Rail Journeys Surge by 69 Million from Previous Year
Posted: 24 May 2024 | | No comments yet
A new study has discovered that in the last quarter of 2023, there was a 20% increase in passenger journeys throughout Great Britain.
The research, by West Somerset Railway, analysed newly released data from the Office of Rail and Road ‘Passenger rail usage, October to December 2023’ report.
According to the data, 417 million rail passenger journeys were recorded in Great Britain between October to December 2023, a 20% rise from the same period the previous year, which saw 348 million journeys.
The Elizabeth Line saw the largest percentage increase of passenger journeys in Great Britain, serving 58.5 million rail users in the last quarter, that’s a 40% growth from the same time a year prior.
Avanti West Coast came second (38%), and ScotRail came third (34%).
|
Train Operator/Line |
Passenger Journeys Oct to Dec 2023 |
Percentage change from Oct to Dec 2022 |
|
Elizabeth Line |
58.5 million |
40% |
|
Avanti West Coast |
8.5 million |
38% |
|
ScotRail |
20.9 million |
34% |
|
TransPennine Express |
6.6 million |
33% |
|
Lumo |
0.3 million |
29% |
|
Hull Trains |
0.3 million |
27% |
|
CrossCountry |
9.0 million |
26% |
|
East Midlands Railway |
7.5 million |
23% |
|
Grand Central |
0.4 million |
22% |
|
Caledonian Sleeper |
0.1 million |
20% |
|
London Overground |
46.7 million |
20% |
|
West Midlands Trains |
16.7 million |
20% |
|
TfW Rail |
7.0 million |
19% |
|
Greater Anglia |
19.6 million |
18% |
|
Chiltern |
5.5 million |
16% |
|
South Western Railway |
39.4 million |
15% |
|
Merseyrail |
7.5 million |
15% |
|
Northern Trains |
22.5 million |
14% |
|
Southeastern |
32.7 million |
14% |
|
Govia Thameslink Railway |
71.0 million |
13% |
|
Great Western Railway |
20.8 million |
10% |
|
London North Eastern Railway |
5.8 million |
6% |
|
c2c |
8.9 million |
6% |
|
Heathrow Express |
1.2 million |
5% |
Looking at the bottom of the table, Heathrow Express came last with only a 5% increase, followed by c2c and London North Eastern Railway (both were up 6%).
Despite the positive increases that have been seen in passenger Journeys (417 million), the figures are still less than pre-pandemic levels. There’s been a 9.5% decrease when compared to the same quarter four years ago (461 million, October to December 2019).
Speaking on the data, Samantha White from West Somerset Railway said: “It is fantastic to see these incredible rises of rail passenger journeys across Great Britain. Despite figures not yet matching pre pandemic levels, it is really encouraging to see that the amount of people using trains continue to rise close to how they were before the pandemic.”
Related organisations
Avanti West Coast, Elizabeth Line, Heathrow Express, London North East Railway, Office of Rail and Road (ORR), ScotRail, West Somerset Railway
