BRITONS may be proud of their growing affluence compared to their Continental counterparts, but one aspect of British life remains stubbornly resistant to change: our railways.
Just how far they trail behind others has been detailed with the release of an international comparison of rail services across Europe, which reveals that trains in Britain are expensive and less comfortable than those on mainland Europe, while the price of food on board is most costly.
On the plus side, the survey praises the range of services available in Britain, such as onboard internet access, the ease of booking a ticket online and the way in which train operators market their routes.
The comparative study of 29 operators in 21 European countries found a first-class berth on the four-hour and 20-minute journey from London to Edinburgh is the most expensive seat of its kind in Europe. At euros 204 (pounds-142), the GNER service costs almost double the nearest comparable journey - from Frankfurt to Munich - which costs euros 113(pounds-79) on Deutsche Bahn, Germany's only national operator.
A first-class ticket from Rome to Milan, a four-hour 30-minute trip, costs just euros 67.14 (pounds-47).
The study also found that a three-course meal on the Italian journey costs euros 24 (pounds-16.69), euros 26.60 (pounds-18.50) in Germany, euros 33.10 (pounds-23.02) from Paris to Lausanne and euros 39.95 (pounds-27.78) on the UK route.
The survey was conducted by the German firm Actima, a specialist transport and telecoms consultancy, and included 128 test journeys over 18 months.
UK train operators were notable by their absence in a comparison of comfort, gauged by a range of features from seating arrangements to carpets in second class, reading lights, coat hangers, plug sockets and TV screens. Deutsche Bahn took the first three of the top 10 places, followed by Finnish, Swedish, Dutch, Spanish and Portugese operators.
However, the study praised the range of services such as wi-fi, free headphones, laptop areas and electronic passenger information signs available on some British trains. It singled out Virgin's Pendolino and Voyager high speed trains along with GNER's high speed tilting train refurbishment as examples of best practice.
British operators Virgin and Eurostar scored highly for their internet marketing, although First Great Western and Midland Mainline fell well below the average.
Fergus Ewing, SNP transport spokesman, was unsurprised by the survey findings and blamed "decades of underinvestment" on the railways.
"Scots who travel on the Continent say exactly what this survey has found: services are swifter and more comfortable."
But a spokesman for GNER pointed out that the report did not reflect the operator's bargain first-class fares, which start at pounds-59.
"We welcome elements of the report, which commend GNER on its innovation, in particular the wi-fi product, " he said. "Our multi-million pound rebuild of our 225 trains is improving the comfort of passenger journeys with additional leg room and ride quality."
He noted that a national passenger survey covering the first half of 2005 found 86-per cent of GNER passengers were satisfied or very satisfied with their journey, up from 83-per cent in the same period last year.
Steven Knight, a spokesman for Virgin Trains, added: "We are encouraged that the features we have on our trains are coming out with high scores. The surveys carried out by ourselves and the Strategic Rail Authority show that customers do like our trains and find them comfortable."
alan. crawford@sundayherald. com
www. actima. de
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