Morning peak arrivals rise in major cities

NEW statistics released by the Department for Transport (DfT) on July 24 show that in autumn 2017 the number of passengers in the morning peak rose in all the UK’s major cities outside London.

However, the figures also suggest that in Leeds, Liverpool, London and Manchester, the overall number of daily passengers decreased.

More than one million passengers arrived into London on a typical day, with 55% doing so in the morning peak. The second busiest city, Birmingham, recorded eight times fewer daily arrivals than London (128,100).

The statistics also examined overcrowding, and revealed 5.4% of passengers in excess of capacity of trains in London’s morning peak, followed by 4.8% in Cambridge, and 4.3% in Manchester. Brighton, Liverpool and Newcastle all recorded passengers in excess of capacity ratings of zero.

The DfT’s figures confirm a 1.4% drop in total passenger numbers in 2017-18, with engineering works, weather disruption and industrial action all posited as potential causes.

London remains by far the busiest area, with 930 million journeys made in 2016-17 - more than the rest of the country combined. It was followed by 300 million in the South East, 185 million in East Anglia, 125 million in the North West and 99 million in Scotland. The regions with fewest rail journeys were the North East (16 million), Wales (30 million) and the East Midlands (35 million).

Commuting remains the most important reason for rail travel, with 57% of journeys made for that purpose, followed by leisure (33%) and business (10%).

The detailed regional figures show that of the cities covered, Nottingham recorded the highest percentage growth in daily passenger numbers, with a 4.5% rise from 2016’s figure to an average of 33,100 daily arrivals in autumn 2017. The biggest

decline was recorded in Liverpool (down 4.3% to 123,900 daily passengers).

In London, King’s Cross recorded the highest growth (7.4% to 111,500 passengers), followed by Marylebone (6.3% to 55,300). However, Blackfriars recorded a 16.1% fall in daily passengers to 78,100, followed by Victoria (down 5.6% to 250,300) and Moorgate (down 5.2% to 31,500).

Overcrowding in the morning peak increased or was static for all regional cities apart from Bristol, Nottingham and Sheffield, while in London overcrowding declined at Blackfriars, Euston, London Bridge, Paddington, St Pancras and Victoria. Overall, the capital witnessed a 0.3% fall in overcrowding in autumn 2017 compared with the same period in 2016.

In Scotland, Glasgow Central remains the country’s busiest station with 32 million journeys made in 2016-17, followed by Edinburgh Waverley (22.6 million) and Glasgow Queen Street (14.7 million). The busiest train in Scotland in 2016-17 was the 1634 Edinburgh-Perth between Haymarket and Inverkeithing.