DELAY-HIT passengers may not believe it, but some rail journeys are quicker and cheaper than trips by car or plane, a survey claims.
The survey for East Coast Mainline train operator GNER compared price, performance and journey times on trains, planes and cars between London and Edinburgh, Newcastle and Leeds.
It found that rail travel was more punctual than flying.
Key findings included 86 per cent of trains arriving within 15 minutes of scheduled time against 81 per cent of planes.
From Newcastle and Leeds, train travel was the cheapest mode to London.
Rail travel was 79 minutes faster than air from Leeds and 16 minutes faster from Newcastle.
GNER intends to publish a "travel calculator", monthly, allowing travellers to make comparisons between different forms of transport.
Last night, the RAC Foundation said the findings were a "crude attempt to put railways into pole position".
A Newcastle Airport spokeswoman said: "The benefits of air travel are well-known by the public and that is why air travel has consistently grown at such strong rates over many years, and will continue to do so."
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