Earlier this year I was on holiday up near Helmsdale in the far North East of Scotland. I considered using the train for a couple of relatively local days out but couldn't believe how high the fares were for relatively short journeys on the Far North Line.
Despite its slow and long journey time of nearly 4 hours from Inverness to Thurso I still think that £26.50 for a Day Return for the whole distance even to Wick is good value considering the distance involved. I could not therefore believe that from where we were staying in Helmsdale at least three quarters of the distance up the line and only just over an hour to Thurso the fare was only £4 less than from Inverness at £21.50!
It was no better going south with a relatively local, short journey for that line of only 50 minutes to Lairg being £20.50 return! Don't they want people to make local intermediate journeys on that line? I can't imagine the locals ever using the train and it's certainly not very attractive for tourism at those prices. The lady who owned our holiday cottage said that she has occasionally used the train to go to Inverness, she doesn't know of anyone locally who uses it for shorter journeys because of the high fares.
I remember a similar situation a few years ago when staying at Barrhill in the South West of Scotland and the fare for the local jourrney of approx 30 minutes into Stranraer was around £15 return which totally discouraged the locals from using the train for shopping trips. Why do they charge such high local fares on these lines which are struggling to survive?
Despite its slow and long journey time of nearly 4 hours from Inverness to Thurso I still think that £26.50 for a Day Return for the whole distance even to Wick is good value considering the distance involved. I could not therefore believe that from where we were staying in Helmsdale at least three quarters of the distance up the line and only just over an hour to Thurso the fare was only £4 less than from Inverness at £21.50!
It was no better going south with a relatively local, short journey for that line of only 50 minutes to Lairg being £20.50 return! Don't they want people to make local intermediate journeys on that line? I can't imagine the locals ever using the train and it's certainly not very attractive for tourism at those prices. The lady who owned our holiday cottage said that she has occasionally used the train to go to Inverness, she doesn't know of anyone locally who uses it for shorter journeys because of the high fares.
I remember a similar situation a few years ago when staying at Barrhill in the South West of Scotland and the fare for the local jourrney of approx 30 minutes into Stranraer was around £15 return which totally discouraged the locals from using the train for shopping trips. Why do they charge such high local fares on these lines which are struggling to survive?
Last edited: