Rail Journeys Surge by 69 Million from Previous Year

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.”

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