Trains, Carbon, and Cheap Fares

Saw my first-ever TV ad claiming low-environmental impact as a selling point for travel. Virgin Trains reckon travelling to Scotland by train produces 76% less emissions than flyin gor going by car.

Hmm, whenever I have looked at this issue it seems a lot more complicated than a simple number. Example - did you drive to the station, then take a taxi at the other end, and have you counted those emissions?

Anyway, it reminded me that there are still a lot of people who don't know that these days single fares are often much cheaper than the returns which your search brings back on Virgin trains, or the train line. You will usually see a set of fares, with somewhere nearby a clickable link saying "single fares are available". Many of us ignore this because until recently return fares were always the cheapest, but I did a lot of train travel last year and always ended up buying singles.