This petition was submitted during the 2017-2019 parliament
Rejected petition Legislate to make UK train travel cheaper than domestic air travel.
Travel by train should be significantly cheaper than by air given that CO2 emissions are far lower. Rail is under-resourced, overcrowded, unreliable and expensive, even with advance booking. CO2 is significantly higher for air travel, especially for short haul. Climate change requires urgent action.
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Domestic rail travel should be made significantly less expensive, more convenient and less crowded than air travel to incentivise travel by train.
Carbon emissions are significantly higher for air travel, especially for short haul. The franchising system has not helped with costs or reliability. Associated costs will be far less than those to mitigate the impact of climate change.
For return journey London to Edinburgh per person:
PLANE: 3.5 hours, 193 Kg/CO2
TRAIN: 4.5 hours, 24 Kg/CO2
This petition was rejected
Why was this petition rejected?
It’s not clear what the petition is asking the UK Government or Parliament to do.
We can't accept your petition because we aren't sure what action you would like the UK Government or Parliament to take.
You could start a new petition calling for subsidies for rail transport to reduce ticket prices below that of air travel or for carbon pricing on air transport to raise its price above that of rail if either of those are things you would like to see happen.
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