THE number of people travelling on Britain’s railways has leapt to the highest ever in peacetime.

A total of 30.1 billion passenger miles were generated in 2007, up from 28.1 billion in 2006, according to Atoc – the Association of Train Operating Companies.

Passengers made 1.2 billion journeys last year, an increase of nearly eight per cent on the previous year.

The figures emphasise the need to provide more capacity on a railway which in parts is groaning at the seams.

Apart from wartime in the 1940s, Atoc says that in almost 80 years – from 1919 to 1995 – rail travel stayed around 20 billion passenger miles each year. Then 12 years ago “something fundamental changed” and the figure is now 30 billion and climbing.

The latest figure beats the next highest peacetime year – 1946, when figures were boosted by people travelling for holidays for the first time in several years. In that year the four pre-nationalised railways totalled 29 billion passenger miles on a network one-third bigger than today’s.

The latest figure was revealed in an Atoc booklet, The Billion Passenger Railway, which reviews lessons to be learned from the past and includes predictions about railways in 2057.

George Muir, director general of Atoc, said: “People are increasingly turning to rail; not only is it a faster and more convenient way of travelling, it is greener than travelling on our congested roads and domestic air routes.

“This growth shows that more train capacity is urgently needed for our passengers, for the economy and for a green Britain.”

Meanwhile, while some critics used the announcement about record numbers of passengers to suggest that fares would increase to price travellers off the system, Atoc announced a simpler structure of just three types of rail fares. The three types – Advance, Off-peak and Anytime – will be common across the network, regardless of operator.

The first changes, starting on Sunday 18 May, will simplify what has become the most complex range of tickets – those bought in advance for travel by a specific train and known by a variety of names such as Value Advance, SuperAdvance and Apex.

In the future they will all be known as Advance tickets and have common terms and conditions, including Rail-card discounts.

They will be sold on a ‘one-way’ basis – two single tickets will be needed for a return journey.

The other changes, from 7 Sept-ember, will categorise ‘walk-up’ fares into two groups: Anytime – which will be exactly that, available without day or time restrictions; and Off-Peak – cheaper fares for travelling at less busy times. On routes with two off-peak fares, the cheaper fares will be called Super Off-Peak. 

The price of tickets will not be increased as a result of the new fares structure and the regulation of fares is unaffected. Tickets such as seasons, travelcard and area and rover tickets will not change and promotional and package fares – including add-ons such as catering – will also continue.

David Mapp, commercial director of Atoc, said: “This is the biggest shake-up in the fares and ticketing system for many years and we want passengers to take advantage of it and also encourage more people to take the train.”