It sounds like the figures quoted may have been chosen to offset the decision to use road transport.
One commentator suggested that they could have commissioned a 'special' train from one of the operating companies. Maybe that
would have been £135 per head.
The recent disclosure of the £1000 (First Class) return fare from Newquay to Kyle of Lochalsh (
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8340561.stm ) when the same fare was half that a few years ago and the highest cost of a similar TGV journey in France is a third of the price highlights the mess that the fares and ticketing system is in.