Two enthusiasts, one journey, who won?
Do you commute on the train to and from work? Then you’re definitely making a good choice. A new study by Southern Railway has found that travelling by train could save commuters £600 a year on top of amounting to over six extra days of free time which those who commute by car would lose.
Findings from the research demonstrated that on average, over a lifetime (based on average work life of 50 years working 261 days 
a year); train travellers save up to £31,000 and gain almost a year (300 days) of free time than their car equivalents when it comes to their daily commute. Annually, commuters spend 263 hours of their lives travelling via train compared to 407 hours spent by car-commuters.
Taking it upon themselves as a challenge, two experts road-tested the speed findings, train enthusiast Pete Waterman and former ‘Stig’ and racing driver, Ben Collins. Both set off from London Victoria station with the challenge to make it to Brighton in the fastest possible time. Pete’s journey by train took just over one hour (65 minutes). Due to traffic congestion and navigation issues, Ben’s car journey took 2 hours and 3 minutes.
Average annual train costs were also found to be considerably lower (approximately £600) than travelling by car. Furthermore, the study revealed 
that train travel produces 57 per cent less pollution than petrol cars, and 22 per cent less than hybrid cars.
The study took into consideration time spent commuting, average cost of a journey and the environmental impact of ten popular routes from London to various destinations on the Southern Railway network including London to, Brighton, East Croydon, Sutton, Gatwick, Three Bridges, Purley, Haywards Heath, Epsom, Redhill and Worthing.
To watch how Pete and Ben got on, visit southernrailway.com.
How do you get to work? Tell us about your commuting experiences in the comment box below or tweet us @FemaleFirst_UK
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Shabana Adam @Shabana_FAM
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