The number of people choosing to travel on Virgin Trains‘ Anglo-Scottish services instead of flying has reached record levels, leading to a drop in carbon emissions.

In the 12 months to July 2019, 29% of passengers chose to travel with Virgin Trains as opposed to flying between Glasgow and London.

This is nearly two percentage points higher than a previous record set in 2014 and comes as the number of passengers travelling between England and Scotland’s biggest cities grew over the year by 6% to a new record of 717,592.

The operator’s success in convincing people to choose train over plane has pushed up rail’s overall market share.

The new benchmark comes after 22 years of investment by Virgin Trains, and as the franchise to operate West Coast passenger services is due to be handed over to First Trenitalia on December 8.

What did the officials say?

Colin Howden, Director of Transform Scotland, said:

“The current level of air travel is incompatible with the Climate Emergency so it’s heartening to hear that rail is growing its market share over air for travel between between Central Scotland and London. Comparable distances across Europe use rail rather than air as the dominant mode of transport, so it is overdue for Scotland to take action to cut the excessive volume of flights from Edinburgh and Glasgow to London. Rail produces a fifth of the climate emissions that comes from air travel. It’s definitely the greenest option for Anglo-Scottish travel.”

Phil Whittingham, Managing Director of Virgin Trains, said:

“The number of people choosing train over plane is testament to the investment and improvement Virgin Trains has made in Anglo-Scottish services over the last two decades. This growth is critical in supporting Scotland’s economy and helping achieve government targets to decarbonise transport and achieve net zero emissions.”

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