Posted 6th November 2009 | 3 Comments
Rail travel reaches new peacetime record
DESPITE the recession, passenger travel on National Rail is continuing to grow. Latest figures from the Office of Rail Regulation show total passenger kilometres travelled in 2008-09 increased by 3.4 per cent on the previous year to 50.7 billion – an all-time record in peacetime.
Total passenger journeys in 2008-09 for franchised operated services increased by from 1.23 billion in 2007-08 to 1.27 billion in 2008-09. This figure rivals the total for 1946, when the network was twice its modern size.
Regional operators had the largest increase of 6.4 per cent in 2007-08, while the lowest growth was recorded in London and the South East, where passenger journeys increased by just 2.5 per cent.
Total revenue collected by all the franchised train operators increased by 8.1 per cent last year — from £5.6 billion to £6.0 billion — compared with a 10.8 per cent growth in the year before the economic downturn began.
Timetabled train kilometres for franchised operated services increased by 4.2 per cent in 2008-09 — largely driven by the opening of the modernised West Coast Main Line and increased train services along this route.
London Midland and Virgin Trains increased their train kilometres by 21.8 per cent and 28.5 per cent respectively when their new timetables were introduced in December 2008.
Reader Comments:
Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.
Anne Grayling, Edinburgh, Scotland
You don't give details of this "record" of travel and I suspect it is the SE of England only. What about Scotland? Are you saying more people take trains than ever up here? I doubt it.
. A coach to say Manchester is about a tenth of the rail price. I live in central Edinburgh and don't know when I was last on a train. Nobody I know takes trains anywhere either. These hideous plastic looking 2 coach sprinter things are a joke. We all have cars or take the coach - or fly - for a fraction of the arm and a leg price of a rail ticket.
H Harvey, Birmingham
Very good news in the current economic climate.
The rail companies will have to get their act together on fares and stop creating so many own goals..
This is a headline and comment in the Birmingham Post.
Memories of a jeweller called Gerald Ratner come to mind and the publicity that destroyed his company.
Perhaps Network Rail would like to comment I have added a quick personal comment at the end of the article
Rail staff travel by bus because trains 'too expensive'
Nov 11 2009 by Sarah Probert, Birmingham Post
Rail staff are to travel to a conference in Coventry by coach because trains are too expensive.
A Network Rail (NR) senior executive decided on coach travel after it was found that taking 200 of the company’s staff from Reading in Berkshire to Coventry by rail could cost as much £27,000.
Instead, the staff will travel at a cost of £12 a head by coach, with overall spending being £2,400.
The Sun newspaper said it had seen a memo from an NR senior executive which said: “If we all book our own travel and most of us use trains, it’ll cost £27,000 on travel alone.”
He added that they would instead take “spacious” buses, costing £12 a head.
An NR spokesman said: “The cost would have been £27,000 if everyone had opted for open return tickets.
“We are a rail company. We like to use trains. At present we are asking people throughout the business to cut costs and when we travel we always look to see just how much journeys cost and if there is a cheaper option.
“Our staff do not get free travel or discounts.”
I did a quick bit of research as follows.
.
The coach fare may be cheaper but just what has the bad publicity cost - far more than £2000. A good way of estimating this extra cost would be for Network Rail to find how much it costs to place an advert in each of the newspapers that carried the article recommending journey by coach.
For heavens sake think beyond the up front money cost.
£27000 for 200 staff gives £135 for the Network Rail quoted fare.
On Raileasy the highest fare was £81 first class return by train
Fares covered a wide range but £22 return was the lowest I got so that makes £22 x 200 = £4400
Llion, Cardiff
I think now the fairs should be reduced to atract even more passengers to the railways, cos as it is now the TOC's are having huge annual turnovers, wee are talking Millions of £ a year.