Michele Majidi
Researcher
Passenger rail travel in the UK – statistics & facts
In 2022, the United Kingdom’s rail services transported passengers on 64 billion kilometers of rail travel. In the years immediately before the COVID-19 pandemic rail passenger-kilometers had stood at 80 billion or above but dropped precipitously in 2020, beginning to recover the following year. The UK’s passenger rail segment comprises regional and long-distance rail, light rail, and metro, and a high-speed rail route connecting London to continental Europe. The UK rail network boasts over 16,000 kilometers of railroad tracks – nearly 38 percent of which have been electrified. Ranked twenty-fifth overall when it comes to rail electrification rates in Europe, the United Kingdom has some way to go before it can compete with some of its European neighbors.
Besides the metro system in London, there are various other light rail and metro systems located in the United Kingdom, such as in Manchester and Newcastle. Manchester, the largest light rail network after London, recorded 42 million journeys in 2023/24, while one of the smallest systems, the Blackpool Tramway, recorded 4.7 million passengers.
Road or rail?
Rail journeys represent just over seven percent of all journeys made in the United Kingdom by land transport, while transport by car or van dominates the modal split of land transport at over 80 percent. However, although automobiles are ranked the most popular means of passenger transportation in the United Kingdom, rail services have remained an integral part of traveling within and between cities nationwide. Demand for rail services had almost doubled since the mid-1990s to approximately 1.7 billion passenger journeys per year before the COVID-19 pandemic and in the previous decade. Passenger numbers recovered after the COVID-19 pandemic but remained slightly below the figures recorded in 2019. In 2023/24 rail passenger journeys on the UK network totaled just over 1.6 billion.Busiest stations in the south of the country
Between 2022 and 2023, the regions handling the greatest rail passenger volume nationwide included London, the South East, and the East of England – altogether, they accounted for around 1.2 billion passenger journeys made and nearly 73 percent of all passenger journeys to and from every UK region. Unsurprisingly, the United Kingdom’s busiest train stations were those connected to the London Underground, including London Liverpool Street, the busiest station in the UK. In 2023/2024, Clapham Junction saw the greatest number of passenger interchanges in the United Kingdom that year, more than four times the number at Waterloo station.Besides the metro system in London, there are various other light rail and metro systems located in the United Kingdom, such as in Manchester and Newcastle. Manchester, the largest light rail network after London, recorded 42 million journeys in 2023/24, while one of the smallest systems, the Blackpool Tramway, recorded 4.7 million passengers.
