The Highlands and northern regions of Scotland have a similar population to the far south west of England – around 800,000 people. Both contain cities (Aberdeen and Plymouth) which are similar in size. Aberdeen is however 523 miles from London by rail while Plymouth is 225 miles.
According to the ABC rail guide for 1955, the fastest train from the Granite City to Kings Cross took 11 hours 36 minutes. Now it’s possible to get from London to Aberdeen in 6 hours 49 minutes while a trip from London Paddington to Plymouth took 4 hours 15 minutes in 1955 and 3 hours and 4 minutes in 2020. That’s a time improvement of 41% for Aberdeen passengers and 28% for people travelling to Plymouth over the past 64 years.
Interestingly a third class return between London to Plymouth in 1955 cost 65 shillings and 4 pence (£3.27). A return to Aberdeen in 1955 cost 152 shillings and 10 pence (£7.64). Today similar tickets (anytime returns) would be £293 and £374 which means an increase of 88 times for Plymouth and 48 times for Aberdeen – so proportionally the fare increase to Plymouth over the last 64 years has been greater than that to Aberdeen. Of course, today there are more ticket options like advanced fares and railcards which were not available in 1955.
Why this disparity in time and cost? Lots of possible explanations but I suspect differences in infrastructure investment and government subsidy are the main ones. Government figures show the amount spent per head on transport in the south west in 2017/8 was £290 compared to £667 in Scotland. The mainline to Aberdeen is electrified as far as Edinburgh (393 miles or 75% of the total distance) while the line to Plymouth is electrified as far as Newbury (58 miles or 23% of the total distance). Why is the difference in investment ? It's important to note that the line to Aberdeen also serves large population areas on the way such as Edinburgh and Newcastle while Exeter's the only city of any size on the way to Plymouth. Then there's the different priorities of the devolved administration in Scotland.