The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has released its passenger rail usage statistics for Q3 (October – December 2023).
These statistics show the volume of passenger journeys, kilometres and revenue on Great Britain’s main line network.
ORR recorded 417 million rail passenger journeys in Great Britain over the last quarter. This represents a 20 per cent increase on the 348 million journeys made between October to December 2022.
It added that 1,570 million journeys were taken in the year to 31 December 2023 – a 20 per cent increase on the 1,300 million journeys made between 1 January 2022 and 31 December 2022.
Passengers travelled a total of 15.2 billion kilometres in Great Britain in the latest quarter. Again, this is a 20 per cent year-on-year increase, with 12.6 billion passenger kilometres recorded in Q3 in 2022.
Finally, ORR revealed that, in the latest quarter, total passenger revenue was £2.6 billion. This is 20 per cent higher than the the £2.2 billion recorded in the same quarter in 2022 (when adjusted for inflation).
Responding to the statistics, a spokesperson for Rail Partners said: “Although the latest ORR data shows an increase in passenger numbers, passengers are still not using trains at the levels seen before the pandemic.
“This underlines the urgent need for rail reform to create a new public body to oversee the railways, but also to give operators the commercial freedoms to attract customers back to rail.
“Increasing passenger numbers will grow revenues, reduce taxpayer support, encourage modal shift and help Britain to reach net zero.”
Hailing what he called “strong progress”, the Railway Industry Association’s Chief Executive, Darren Caplan, commented:
The Office for Rail and Road (ORR) has today released further evidence of the strong return to rail post-pandemic, with a 20% year-on-year increase in the number of passenger journeys.
Commenting on the figures Darren Caplan, RIA Chief Executive, said: “The return to rail continues apace and this substantial 20 per cent uplift year-on-year is a really encouraging increase in the number of passenger journeys and revenues.
“This follows the excellent recent DfT passenger statistics which – despite changing calculations methodologies to exclude all Elizabeth Line passengers – has in March exceeded 100 per cent of pre-Covid figures. Inclusion of those passengers would take overall numbers to nearly 110 per cent, which is real progress considering the comparison year, 2019-20, was the second highest on record.
“These new ORR and DfT figures are a reminder that the railway will need more capacity in the future, especially with the recent RIA-commissioned Steer report forecasting passenger numbers to grow between 37 per cent and 97 per cent to 2050, depending on which policy levers the UK Government adopts in the coming years.
“It is clear that there needs to be rail reform and a long-term rail strategy, including a plan for more capacity, to deliver the connectivity, economic, levelling-up, and sustainability benefits everyone wants to see.”
