Numbers on trains heads back to levels before Covid

RAIL passenger numbers are heading back towards prepandemic levels.

Latest quarterly figures from the Office of Rail and Road show rail passenger journeys are now at 61.8 per cent of what they were before Covid-19.

In all, 285 million rail passenger journeys were made in the UK from October 1 to December 31, 2021, more than double the

139 million journeys made in Q4 of 2020, and 61.8 per cent of the 461 million made in Q4 two years previously.

The £1.7 billion passenger revenue in Q4 2021 is 60 per cent of the £2.9 billion generated in the same quarter in 2019.

The report also found that 119 million passenger train kilometres were operated between October 1 and December 31, 2021 – 87.9 per cent of the train kilometres operated in the same quarter two years earlier.

As passenger journeys appear to be recovering slowly to pre-pandemic levels, the data does not take into account the spread of the Omicron variant which saw work from home guidance return on December 13, 2021.

The Department for Transport estimates journeys fell to about 33 per cent between Christmas and New Year, in light of the variant.

In the long distance sector, it recorded 25 million journeys in the final quarter of 2021, which made up 68.2 per cent of the 37 million journeys in Q4 of 2019.

The regional sector recorded 68 million journeys in the last quarter, giving a relative usage of 63.4 per cent to pre-pandemic levels.

The report also found that the 11.2 billion passenger kilometres recorded in the UK between October 1 and December 31, 2021, equated to 63.8 per cent of the 17.5 billion kilometres in the same quarter two years ago.

Meanwhile, train tickets are set to be slashed by as much as half as the Government looks to address cost-ofliving pressures with cheaper travel in April and May.

In what is being dubbed the Great British Rail Sale, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said more than one million train tickets would be reduced this spring.

The Department for Transport is hoping the move will help hard-pressed households who are facing rising bills and soaring inflation, to afford trips across the UK and boost domestic tourism.