a single journey, between Devon and Scotland, it is perfectly clear that some peeps possess more money than sense.
Richard Branson must be laughing all the way to the off-shore bank.
- Reuben Camara, Plot 1, Morecambe Compound, EUSSR
Interesting line of thinking, considering it came from Virgin executive Tony Collins. Wonder what Richard Branson´s thoughts are? So far, he doesn´t seem in any hurry to sell all his planes. Yet.
- Graham Rodhouse, Helmond, Netherlands
Subsidy going up then?
- Dave Davies, Basingstoke, Hants
