[Steve]

TRAIN travel is more environmentally friendly than plane or car, but Prince Charles puts this to the test by making notable use of the royal privilege to have a train to himself and his entourage.

Last March, for example, he travelled from Gloucestershire to Cumbria at a cost of £23,463 to see, rather ironically, the steam train which runs on the Settle to Carlisle line, above.

Another single train journey took the prince from Aberdeen to Plymouth for assorted engagements involving organic farms and fisheries at a cost, according to the audited royal accounts, of £45,000.

Use of the train is defended on the grounds that it allows royalty to arrive in tip-top condition for official visits. Only running costs for an individual journey are itemised, however, and not the fixed costs of keeping the train on the rails.

Commons public accounts committees have been consistently critical of royal travel arrangements and Ian Davidson, a Labour MP, said of the most recent examples: "We ought to have more of the royals using normal trains and then perhaps they would put pressure on the powers that be to make sure the train service was improved for everyone."