Posted 13th June 2014 | 6 Comments

Passenger numbers up another 5.7 per cent

THE upward trend in passenger journeys, as measured by the Office of Rail Regulation, has continued with a 5.7 per cent increase during 2013-14, bringing the total of rail passenger journeys in Britain on franchised operators to 1.59 billion, plus a further 1.9 million journeys recorded on ‘open access’ services.

Based on LENNON, the ticketing database which records journeys that may include more than one operator’s trains to reach a destination, the methodology tends to overstate the actual number of originating journeys.

But even with this factor applied, the latest figures suggest that total originating journeys in 2013-14 were close to an all-time peace-time record.

Prior to 1945, when the numbers were inflated by service personnel returning from the war, the annual total only reached similar heights in the early 1920s. But a significant difference now is that the size of the network has halved over the past 90 years, which means that, on average, each track kilometre is now busier than ever before.

The ORR’s latest Rail Usage Report says that last year’s figure was the highest recorded since current records began in 2012-13. London and South East experienced a 7.3 per cent increase in passenger journeys to 1.108 billion, and the sector accounted for 69.8 per cent of total franchised passenger journeys.

ORR added: “The passenger journeys figures highlight the effect of traffic growth and the corresponding increase in use of the rail system. There are a number of possible factors behind recent increases in rail usage such as the opening of new lines and stations, additional services/trains, ticketing initiatives including special offers/discounts and more competitive pricing.”

Comparing passenger kilometres for 2013-14 with 2012-13, ORR said the figures reveal an increase for the London and South East sector (8.1 per cent) of more than four times the increase for long distance (1.9 per cent) and regional (2.0 per cent) sectors. For non-franchised operators (First Hull Trains, Grand Central and Heathrow Express) the number of passenger kilometres increased by 10.8 per cent, it added.

Of the 1.59 billion passenger journeys recorded on franchised operators in 2013-14, 56.5 per cent were made on ordinary tickets, and the remaining 43.5 per cent attributed to season tickets.

ORR added that Advance, anytime/peak, off-peak and season tickets all contributed to the increase in passenger journeys between 2012-13 and 2013-14.

Reader Comments:

Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.

  • John Band, Guildford

    The increases in long-distance are tied to the growth in the economy, except when major improvements improve the attraction of rail travel. There was a leap in passenger numbers on the WCML with the introduction of Pendolinos and there is an increase with electrification wherever it occurs. The big gains in the next few years will come from GWR and Midland electrification and from the beginning of the high-speed network. The South-East network has bounced back from the recession - road congestion, housing shortages and changing work patterns will all drive growth at rates which require constant investment in new Crossrail and Thameslink routes.HS2 will take traffic off the South-East commuter lines and is thus as necessary as ever. By the time HS2 Phase 1 opens, HS3 will surely be on the drawing board.

  • Tony Pearce, Reading

    I would have thought that these figures point to more investment in the South East and London rather than HS2. Inter-City 125 on the Great Western was good for Reading, Didcot and Swindon, but did little for growth of Industry in Wales. HS2 may drag people and jobs from the North to the Birmingham area. But no-one really knows.

  • Graham, Basingstoke

    Although long distance rail travel has grown by 1.9%, when the HS2 model has it at 2.5%, it doesn't take much of an impact due to the closure at Dawlish on the GW long distance passenger numbers to reduce the overall growth rate down.

    Even if Dawlish hasn't had much of an impact there has been very little in the way of long distance improvements in the last two years, so it is unsurprising that growth has been fairly sluggish compared to the headline rate as there tend not to be that much spare capacity on some routes. Once the new long distance franchises start I would expect the long distance growth rates to be much higher.

    Even if the long distance growth rates stay lower than the 2.5% there will be enough demand from the passengers who use the ECML and WCML within the South East region to make up the shortfall in passenger numbers on the long distance routes to probably justify building HS2 anyway so that more services can be run for them.

  • Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex

    This is news anti HS2 brigade will choose to ignore given how it shows how railways are now carrying record numbers of passengers . In fact total numbers are even greater when you add figures for operators like TFL whose passengers are not included in these totals but still share many stations where they come together .

    As for saying HS2 is long distance and capacity crunch is on short distance services well HS2 is about removing non stop long distance services to free up paths for more local services on present route.

    Given this constant increase in passengers it's surely time to look at where better interchange can be created by merging stations that are near to each other but on different lines while installing platforms to serve lines that cross existing lines at stations like Brockley where South Eastern services cross overground yet no interchange is available .

    While the new TSGN franchise offers the opportunity to create Thameslink 2 using West London Line which will serve new Old Oak Common Crossrail / HS2 station complex.

    Perhaps now the TSGN franchise has been let to Govia who already operate Southern the Southern service from Milton Keynes to Croydon should be extended to the South Coast to create the genesis of Thameslink 2 ?

  • Lutz, London

    The 7.3% growth in the London and South East regions is above the trend use as the basis of the capacity planning. If the rate of growth continues above trend, then a number of projects may need to be brought forward after a review of demand.

  • Tony Pearce, Reading

    Cetainly within the M25 circle, no-one uses their cars these days even with Free Parking at the journey end. However I am mystified how they can guess how many journeys are made using a Season Ticket. Is it by the Barriers or just averaging ? I am probably the exception but sometimes its cheaper for me to buy an Adult ticket for my 2 Grand-children (4 adults travel for price of 2) than pay the childs rate. And without admitting anything, I notice that its cheaper for me overall if I say sometimes my Grand-daughter is 5 (and not 4 as she is) and buy her a ticket, rather than let her travel free. (I don't know if thats Fraud or not ?) But the peculiaties of our current ticketing system leads to lots of anomalies.