The Javelin Train

From The Evening Standard:

Commuters told today how the launch of the 140mph Javelin train has improved their lives through vastly reduced journey times. Full services of the High Speed 1 link between London and Kent came into operation this morning, bringing large parts of the county within an hour's travel of the capital.

Passengers on the 5.13am train from Ashford, which arrived at St Pancras in 37 minutes instead of the usual 83 — said the higher ticket prices were worth it... A peak-time Ashford-London return will be £48.70, compared with £40.60, while London-Folkestone will be £52.50 rather than £44.40.

OK, that's an extra £8 per day, but people who commute from Ashford to London are probably in the higher paid bracket, so they probably value their own time at (say) £20 an hour (more work or more leisure, according to taste). If they can save an hour and a half a day at a personal cost/value of £8, they end up £22 a day better off. Times that by two hundred days a year is £4,400, year in, year out (or double that for couples).

But who's the real winner from all this, as if you had to ask...

"The value of homes near a station on the network is set to rise by a combined total of £1.6 billion, says a report by economic consultants Volterra. Estate agents said east Kent is now becoming as desirable as key commuter areas such as Guildford and Winchester..."

An article in the FT said that some houses would increased in value by £30,000, which is seven year's worth of the £4,400 annual saving mentioned above. So, somebody who's now looking to buy (or rent) there to take advantage of the new service is in fact paying somebody else a large sum of money in order to be able to work longer hours or have more leisure time.