Passenger rail usage
Please note that sector level data were unavailable for publication with the 2020-21 Q4 release as further work is required to improve the methodology for allocating non-LENNON usage data to the sectors. Updated sector tables will be published in 2021-22 Q1.
Quarterly statistics reporting the volume of passenger journeys, kilometres and revenue on the mainline network in Great Britain. Long-running time series on passenger journeys (Table 1220) and passenger kilometres (Table 1230) are updated annually.
For details on how these statistics are compiled, please see our Passenger rail usage quality and methodology report and for information on any revisions, please see our Revisions Log.
Data and reports that include previous statistical releases on Passenger rail usage can be found on the National Archives.
If you have any questions or feedback on these statistics, please contact rail.stats@orr.gov.uk
Latest statistical release
Passenger rail usage 2020-21 Q4
Date published: 03 Jun 2021
Date next published: 07 Oct 2021
Key results
- Passenger rail usage during the fourth quarter of 2020-21 continued to be affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. An alternative methodology has been used to estimate usage with some ticket types in 2020-21 resulting in more uncertainty compared with previous years.
- A total of 388 million rail passenger journeys were made in Great Britain in 2020-21. This equates to 22.3% of 1,739 million journeys made in 2019-20 and represents the lowest level of annual passenger usage since before the time series began in 1872.
- Passenger revenue totalled £1.9 billion in 2020-21. This equates to 18.3% of the £10.4 billion (in 2020-21 prices) generated in 2019-20.
- There were 80 million journeys made during 2020-21 Q4. This was down from the 139 million journeys made in the previous quarter but still more than double the 35 million journeys made in 2020-21 Q1.
Previous statistical releases
Data tables
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Annual
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Quarterly
- Table 1221 - Passenger journeys by sector (file not available)
- Table 1222 - Passenger journeys by ticket type
- Table 1223 - Passenger journeys by operator
- Table 1231 - Passenger kilometres by sector (file not available)
- Table 1232 - Passenger kilometres by ticket type
- Table 1233 - Passenger kilometres by operator
- Table 1211 - Passenger revenue by sector (file not available)
- Table 1212 - Passenger revenue by ticket type
- Table 1210 - Revenue per passenger kilometres and per passenger journey
- Table 1243 - Passenger train kilometres by operator