The number of rail journeys made last year post-pandemic doubles previous year figures

Rail journeys made between April 2021 and March 2022 are more than double that of those made during the pandemic the year previous.

The official figures show that 990 million journeys were made in Britain over the last 12 months. The figures compared that just 388 million journeys were made from 2020 to 2021 which is the lowest level since the mid-nineteenth century.

The last year has seen income from passenger revenue rise to £5.9 billion which is almost triple the £2.0 billion made during the pandemic and represents just 54% of the £11 billion generated previous to the pandemic.

Graphic showing share of journeys made using ticket types between April 2021 and March 2022 // Credit: ORR

ORR’s figures also reveal that 83.4% of passenger travel was made using ordinary ticketing such as Advance, Off-Peak and Anytime/Peak tickets with Season Tickets making up just 16.9% of journeys made this year which is half of pre-pandemic numbers.

Season ticket revenue has seen £526 million generated this year which equates to just 24.0% of the £2.2 billion made two years previous.

Graphic showing total passenger journeys // Credit: ORR

The figures have also shown that long-distance journeys saw the highest relative usage when compared to pre-pandemic numbers.

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London North Eastern Railway also recorded a return of 83.3% of passengers when compared to pre-pandemic usage which is the highest of any rail operator. Journeys made in the regions saw 58.3% of relative usage when compared to pre-pandemic levels with 55.9% of those journeys made in London and the South East when compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Graphic showing passenger journeys by operator between April 2021 to March 2022 — Graphic showing passenger journeys by operators between April 2021 to March 2022 // Credit: ORR

The most railway usage for the 2021 to 2022 period was Govia Thameslink Railway with 179.0 million journeys made however this was just 51.3% of relative usage if compared to two years previous.The lowest relative usage with 30.6% recorded for this year was Heathrow Express.