We recently came across this article in the Scotsman which highlighted that trains were taking share from planes on the London to Scotland routes.

It mentions that the proportion of travelers going from London to Edinburgh by train has increased from 17% in 2006 to 27% last year, with a similar trend for the trip from London to Glasgow (going from 10% to 20% in the same time period).

What we have seen in other markets is that the main thing that determines that share is the length of time that the train journey takes, with about three and a half hours being the magic tipping point for train to dominate a market.

According to quno.com, both the Edinburgh and Glasgow trips are about 4.5 to 5 hours, so trains taking a quarter of the total travelers sounds about right.

It's difficult to find the information, but I wonder if the reason for this increase in share over the last 5 years is caused by an increase in speed on those routes?  It will be really interesting to see how these shares will be impacted by the proposed high-speed rail link - HS2.