Like many other means of transportation available, train travel has its merits and demerits. As such, if you are considering boarding a train for your next journey, you may want to check out these pros and cons first before making your final decision.

Benefits of Train Travel

  1. Exceptional Speed

Most trains travel long distances. And for most travellers, they aim to get to their destinations on time. Next to air transport, train travel is the fastest. As such, if you are afraid of flying and you still want to get to your destination quickly, choose the train.

  1. Suitability for Heavy Goods

Whenever there is the need to travel with plenty of luggage without emptying your bank account, train travel remains the best option. With the likes of Train Genius and other outlets that help with booking cheap train, you can almost feel that you are moving your heavy loads for free. There are enough spaces in most trains to carry your loads at a little cost over very long distances

  1. Safety

Train travel is arguably the safest means of transportation. And the facts are easily verifiable. Simply check out the number of accidents and deaths from trains and compare them with those of air, land, or water transport. It won’t be challenging to agree with this fact.

  1. Trains are Reliable

Unlike air and water transport that may be affected by the elements and bad weather, trains move when they choose to move. Your journey proceeds as planned, and for most organised systems, departure is as and when due.

  1. Bigger Capacities

With the possibility of adding more wagons, there seems to be no limit to the capacity of a typical train. But even without additional carriages, many trains can accommodate hundreds, if not thousands, of passengers and goods.

Demerits of Train Travel

  1. Absence of Rural Service

The train is definitely not the means of transport to consider when you want to get to a village. That’s because rural areas don’t have train tracks. So, except for modern cities that have railways, it is not suitable for rural journeys.

  1. Flexibility Issue

Although trains are dependable, they are not flexible with their routes and times of departure. It means that you cannot always board a train to anywhere, especially if it is not the route of such a train. But with road transport, you can be the master of where you are going.

  1. Massive Capital Investments

Constructing railways can eat deep into any country’s fiscal budget. That is beside the maintenance and other overhead costs attached to it. Because of this, it is not as widespread as motor transport, for instance. That, of course, suggests that train travel is not for everyone

Bottom Line

If you are going on a long-distance journey and there is a train plying that route, it is advisable you consider it. It is cheaper and less likely to have an accident than every other means of transport. Nevertheless, if you are not cut out for the bureaucracy of booking and your destination is in a developing area, consider other means of transport that offer door-to-door services.