What really is the increased amount?

Carrying goods by train costs nearly three times more than carrying them by barge.
What is really the increased amount? I am not clear about whether it means:

The cost of carrying goods by train costs increased BY nearly THREE times as compare with the cost of carrying them by barge.


OR

The cost of carrying goods by train costs increased BY nearly TWO times as compare with the cost of carrying them by barge.


What is really the increased amount?

Let "T" be the cost of carrying by train
Let "B" be the cost of carrying by barge
Let "e' be a small quantity

If T = 3*B-e, the increase (TB) is 2*B-e, or almost 200% increase.

But I am sorry. Your explanation makes me all the more puzzled.

Guest, why do you have to bring in a factor of "e" into the issue? I fail to understand that.

He used e to indicate the "nearly three times more". Otherwise T would = 3B exactly.

He's saying the increased amount is nearly two times, which I agree with.

(By the way, we say "as compared with", or even better "compared to", rather than "compare with". :))

So let's say it is exactly 3 times more i.e. T=3B, then the increase would be T - B = 3B - B = 2B.

2xB is in other words: 200% of B