So much for trains

[bellinghman]

I was just attempting to get train fares for a journey from Sierre (Swiss Alps) to London.

Holy crap! How do they expect anyone to use trains? I can get from Sierre to Paris at a reasonable price - a very reasonable price for a direct TGV that takes 5:20. But that's no use whatsoever, if it then costs THREE TIMES AS MUCH for the Paris to London link, which is only 2:40.

</rant>

EDIT: Many thanks for the purpletigron/purplecthulhu's advice on getting round Eurostar.

EDIT: OK, I can do Sierre to Paris-Lyon for 113 CHF, if I buy it from the Swiss, and using the halbtax card. That's just under £48. And going via the "I am American" part of the Eurostar site allows me to buy the single/non-flexible fare at $89 each - which is roughly £45. That's compared to the insane £300+ it was trying to do me for originally for the Paris to London leg!

So, Swiss Alps to central London for £93 isn't too bad. I just wish it wasn't such an incredible hassle finding this all out. If I was a PA doing this, and factoring in the cost of my time, it'd be another matter.

EDIT: Ooops, forgot time zone differences. That was 2:40, not 1:40

Comments

[feorag.livejournal.com]

The real scammers are the privatised railway companies, who take massive government subsidies (far higher than anything British Rail ever got), give them straight to the shareholders and then charge outrageous fares, with regular increases well above inflation, which manage to make the airlines look cheap.

My proposal for fuel taxes is that they should be set at a level which makes fuel efficiency the prime consideration when designing new vehicles of the type concerned and so that it's the main driving force behind sales. In this world, an airline such as easyJet would change plane manufacturer because the costs of running a mixed fleet would be far outweighed by the fact that the new type uses considerably less fuel than the old one, and so is much cheaper to run. Obviously this never happens under the current regime.