[isostatic]

The problem is the marginal cost of transporting is very low. The train industry is there to extract the maximum amount of money from those willing to pay, while allowing those not willing to pay the chance to travel.

A walk up simple London to Manchester ticket is £86 return, unless you're travelling before 9:30am. Those willing to buy from https://trainsplit.com/ can get a return for £47, or buy the tickets manually and it drops to £39. That's just like those who know going to Aldi will be cheaper than shopping at harrods.

That "slow train" which costs £20 each way, in the peak, and is still quicker than a car.

The money made from open tickets is pumped back into the rail industry to subsidise rural branches in Cornwall. It also subsdises the frequency, where trains are running with say 20 people per carriage (with 80 seats), but are running every 20 minutes. Some people are willing to pay a lot for that frequency - hence the reason they sell £500 returns.

I would like to see thetrainline shut down, but they advertise their inferior product heavily and people use it.