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Rail travel in Britain reaches record levels

Posted: 1 August 2013 | | No comments yet

New statistics published by the ORR show that rail use is on the rise as Britain’s railways clocked up 1.23 billion journeys in 2011-12…

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New statistics published today by the Office of Rail Regulation show that rail use is on the rise as Britain’s railways clocked up 1.23 billion journeys in 2011-12. This accounts for a 6% increase in rail passenger journeys compared with the previous year – the highest since records began in 1995-96.

The data highlights passenger journeys within Great Britain, looking at travel within and between 11 regions – East of England, East Midlands, London, North East, North West, Scotland, South East, South West, Wales, West Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber.

The data also shows that:

  • The total number of rail journeys within England was 1.11 billion – 749.8 million of those started or ended in London, accounting for about 67.3%
  • Rail journeys within individual regions increased by 6.8% compared with 2010-11 and rail journeys between the 11 regions were up 4.3% from 2010-11.
  • The total number of rail journeys for Scotland was 87.1 million – up 4.7% on 2010-11. Over 90% of journeys were within Scotland. Areas that saw the largest growth were West Lothian and East Ayrshire, which grew by 17.0% and 11.8% respectively.
  • The total number of rail journeys for Wales rose to 28.1 million – up 2.9% from 2010-11. Journeys between Wales and other regions went up by 5.2% compared to 2010-11 – exceeding 9 million journeys for the first time.
  • London had more rail journeys than any other region – 754 million. London was the origin or destination for 61.3% of all rail journeys in Great Britain. The number of journeys within London grew by 9.0% compared to 2010-11.

To view the statistics and a summary of the methodology, see: http://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/