7 Reasons To Plan An Epic Family Adventure By Rail This Year

It’s no secret that travelling to interesting new places by rail is an exciting and fun thing to do. What’s more, it’s something that millions of families do each year, and if you’re planning a new family adventure soon, you should make the trip by rail.

Of course, if you spend most of your time driving your family to destinations in the car, you might be wondering why you should not do that for your next outing together. After all - cars make travel very convenient and comfortable.

The truth is, planning your next epic family adventure by train makes sense for a lot of reasons. Here are seven of them for you to ponder if you’re on the fence about travelling by rail:

1. Trains Are Safer Than Cars

The first reason to consider travelling by rail for your next family day out is that such a mode of transport is safer than driving on the road.

According to data from the Rail Safety and Standards Board, travelling on a train is a whopping 20 times safer than making the same journey on the road in your car. That’s because trains get driven by professionals who undergo intensive driver training.

Railway networks are typically better maintained than road infrastructure. Both those points and more is the reason train travel is safer than driving a car on the road.

Additionally, even if an accident happened with your train, a TAC lawyer will ensure you get any compensation in much the same way your car insurance firm would do if you had a road traffic collision.

2. You Can Sit Back And Relax

It doesn’t matter whether your journey by rail takes 30 minutes or three hours. Once you step foot inside a train and sit down, you can relax and not worry about things like concentrating on your journey or checking your sat-nav for directions.

Rail journeys are also excellent ways to spend some quality time bonding with your family that you may not otherwise do if you were driving your car. You could even sneak in a quick nap if you’re feeling tired!

3. No Parking Hassles

When you drive a car with your family on board, one of the things you have to do is concentrate on finding a parking space at your destination. That’s usually not easy to do if your kids are distracting you and you’ve travelled to a busy location.

One plus side of making the same journey by rail is you don’t have to worry about parking. You simply have to walk a short distance from the train station to your destination, and you don’t need to fret about getting back to your car before your parking ticket expires!

4. Other Transport Links To Points Of Interest

Some people reading this article might think that train stations aren’t always near the destinations families are likely to visit, and that’s sometimes true, depending on the destination.

But here’s the thing: train stations often have other transport links to points of interest, meaning you can hop on a bus or get a taxi if you don’t fancy walking to any destinations.

5. Rail Travel Is Eco-Friendly

Did you know that trains have fewer carbon emissions than cars? According to information from the European Environment Agency, train travel boasts a low 14g of CO2 emissions per mile compared with a massive 158g of CO2 emissions per mile in a typical car.

If you want to reduce your carbon footprint in the world, planning family trips by rail is an excellent way to achieve that goal!

6. Large Families Can Travel With Ease

What happens if you want to travel with a large family group on your trip? If you wanted to complete your journeys by road, it’s likely you’d all have to go in two or more vehicles in convoy or perhaps hire a mini-bus.

If you make the same journeys by rail, large groups of family members can travel with ease as trains can handle hundreds of passengers per journey!

7. You Can Save Money On Your Trip

One final reason to make your next epic family adventure by rail is the cost savings. For some journeys, the price of travelling by train can be considerably less than going by car when you factor in costs like fuel, parking tickets, toll fees and Clean Air Zone (CAZ) costs.

It’s also worth pointing out that some train tickets include heavily discounted rates for certain attractions and points of interest, meaning your family can make further savings when travelling by rail.