Rail vs Air - Travel Preferences

For me, it's often air; for international business travel, flying remains the only practical option because most of my destinations (Estonia, Malta, Gibraltar) are not readily reached by rail from London.

That doesn't mean that I choose air travel when geography allows an alternative. The journey from Edinburgh to London, for example, takes 4 - 4.5 hours by rail with about 1.25 hours for transfers (both ends) for a total door-to-door travel time of about 5.75 hours. That sounds like a lot, especially compared to the 3 - 4 hours required for flying, but the train has a few advantages:

1. Comfort - the seats are generally more comfortable than those in aeroplanes, seatbelts are not required, you can move around whenever you like and even large bottles of water are allowed on the train 
2. Luggage - there may be a practical limit to the amount of luggage you can take on a train but you won't be charged for taking a large suitcase or two
3. Ease - modern trains have power sockets, tables and wifi making it perfectly possible to work (or check Facebook) while you hurtle along
4. Simplicity - turn up at the station, collect your ticket from the machine and stroll onto the train; no need to pass through security (except, maybe, if when travelling internationally), check your luggage or spend hours waiting on the platform
5. Pollution - trains emit significantly less  CO2 per passenger mile than aeroplanes and make far less noise
6. Convenience - railway stations are often more found in the centre of cities rather than on the outskirts; you might choose a hotel near the railway station and close to the city centre but you would think twice before staying near an airport.

All of these things make train travel, in my experience, far less stressful than air travel but if rail has all these advantages, why do people still fly so often? Ignoring those trips where rail simply isn't possible (London to New York by rail is going to be tricky, for example) and air is the only option, there are still a couple of reasons for flying:

1. Speed - you can go an awful long way by train in Europe but after a certain point flying is always going to be faster (which might be important if your schedule is tight)
2. Security - air travel is safe and, even if you had time to get to, say, Delhi, by rail, you probably wouldn't want to pass through all the slightly iffy countries between here and there - much better to fly over them and avoid all the hassles with border crossings and visas.

All things considered, I prefer to travel by rail, particularly if I can book in advance and get reasonably priced first-class seats. I'm resolved to travel by train whenever possible, shunning car and plane alike unless they really are the only options; unfortunately, my next trip is Almaty, Kazakhstan (or it was, when this article was first drafted); tricky by rail or road, so I will be flying.