Edinburgh - London: train vs plane (Scotsman challenge)

[agricola]

Bit of a call-out-y title isn't it though.

he did make various claims on one of the old threads about who would win in a trip between edinburgh and london, hence the title.

 

[lighterthief]

Pointless flying business class for such a short flight. The train, however, would have been far less pleasant in anything other than first.

 

[Frankie Jack]

It doesn't get all that much more call-out-y surely. Well, it could be called "Cobbles you cunt I'm calling you out".

Incidentally I'd take the train even if it turned out to be two hours longer, since so much more time in the business of flying is basically wasted stress time.

True Fridgemagnet.. your call m'dear.. I've just read the thread and have had flights well fast cos of the time of booked flight etc.. both ways.. No ones called him out tho.. just an OP short time difference.. Cares not anyway.. I do go for the fast flight option tho..

 

[strung out]

Pointless flying business class for such a short flight. The train, however, would have been far less pleasant in anything other than first.

not too bad if you get a table seat

 

[Ich bin ein Mod]

Which would produce a biased result from the point of view of people who don't live on that side of Edinburgh.

City centre is a fair because it evens out the gain/loss incurred depending on which side of the city one lives in.

Apart from the fact that Edinburgh doesn't have a neatly radial distribution of housing centred on Waverley train station.

Don't get me wrong, I've always chosen to travel Edinburgh > London by train rather than plane, but being a science teacher I crave a fair test

 

[lighterthief]

Yep I still can't seem to find the 'test' conditions on their site...?

 

[paolo]

Pointless flying business class for such a short flight. The train, however, would have been far less pleasant in anything other than first.

You get to sit down on the train for the entire journey.

On the plane, the longest time in a seat will be about an hour. The rest is small snatches of sitting, in between the various stages / processes of the journey. Why is this pleasant?

 

[The Boy]

At the very least I'd expect them to start equidistant from the airport and the train station.

Why?

If you're were arranging an experiment to see what was the fastest mode of intercity transport, would it not make sense to start the race in the city centre?

The race started closer to the train station than the airport for the simple reason that the city's main station is slap bang in the city centre, while the airport is outside the city. Something which would need to be considered when looking at travel times on different modes of transport, no?

 

[Ich bin ein Mod]

I can see your point, but I'd be looking to even it up if only to prevent folk with an anti-train agenda from claiming it was biased

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

I won't be sacking my helicopter pilot any day soon.

 

[ymu]

Apart from the fact that Edinburgh doesn't have a neatly radial distribution of housing centred on Waverley train station.

Don't get me wrong, I've always chosen to travel Edinburgh > London by train rather than plane, but being a science teacher I crave a fair test

I'm not sure the journey time is a particularly significant part of this test, tbh. It's the one part that is pretty easy to estimate just from looking at schedules. It's everything else that is more relevant, such as productivity and how tiring it is. Can't seem to find anything on that site about the detailed results - unless you have to register to see them?

 

[paolo]

I'm not sure the journey time is a particularly significant part of this test, tbh. It's the one part that is pretty easy to estimate just from looking at schedules. It's everything else that is more relevant, such as productivity and how tiring it is. Can't seem to find anything on that site about the detailed results - unless you have to register to see them?

The blog section has more info on that kind of thing. They're both posting as their journeys progress.

 

[Citizen66]

I bet I make it home before you and we'll start the race from the end of my street.

 

[lighterthief]

This 'challenge' proves absolutely nothing IMO. For starters, the chap flys from Edinburgh to Heathrow, when any fule kno London City is much better placed for the City. There's a great 1110 service that gets you in to London for 1230, say half an hour in a cab to the Gherkin - done. On the train, you'd have to take the 0800 departure to Kings Cross, taking the best part of 5 hours. And we haven't even factored in the return journey yet.

I'm a big fan of the train, but unconvincing and heavily biased stunts like this are not going to win many converts.

 

[paolo]

The organisers claim that Heathrow is the most popular airport for Edinburgh flyers.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

The organisers claim that Heathrow is the most popular airport for Edinburgh flyers.

It is as it has the most flights. But many of those flights are filled with passengers connecting to other flights.

I always stagger off the train in a far worse state than when I get off a plane. Both journeys to Edinburgh may take 5 hours in total, but when flying only about and hour and a half is drinking time, whereas on the train it's a 5 hour sess.

 

[lighterthief]

It may well be, but I'd say City is a much quicker airport to clear security in.

 

[paolo]

I wonder if the fares from City are higher? One would expect them to be. It is indeed far easier, as a product of being small and therefore offering very limited capacity.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

I wonder if the fares from City are higher?

Usually they are higher. Fully flexible fares are the same from all London airports with BA, but there are far fewer seats available at the cheapest level from City due to the aircraft being smaller and also due to the nature of the passengers, i.e. business fliers out of whom more cash can be squeezed.

 

[Cobbles]

Seeing as this was mentioned a while back, I thought that everyones favourite poster, and the rest of this forum, might like to know about this race between train and plane from the Scotsman Hotel in Edinburgh, to the Gherkin in the City.

http://trainvplane.scotsman.com/default.aspx

The train won by ten minutes.

The fuckwit who flew (a) should have gone via City Airport and (b) if he really needed to take a bottle of whisky should have bought one at the airport rather than wasting ages checking luggage in and retrieving it.

 

[editor]

To win by only 10 minutes is a bit embarrassing, given that they started right outside the train station.

Isn't that because the station is right in the middle of the city?

 

[paolo]

I thought I'd take a look, for Edinburgh London Return, leaving in the morning coming back evening (tomorrow).

London (Any): dep EDI 0900 STN/EZY; 2055 arr EDI
£168.93 + Airport transit costs.

City: dep EDI 0700 LCY/AF; 2155 arr EDI
£375.96 (+ minor transit costs)

Train: (no restrictions)
£188.00 (no transit costs)

That's economy.

(Oddly I couldn't find anything for Business. The AF site just said 'not available' after searching, and the BA site removed the business class option once I'd chosen LCY).

 

[Cobbles]

Isn't that because the station is right in the middle of the city?

So why didn't they start the "test" from the Newspaper's offices down by Holyrood?

 

[paolo]

So why didn't they start the "test" from the Newspaper's offices down by Holyrood?

Maybe they should have done.

Google says it's 5 mins by road (i.e. taxi) from there to the station.

So not much difference really.

 

[The Boy]

Maybe they should have done.

Google says it's 5 mins by road (i.e. taxi) from there to the station.

So not much difference really.

You could do it on foot in under ten minutes, i reckon.

 

[editor]

So why didn't they start the "test" from the Newspaper's offices down by Holyrood?

The train still would have won. LOL.

 

[lighterthief]

There is a case for both train and plane; they suit different purposes and price ranges; but using this test to try and "prove" a form of transport "won" is just plain daft.

 

[geminisnake]

The fuckwit who flew (a) should have gone via City Airport and (b) if he really needed to take a bottle of whisky should have bought one at the airport rather than wasting ages checking luggage in and retrieving it.

This ^^. If he hadn't checked luggage in he would have beaten the train.

 

[paolo]

This ^^. If he hadn't checked luggage in he would have beaten the train.

It's faster if you know all the restrictions and work around them.

What are they? A handy summary of all the restrictions would be useful for many people.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

That's economy.

(Oddly I couldn't find anything for Business. The AF site just said 'not available' after searching, and the BA site removed the business class option once I'd chosen LCY).

You need a decent travel agent