Rail services in the United Kingdom

RAIL SERVICES IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

Table of Contents
 Table of Contents

01 Overview
Historical passenger rail route length in the United Kingdom (UK) 1955-2020 02
Historical national rail passenger kilometers in the United Kingdom (UK) 1950-2020 03
Number of passenger kilometers on national railways in Great Britain 2000-2020 04
Leading train stations for interchanges in Great Britain (UK) 2019/20 05
Entries and exits in train stations in Great Britain 2019/20 06
Share of trains arriving on time in the United Kingdom UK) 2006-2020 07

02 Financials
Government spending on railways in the UK 2009-2020 09
United Kingdom rail industry: government investment 2018-2019 10
Rail and tube fares: Weekly household expenditure in the UK 2019, by gross income 11
Rail travel consumer price index (CPI) annual average in the UK 2008-2020 12
National rail income from fares in the United Kingdom (UK) 2000-2020 13
 Table of Contents

03 Consumer
Leading transport provider brands ranked by BrandIndex in the UK 2019 15
Rail network overall passenger satisfaction in Great Britain 2002-2019 16
Public opinion on the value of train fares in the United Kingdom 2020 17
Share of standing passengers in London (UK) trains 2019 18
Customer satisfaction evaluation London Underground 2004-2020 19
HS2: public opinion on the UK`s high-speed rail project 2020 20

04 Rail freight
Share of freight train kilometers by operator in Great Britain 2010-2020 22
Total freight moved by train in Great Britain 2002-2020 23
United Kingdom: freight transported by rail & commodity 2019-2020 24
Coal freight moved by train in Great Britain 2002-2020 25
Channel Tunnel rail freight volumes 2011-2018 26
 Table of Contents

05 Rail safety
Potentially high risk passenger train accidents in Great Britain by train 2005-2020 28
Total number of fatalities on railways in Great Britain (UK) 2013-2019 29
Public fatalities on railways in Great Britain by type 2001-2020 30
Number of suicide fatalities on railways in Great Britain 2001-2020 31
RAIL SERVICES IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

Overview
Total historical rail route length open to passengers in the United Kingdom (UK) between 1955 and
2020 (in kilometers)
Historical passenger rail route length in the United Kingdom (UK) 1955-2020

30,000

25,000
Route length in kilometers

20,000

15,000

10,000

5,000

0
1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Note(s): United Kingdom; 1955 to 2020

Further information regarding this statistic can be found on page 33.
2 Source(s): Office of Rail and Road (UK); GOV.UK; Transport for London; ID 304939 Overview
Total historical passenger kilometers in the United Kingdom (UK) from 1950 to 2020 (in billion
kilometers)
Historical national rail passenger kilometers in the United Kingdom (UK) 1950-2020

80

70 67.6 66.7
66 66.2
64.7
62.9
Distance traveled in billion kilometers

60
54.5

50
43.1
38.2
40
34.7
32.5 32.7 33.2
30.1 30.4 30.3 30.3 30.4 30
30

20

10

0
1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Note(s): United Kingdom; 1950 to 2020

Further information regarding this statistic can be found on page 34.
3 Source(s): Transport for London; Office of Rail and Road (UK); GOV.UK; ID 304959 Overview
Total number of kilometers traveled by passengers on national railways in Great Britain (UK) from
financial year 2000/01 to 2019/20, by ticket type* (in billions)
Number of passenger kilometers on national railways in Great Britain 2000-2020

Ordinary fare Season ticket

2000/01 27.2 10.9
2001/02 28.1 11
2002/03 28.4 11.3
2003/04 28.9 12
2004/05 29.3 12.4
2005/06 29.9 13.2
2006/07 32.9 13.3
2007/08 33.8 15.1
2008/09 35.1 15.5
2009/10 36.4 14.7
2010/11 38.7 15.3
2011/12 41 15.9
2012/13 41.9 16.1
2013/14 42.6 17
2014/15 45 17.4

Note(s): United Kingdom (Great Britain); 2000 to 2020; financial year runs from April 1 to March 31 of each year.
Further information regarding this statistic can be found on page 35.
4 Source(s): Office of Rail and Road (UK); GOV.UK; ID 305654 Overview
Leading train stations in Great Britain (UK) by number of passenger interchanges in 2019/20
Leading train stations for interchanges in Great Britain (UK) 2019/20

Number of passenger interchanges

0 5,000,000 10,000,000 15,000,000 20,000,000 25,000,000 30,000,000

Clapham Junction 26,902,505

London Bridge 10,677,772

Birmingham New Street 6,994,410

Waterloo 6,309,545

Victoria 5,755,668

East Croydon 5,463,165

Stratford 4,882,481

St.Pancras 4,776,878

Euston 4,356,855

Reading 4,351,999

Liverpool Street 4,351,290

Finsbury Park 3,809,953

Note(s): United Kingdom (Great Britain); 2019/20

Further information regarding this statistic can be found on page 36.
5 Source(s): Office of Rail and Road (UK); ID 307955 Overview
Busiest train stations in Great Britain (UK) in 2019/20, by total entries and exits
Entries and exits in train stations in Great Britain 2019/20

Number of passenger entries and exits

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Waterloo 86.9

Victoria 73.56

Liverpool Street 65.98

London Bridge 63.1

Birmingham New Street 46.51

Paddington 44.87

Euston 44.78

Stratford 41.91

St.Pancras 36.04

King's Cross 32.53

Note(s): United Kingdom (Great Britain); 2019/20

Further information regarding this statistic can be found on page 37.
6 Source(s): Office of Rail and Road (UK); ID 307883 Overview
Share of train journeys arriving on time in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2006/2007 to 2019/2020,
by type of journey*
Share of trains arriving on time in the United Kingdom UK) 2006-2020

Long distance operators London and South East operators Regional and Scotland operators All operators

94%

92%

90%
Share of train journeys

88%

86%

84%

82%

80%
2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20

Note(s): United Kingdom; 2006 to 2020

Further information regarding this statistic can be found on page 38.
7 Source(s): Office of Rail and Road (UK); GOV.UK; ID 305034 Overview
RAIL SERVICES IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

Financials
Public sector expenditure on railways in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2009/10 to 2019/20 (in
billion GBP)
Government spending on railways in the UK 2009-2020

20
18.25
17.8
18
16.27
16 15.48
14.79

14
Expenditure in billion GBP

12

10 9.02 9.33
8.67
7.73 7.4
8 7.32

0
2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20

Note(s): United Kingdom; April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2020

Further information regarding this statistic can be found on page 39.
9 Source(s): HM Treasury; ID 298673 Financials
Government investment in the UK rail industry 2018-2019, by key segment (in million GBP)
United Kingdom rail industry: government investment 2018-2019

Investment volume in million GBP

0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500

Rail support to Network Rail* 3,859

High-speed rail project (HS2) 2,610

Government grants to/from train operating companies 417

Miscellaneous 167

Note(s): United Kingdom

Further information regarding this statistic can be found on page 40.
10 Source(s): Office of Rail and Road (UK); ID 1156124 Financials
Average weekly household expenditure on rail and tube fares in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2019,
by gross income decile group (in GBP)*
Rail and tube fares: Weekly household expenditure in the UK 2019, by gross income

18
16.3
16
Average weekly household expenditure in GBP

14

12

10
8.8

8 7

3.9
4 3.3
2.4
1.7
2 1.3
0.8 0.8

0
Lowest ten Second decile Third decile Fourth decile Fifth decile groupSixth decile group Seventh decile Eighth decile Ninth decile Highest ten
percent group group group group group group percent

Note(s): United Kingdom; 2019; 5,480 households

Further information regarding this statistic can be found on page 41.
11 Source(s): Office for National Statistics (UK); ID 285909 Financials
Consumer price index (CPI) of passenger transport by railway in the United Kingdom (UK) from
2008 to 2020
Rail travel consumer price index (CPI) annual average in the UK 2008-2020

120
112.6
110.1
106
102.8
100 100.1
97.7
100 94.6
91.1
86.7
81.2
80 75.1
Consumer price index*

71.1

60

40

20

0
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Note(s): United Kingdom; 2007 to 2020

Further information regarding this statistic can be found on page 42.
12 Source(s): Office for National Statistics (UK); ID 286587 Financials
National rail revenue from ordinary and season ticket passenger fares in the United Kingdom (UK)
from 2000/2001 to 2019/2020 (in million GBP)
National rail income from fares in the United Kingdom (UK) 2000-2020

Ordinary fares Season tickets

9,000

8,000

7,000
Revenue in million GBP

6,000

5,000

4,000

3,000

2,000

1,000

0
2000/01 01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16 16/17 17/18 18/19 19/20

Note(s): United Kingdom; 2000 to 2020

Further information regarding this statistic can be found on page 43.
13 Source(s): Office of Rail and Road (UK); GOV.UK; ID 305000 Financials
RAIL SERVICES IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

Consumer
Leading transport service provider brands ranked by BrandIndex Index score in the United
Kingdom (UK) from July 2018 to June 2019
Leading transport provider brands ranked by BrandIndex in the UK 2019

BrandIndex Index score*

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18

London Underground 15.7

Eurostar 15

P&O Ferries 13.5

National Express 11.6

Eurotunnel 10.3

Note(s): United Kingdom; July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019

Further information regarding this statistic can be found on page 44.
15 Source(s): YouGov; ID 310352 Consumer
Rail network overall passenger satisfaction rate in Great Britain from 2002/03 to 2018/19*
Rail network overall passenger satisfaction in Great Britain 2002-2019

86% 85%
84% 84%
84% 83% 83% 83% 83%
Overall passenger satisfaction rate

82% 81% 81% 81% 81% 81%

80%
80% 79%

78%

76%
76%

74% 73% 73%

72%

70%
2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19

Note(s): United Kingdom (Great Britain); 2002/03 to 2018/19

Further information regarding this statistic can be found on page 45.
16 Source(s): Office of Rail and Road (UK); ID 307865 Consumer
Stance of survey respondents on whether train fares are good value in the United Kingdom 2020
Public opinion on the value of train fares in the United Kingdom 2020

Very good 1%
Fairly good 12%

Fairly bad 39%

Don`t know 16%

Very bad 32%

Note(s): United Kingdom; July 11 to 13, 2020; 18–65+; 1,673 respondents

Further information regarding this statistic can be found on page 46.
17 Source(s): YouGov; ID 1166006 Consumer
Share of passengers having to stand on trains in London (UK) at peak hours in 2019, by train
operator
Share of standing passengers in London (UK) trains 2019

AM peak (07:00-09:59) PM peak (16:00-18:59)

50%
44%
45%
Share of passengers standing

40% 37%
35% 32%
30% 28%
26% 26%
24%
25%
20% 20% 19% 21% 19%
20% 16% 16% 17%
15%
15% 13% 12% 13%
10% 9%
10% 7% 7%
5%
5% 2% 3% 3% 2%
0% 0%
0%
st

ns
ay

ns

nd

ay
rn
*
*

rn

rn
s*

l*
ay
ia

lin

c2

ai
oa

te
he

e
ay

ai
lw

ai

lw
u
gl

R
lw

th

es

ro
as
Tr
Tr
tC

An
ai

lw

ai
ut

or
ai

L
rg
am
R

R
he
So

ai

Tf
s
s
es

tN

ve
er

nd
nd

R
n

rn
ut

Th
W

n
er

at

O
la
la

te
rn
r

So
re
te
re
st

ns

id
id

es
on
lte
es

G
Ea

tM
M
ai

W
hi

nd
W
Tr

st

C
th

es

Lo

h
Ea

at
or

ut
in

W
re

So
N

rg

G
Vi
on
nd
Lo

Note(s): United Kingdom (England); 2019

Further information regarding this statistic can be found on page 47.
18 Source(s): Department for Transport (UK); Transport for London; GOV.UK; ID 307817 Consumer
Passenger satisfaction evaluation of the London Underground from 2004/05 to 2019/20
Customer satisfaction evaluation London Underground 2004-2020

90% 85% 85% 85% 85%

83% 83% 84% 84%
79% 79% 79% 80%
78% 78% 77%
80% 76%

70%

60%
Evaluation score

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20

Note(s): United Kingdom (England); 2004/05 to 2019/20; fiinancial year ends March 31.
Further information regarding this statistic can be found on page 48.
19 Source(s): Transport for London; ID 412796 Consumer
Share of survey respondents for or against the HS2 high-speed rail project in the United Kingdom
2020
HS2: public opinion on the UK`s high-speed rail project 2020

Strongly support 7%

Don`t know 12%

Strongly oppose 23%

Tend to oppose 19%

Neither support nor oppose 21%

Tend to support 16%

Note(s): United Kingdom; December 28th, 2020; 18–65+; 1,683 respondents

Further information regarding this statistic can be found on page 49.
20 Source(s): YouGov; ID 1165985 Consumer
RAIL SERVICES IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

Rail freight
Freight train kilometers share by operator in Great Britain from 2010/11 to 2019/20 (in million
kilometers)
Share of freight train kilometers by operator in Great Britain 2010-2020

Devon and Cornwall Railways Colas Freight Direct Railway Services GB Railfreight Freightliner Freightliner Heavy Haul DB Cargo UK

20

18
Distance operated in million kilometers

16

14

12

10

0
2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20

Note(s): United Kingdom (Great Britain); 2010/11 to 2019/20

Further information regarding this statistic can be found on page 50.
22 Source(s): Office for National Statistics (UK); Office of Rail and Road (UK); ID 624683 Rail freight
Amount of freight moved annually on the rail network in Great Britain from 2002/03 to 2019/20* (in
billion net tonne-kilometers)
Total freight moved by train in Great Britain 2002-2020

25

20
Billion net tonne-kilometers

15

10

0
2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20

Note(s): United Kingdom (Great Britain); April 1, 2002 to March 31, 2020
Further information regarding this statistic can be found on page 51.
23 Source(s): Office of Rail and Road (UK); ID 305469 Rail freight
Market share of commodities and transported by rail in the United Kingdom from 2019 to 2020
United Kingdom: freight transported by rail & commodity 2019-2020

International 3% Coal 2%

Oil and petroleum 6%

Metals 8%

Domestic intermodal 41%

Other 12%

Construction 28%

Note(s): United Kingdom; 2019 and 2020

Further information regarding this statistic can be found on page 52.
24 Source(s): Office of Rail and Road (UK); Office for National Statistics (UK); ID 1156106 Rail freight
Amount of coal freight moved annually on the rail network in Great Britain from 2002/03 to 2019/20
(in billion net tonne-kilometers
Coal freight moved by train in Great Britain 2002-2020

7
Billion net tonne-kilometers

0
2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20

Note(s): United Kingdom (Great Britain); April 1, 2002 to March 31, 2020
Further information regarding this statistic can be found on page 53.
25 Source(s): Office of Rail and Road (UK); ID 305447 Rail freight
Channel Tunnel rail freight volumes from 2011 to 2018 (in metric tons)
Channel Tunnel rail freight volumes 2011-2018

1,800,000
1,648,047
1,600,000
1,420,826
1,363,834
1,400,000 1,324,673 1,301,460
Rail freight volume in metric tons

1,227,139 1,219,364
1,200,000
1,041,294
1,000,000

800,000

600,000

400,000

200,000

0
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Note(s): United Kingdom; 2011 to 2018

Further information regarding this statistic can be found on page 54.
26 Source(s): Freight Transport Association (UK); ID 625802 Rail freight
RAIL SERVICES IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

Rail safety
Number of potentially high risk train accidents involving passenger trains in Great Britain from
2005/2006 to 2019/2020, by accident type
Potentially high risk passenger train accidents in Great Britain by train 2005-2020

Striking buffer stops Collisions between trains Collisions with road vehicles (at level crossing)
Collisions with road vehicles (not at level crossing) Derailments Struck by large falling objects

35

30

25
Number of incidents

20

15

10

0
2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20

Note(s): United Kingdom (Great Britain); 2005 to 2020

Further information regarding this statistic can be found on page 55.
28 Source(s): Rail Safety and Standards Board; GOV.UK; ID 305491 Rail safety
Total number of railway fatalities including suicides in Great Britain (UK) from 2013/14 to 2018/19
Total number of fatalities on railways in Great Britain (UK) 2013-2019

Fatalities (excl. suicide) Suicide fatalities

350

300 286 283

275 271
251 250
250 237
Number of fatalities

200

150

100

49 46 49
50 40 39 40
31

0
2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20

Note(s): United Kingdom (Great Britain); 2013 to 2019

Further information regarding this statistic can be found on page 56.
29 Source(s): Rail Safety and Standards Board; ID 305441 Rail safety
Number of public fatalities on railways in Great Britain from 2001/2002 to 2019/2020, according to
incident type
Public fatalities on railways in Great Britain by type 2001-2020

Trespassers Level crossings Other public fatalities

80

70

60
Number of fatalities

50

40

30

20

10

0
2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20

Note(s): United Kingdom (Great Britain); 2001 to 2020

Further information regarding this statistic can be found on page 57.
30 Source(s): Rail Safety and Standards Board; GOV.UK; ID 305159 Rail safety
Number of railway fatalities caused by suicide in Great Britain from 2001/02 to 2019/20
Number of suicide fatalities on railways in Great Britain 2001-2020

350

300

250
Number of fatalities

200

150

100

50

0
2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20

Note(s): United Kingdom (Great Britain); 2001 to 2020

Further information regarding this statistic can be found on page 58.
31 Source(s): Rail Safety and Standards Board; ID 305113 Rail safety
RAIL SERVICES IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

References
Total historical rail route length open to passengers in the United Kingdom (UK) between 1955 and
2020 (in kilometers)
Historical passenger rail route length in the United Kingdom (UK) 1955-2020

Description
Source and methodology information
This statistic shows the length of the United Kingdom's (UK) national railway routes open to passengers between
Source(s) Office of Rail and Road (UK); GOV.UK; Transport for London 1955 and 2020. The length covered by the UK rail network increased to 14,668 kilometers in 2020.
Conducted by Office of Rail and Road (UK); Transport for London

Survey period 1955 to 2020

Region(s) United Kingdom

Number of respondents n.a.

Age group n.a.

Special characteristics n.a.

Published by GOV.UK

Publication date November 2020

Original source gov.uk

Website URL visit the website

Notes: n.a.

Back to statistic

33 References
Total historical passenger kilometers in the United Kingdom (UK) from 1950 to 2020 (in billion
kilometers)
Historical national rail passenger kilometers in the United Kingdom (UK) 1950-2020

Description
Source and methodology information
This statistic shows the amount of passenger kilometers traveled on United Kingdom (UK) national rail between
Source(s) Transport for London; Office of Rail and Road (UK); GOV.UK 1950 and 2020. In 2020, passengers traveled on a total of 66.7 billion kilometers on national rail services.
Conducted by Transport for London; Office of Rail and Road (UK)

Survey period 1950 to 2020

Region(s) United Kingdom

Number of respondents n.a.

Age group n.a.

Special characteristics n.a.

Published by GOV.UK

Publication date November 2020

Original source gov.uk

Website URL visit the website

Notes: n.a.

Back to statistic

34 References
Total number of kilometers traveled by passengers on national railways in Great Britain (UK) from
financial year 2000/01 to 2019/20, by ticket type* (in billions)
Number of passenger kilometers on national railways in Great Britain 2000-2020

Description
Source and methodology information
This statistic shows the number of kilometers traveled by passengers on national railways in Great Britain (UK)
Source(s) Office of Rail and Road (UK); GOV.UK between 2000/01 and 2017/18, by ticket type. While the distance of journeys made with both season tickets and
ordinary fares increased during the time period, a considerably higher number of kilometers were traveled with
Conducted by Office of Rail and Road (UK)
ordinary fares than with season tickets. In the 2019/20 financial year, 50.6 billion kilometers were traveled with
Survey period 2000 to 2020 ordinary fares, compared to 15.6 billion with season tickets.

Region(s) United Kingdom (Great Britain)

Number of respondents n.a.

Age group n.a.

Special characteristics financial year runs from April 1 to March 31 of each year.

Published by Office of Rail and Road (UK)

Publication date June 2020

Original source Passenger kilometres by ticket type - Table 12.4

Website URL visit the website

Notes: * Data refers to franchised train operators only. ** Provisional figure.

Back to statistic

35 References
Leading train stations in Great Britain (UK) by number of passenger interchanges in 2019/20
Leading train stations for interchanges in Great Britain (UK) 2019/20

Description
Source and methodology information
This statistic shows the number of passengers changing trains at the leading interchange train stations in Great
Source(s) Office of Rail and Road (UK) Britain (UK) in 2019/20. That year, Clapham Junction was by far the busiest station for interchanges, with trains
from both Waterloo and Victoria passing through, giving the station a total of approximately 26.9 billion
Conducted by Office of Rail and Road (UK)
interchanges. London Bridge and Birmingham New Street come in second and third respectively in terms of
Survey period 2019/20 passenger interchanges.

Region(s) United Kingdom (Great Britain)

Number of respondents n.a.

Age group n.a.

Special characteristics n.a.

Published by Office of Rail and Road (UK)

Publication date November 2020

Original source orr.gov.uk

Website URL visit the website

Notes: n.a.

Back to statistic

36 References
Busiest train stations in Great Britain (UK) in 2019/20, by total entries and exits
Entries and exits in train stations in Great Britain 2019/20

Description
Source and methodology information
This statistic shows the busiest train stations across Great Britain in the financial year of 2019/20, according to
Source(s) Office of Rail and Road (UK) the number of passengers passing through the station. Waterloo was the busiest station with close to 87 million
people entering and exiting that station in the year. Victoria station came second with approximately 73.6 million
Conducted by Office of Rail and Road (UK)
people entering and exiting. King's Cross station came last among these stations, with roughly 32.5 million
Survey period 2019/20 people entering and exiting that station in that year.

Region(s) United Kingdom (Great Britain)

Number of respondents n.a.

Age group n.a.

Special characteristics n.a.

Published by Office of Rail and Road (UK)

Publication date December 2020

Original source Estomates of Station Usage 2019-20, page 3

Website URL visit the website

Notes: Figures have been rounded.

Back to statistic

37 References
Share of train journeys arriving on time in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2006/2007 to 2019/2020,
by type of journey*
Share of trains arriving on time in the United Kingdom UK) 2006-2020

Description
Source and methodology information
This statistic compares the punctuality of long distance, London/South East and regional operated train journeys
Source(s) Office of Rail and Road (UK); GOV.UK in the United Kingdom (UK) between 2006 and 2020. Long distance trains were consistently the least punctual
and several points lower than regional and Scotland operators. The average punctuality for long distance
Conducted by Office of Rail and Road (UK)
operators was 81.5 percent on-time in the financial year of 2019/20.
Survey period 2006 to 2020

Region(s) United Kingdom

Number of respondents n.a.

Age group n.a.

Special characteristics n.a.

Published by GOV.UK

Publication date November 2020

Original source gov.uk

Website URL visit the website

Notes: * A train is defined as on time if it arrives at its final destination within ten
minutes of the planned arrival time for long-distance services, and within
five minutes for all other services.

Back to statistic

38 References
Public sector expenditure on railways in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2009/10 to 2019/20 (in
billion GBP)
Government spending on railways in the UK 2009-2020

Description
Source and methodology information
Public spending on railways in the United Kingdom was approximately 17.8 billion British pounds in 2019/20,
Source(s) HM Treasury compared with 18.25 billion pounds in the previous year. Prior to 2015/16, railway spending fluctuated between
a low of 7.4 billion in 2010/11 and a high of 9.33 billion in 2014/15, before a significant year-on-year increase of
Conducted by HM Treasury
5.46 billion saw spending reach 14.79 billion pounds in 2015/16.
Survey period April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2020

Region(s) United Kingdom

Number of respondents n.a.

Age group n.a.

Special characteristics n.a.

Published by HM Treasury

Publication date July 2020

Original source UK Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2020, page 75

Website URL visit the website

Notes: n.a.

Back to statistic

39 References
Government investment in the UK rail industry 2018-2019, by key segment (in million GBP)
United Kingdom rail industry: government investment 2018-2019

Description
Source and methodology information
Between 2018 and 2019, the UK government allocated investment funds of almost 3.86 billion British pounds to
Source(s) Office of Rail and Road (UK) Network Rail, the nation`s railway infrastructure operator and owner. This was the highest investment volume
received by any rail segment in the UK. Following Network Rail, the UK`s high-speed rail project, HS2, received
Conducted by Office of Rail and Road (UK)
the second-highest investment sum of over 2.5 billion British pounds.
Survey period 2018 to 2019

Region(s) United Kingdom

Number of respondents n.a.

Age group n.a.

Special characteristics n.a.

Published by Office of Rail and Road (UK)

Publication date December 2019

Original source Rail Statistics Compendium (Great Britain): 2018-2019 Annual, page 11

Website URL visit the website

Notes: * Network Rail owns, operates, and develops the UK`s rail infrastructure.

Back to statistic

40 References
Average weekly household expenditure on rail and tube fares in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2019,
by gross income decile group (in GBP)*
Rail and tube fares: Weekly household expenditure in the UK 2019, by gross income

Description
Source and methodology information
This statistic displays the weekly average household expenditure on rail and tube fares in the United Kingdom
Source(s) Office for National Statistics (UK) (UK) in 2019, by gross income decile group. Households in the eighth decile group spend an average of seven
British pounds a week on rail and tube fares. The income group with the highest weekly spend is the highest ten
Conducted by Office for National Statistics (UK)
percent, who spend on average 16.30 British pounds per week.
Survey period 2019

Region(s) United Kingdom

Number of respondents 5,480 households

Age group n.a.

Special characteristics n.a.

Published by Office for National Statistics (UK)

Publication date March 2020

Original source Family spending workbook 1: detailed expenditure and trends, table A6

Website URL visit the website

Notes: * The figures show weekly expenditure of households divided into decile
groups, ranging from households with the lowest ten percent gross income
up to those with the highest gross income.

Back to statistic

41 References
Consumer price index (CPI) of passenger transport by railway in the United Kingdom (UK) from
2008 to 2020
Rail travel consumer price index (CPI) annual average in the UK 2008-2020

Description
Source and methodology information
This statistic shows the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for passenger transport by railway in the United Kingdom
Source(s) Office for National Statistics (UK) (UK) as an annual average from 2008 to 2020, where the year 2015 equals 100. Over this period, the CPI for
passenger rail travel has shown an increasing trend from 71.1 in 2008 to 112.6 in 2020.
Conducted by Office for National Statistics (UK)

Survey period 2007 to 2020

Region(s) United Kingdom

Number of respondents n.a.

Age group n.a.

Special characteristics n.a.

Published by Office for National Statistics (UK)

Publication date February 2021

Original source Consumer Price Inflation Detailed Reference Tables, January 2021, table
9

Website URL visit the website

Notes: * Index value 2015 equals 100. The year 2015 is the base year used to
calculate the index value. Consumer price indices are designed to
measure changes in the price of everything consumers buy. More
information on CPI can be found here .

Back to statistic

42 References
National rail revenue from ordinary and season ticket passenger fares in the United Kingdom (UK)
from 2000/2001 to 2019/2020 (in million GBP)
National rail income from fares in the United Kingdom (UK) 2000-2020

Description
Source and methodology information
This statistic compares the revenue for United Kingdom (UK) national rail services from ordinary and season
Source(s) Office of Rail and Road (UK); GOV.UK ticket fares between 2000 and 2020. A small part of the overall national rail fare revenue is made up from
season tickets. In 2020, revenue from ordinary fares accounted to 8.1 billion British pounds, while season tickets
Conducted by Office of Rail and Road (UK)
provided nearly 2.1 billion British pounds in revenue.
Survey period 2000 to 2020

Region(s) United Kingdom

Number of respondents n.a.

Age group n.a.

Special characteristics n.a.

Published by GOV.UK

Publication date November 2020

Original source gov.uk

Website URL visit the website

Notes: n.a.

Back to statistic

43 References
Leading transport service provider brands ranked by BrandIndex Index score in the United
Kingdom (UK) from July 2018 to June 2019
Leading transport provider brands ranked by BrandIndex in the UK 2019

Description
Source and methodology information
This statistic ranks transport service providers by average BrandIndex Index score in the United Kingdom (UK) in
Source(s) YouGov 2019. During the period of consideration, London Underground ranked highest with the score of 15.7, followed
by Eurostar and P&O Ferries.
Conducted by YouGov

Survey period July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019

Region(s) United Kingdom

Number of respondents n.a.

Age group n.a.

Special characteristics n.a.

Published by YouGov

Publication date July 2019

Original source brandindex.com

Website URL visit the website

Notes: *YouGov BrandIndex Index score is a measure of overall brand health

which takes into account consumers` perceptions of a brand`s quality,
value, impression, satisfaction, reputation and whether they would
recommend the brand to others. The Rankings chart shows the brands
with the highest average Ind [...] For more information visit our Website

Back to statistic

44 References
Rail network overall passenger satisfaction rate in Great Britain from 2002/03 to 2018/19*
Rail network overall passenger satisfaction in Great Britain 2002-2019

Description
Source and methodology information
According to the Office of Rail Regulation National Passenger Survey, satisfaction with the British rail network
Source(s) Office of Rail and Road (UK) noticeably dropped between 2017/18 and 2018/19. Latest results see only 79 percent of passengers satisfied
with the service provided. This was the first time figures fell below 80 percent since 2004/05.
Conducted by Office of Rail and Road (UK)

Survey period 2002/03 to 2018/19

Region(s) United Kingdom (Great Britain)

Number of respondents n.a.

Age group n.a.

Special characteristics n.a.

Published by Office of Rail and Road (UK)

Publication date June 2019

Original source Passenger Rail Service Complaints, 2018/19 Q4 Statistical release, page
4

Website URL visit the website

Notes: * Data is based on the National Passenger Survey. The National Rail
Passenger Survey (NRPS) is produced twice a year by Transport Focus
consulting more than 50,000 passengers a year. This survey of passenger
opinions, which are collected from a representative sample of journeys,
provides a network-w [...] For more information visit our Website

Back to statistic

45 References
Stance of survey respondents on whether train fares are good value in the United Kingdom 2020
Public opinion on the value of train fares in the United Kingdom 2020

Description
Source and methodology information
In 2020, just under three-quarters of survey respondents believed that train fares in the United Kingdom were
Source(s) YouGov either fairly bad or very bad value. Only 13 percent of respondents agreed that national train values were good
value.
Conducted by YouGov

Survey period July 11 to 13, 2020

Region(s) United Kingdom

Number of respondents 1,673

Age group 18-65+

Special characteristics n.a.

Published by YouGov

Publication date August 2020

Original source yougov.co.uk

Website URL visit the website

Notes: Survey participants were asked the following question: "Generally

speaking, do you think train fares in Britain are good or bad value?"

Back to statistic

46 References
Share of passengers having to stand on trains in London (UK) at peak hours in 2019, by train
operator
Share of standing passengers in London (UK) trains 2019

Description
Source and methodology information
This statistic shows the share of passengers left standing on various train operator services at peak hours in
Source(s) Department for Transport (UK); Transport for London; GOV.UK London (UK) in 2019. That year, TfL Rail was the busiest operator in London, with 44 percent of passengers
having to stand in the morning peak time and 37 percent in the evening peak time.
Conducted by Department for Transport (UK); Transport for London

Survey period 2019

Region(s) United Kingdom (England)

Number of respondents n.a.

Age group n.a.

Special characteristics n.a.

Published by GOV.UK

Publication date September 2020

Original source gov.uk

Website URL visit the website

Notes: These statistics represent a typical autumn weekday. * Figures are based
on only one manual count per service.

Back to statistic

47 References
Passenger satisfaction evaluation of the London Underground from 2004/05 to 2019/20
Customer satisfaction evaluation London Underground 2004-2020

Description
Source and methodology information
In the period of 2019 to 2020, customer satisfaction decreased from 85 percent to 84 percent. This percentage is
Source(s) Transport for London the lowest since 2014/2015, when customer satisfaction was also at 84 percent.
Conducted by Transport for London

Survey period 2004/05 to 2019/20

Region(s) United Kingdom (England)

Number of respondents n.a.

Age group n.a.

Special characteristics fiinancial year ends March 31.

Published by Transport for London

Publication date May 2019

Original source TfL Performance data almanac, tab: CSS Overall

Website URL visit the website

Notes: Figures are rounded.

Back to statistic

48 References
Share of survey respondents for or against the HS2 high-speed rail project in the United Kingdom
2020
HS2: public opinion on the UK`s high-speed rail project 2020

Description
Source and methodology information
In December 2020, close to one-quarter of survey respondents stated that they strongly opposed the UK`s HS2
Source(s) YouGov high-speed rail project, while only seven percent were strongly in favor of it. Added together, the total percentage
of negative responses from respondents lay at 42 percent; 33 percent provided neutral responses, such as
Conducted by YouGov
´Don't know` or ´Neither support or oppose`.
Survey period December 28th, 2020

Region(s) United Kingdom

Number of respondents 1,683

Age group 18-65+

Special characteristics n.a.

Published by YouGov

Publication date May 2021

Original source yougov.co.uk

Website URL visit the website

Notes: Survey participants were presented with the following question: "Do you
support or oppose plans to build a new high-speed rail line linking London,
Birmingham, Leeds, and Manchester?" The source did not specify a
release date.

Back to statistic

49 References
Freight train kilometers share by operator in Great Britain from 2010/11 to 2019/20 (in million
kilometers)
Share of freight train kilometers by operator in Great Britain 2010-2020

Description
Source and methodology information
DB Cargo UK was the largest rail freight operator in the United Kingdom. It consistently covered the longest
Source(s) Office for National Statistics (UK); Office of Rail and Road (UK) distances per annum. In 2019/20, figures amounted to 12.24 million kilometers, which was a noticeable
decrease compared to the beginning of the reporting period.
Conducted by Office of Rail and Road (UK)

Survey period 2010/11 to 2019/20

Region(s) United Kingdom (Great Britain)

Number of respondents n.a.

Age group n.a.

Special characteristics n.a.

Published by Office for National Statistics (UK)

Publication date May 2020

Original source dataportal.orr.gov.uk

Website URL visit the website

Notes: n.a.

Back to statistic

50 References
Amount of freight moved annually on the rail network in Great Britain from 2002/03 to 2019/20* (in
billion net tonne-kilometers)
Total freight moved by train in Great Britain 2002-2020

Description
Source and methodology information
This statistic depicts the total amount of freight moved by train annually in Great Britain from 2002/03 to 2019/20.
Source(s) Office of Rail and Road (UK) In the period under consideration, freight volume moved by trains presented a trend of decline with some
fluctuation. The peak in the freight moved by train was recorded in 2013/14, at 22.71 billion net tonne-kilometers.
Conducted by Office of Rail and Road (UK)
Since then, the amount of freight moved annually has declined, reaching 16.6 billion net tonne-kilometers in
Survey period April 1, 2002 to March 31, 2020 2019/20.

Region(s) United Kingdom (Great Britain)

Number of respondents n.a.

Age group n.a.

Special characteristics n.a.

Published by Office of Rail and Road (UK)

Publication date May 2020

Original source orr.gov.uk

Website URL visit the website

Notes: * Total excluding infrastructure.

Back to statistic

51 References
Market share of commodities and transported by rail in the United Kingdom from 2019 to 2020
United Kingdom: freight transported by rail & commodity 2019-2020

Description
Source and methodology information
Between 2019 and 2020, domestic intermodal cargo dominated the market in the United Kingdom at over 40
Source(s) Office of Rail and Road (UK); Office for National Statistics (UK) percent when it came to freight-moved commodities. With a market share of around 28 percent, construction
proved the second-strongest-performing commodity while international goods only made up three percent of the
Conducted by Office of Rail and Road (UK); Office for National Statistics (UK)
market.
Survey period 2019 and 2020

Region(s) United Kingdom

Number of respondents n.a.

Age group n.a.

Special characteristics n.a.

Published by Office of Rail and Road (UK)

Publication date December 2020

Original source Rail Statistics Compendium (Great Britain): 2019-2020, page 6

Website URL visit the website

Notes: n.a.

Back to statistic

52 References
Amount of coal freight moved annually on the rail network in Great Britain from 2002/03 to 2019/20
(in billion net tonne-kilometers
Coal freight moved by train in Great Britain 2002-2020

Description
Source and methodology information
This statistic presents the amount of coal moved as freight by rail in Great Britain between 2002/03 and 2019/20.
Source(s) Office of Rail and Road (UK) In the period under consideration, coal freight volume presented a trend of decline with some fluctuation. The
peak in the coal freight moved by train was recorded in 2006/07, at 8.56 billion net tonne-kilometers. Since then,
Conducted by Office of Rail and Road (UK)
coal freight volume has declined, reaching 0.37 billion net tonne-kilometers in 2019/20.
Survey period April 1, 2002 to March 31, 2020

Region(s) United Kingdom (Great Britain)

Number of respondents n.a.

Age group n.a.

Special characteristics n.a.

Published by Office of Rail and Road (UK)

Publication date May 2020

Original source orr.gov.uk

Website URL visit the website

Notes: n.a.

Back to statistic

53 References
Channel Tunnel rail freight volumes from 2011 to 2018 (in metric tons)
Channel Tunnel rail freight volumes 2011-2018

Description
Source and methodology information
This statistic illustrates the volume of freight moved through the Channel Tunnel (Eurotunnel) from 2011 to 2018,
Source(s) Freight Transport Association (UK) in metric tons. In the period under consideration, this volume oscillated. In 2018, a total of approximately 1.3
million metric tons of freight was transported in the Eurotunnel. The largest volume was recorded in 2014, when
Conducted by Freight Transport Association (UK)
over 1.6 million metric tons were moved.
Survey period 2011 to 2018

Region(s) United Kingdom

Number of respondents n.a.

Age group n.a.

Special characteristics n.a.

Published by Freight Transport Association (UK)

Publication date May 2019

Original source The Logistics Report 2019, page 9

Website URL visit the website

Notes: n.a.

Back to statistic

54 References
Number of potentially high risk train accidents involving passenger trains in Great Britain from
2005/2006 to 2019/2020, by accident type
Potentially high risk passenger train accidents in Great Britain by train 2005-2020

Description
Source and methodology information
This statistic shows the number of potentially high risk accidents occurring on passenger trains in Great Britain
Source(s) Rail Safety and Standards Board ; GOV.UK between 200 5and 2020. Over this period, the highest accident risks for passenger trains arose from potential
collisions with road vehicles at level crossings. In 2019/20 there were eight potentially high risk accidents
Conducted by Rail Safety and Standards Board
involving passenger trains, of which four were collisions with vehicles at level crossings.
Survey period 2005 to 2020

Region(s) United Kingdom (Great Britain)

Number of respondents n.a.

Age group n.a.

Special characteristics n.a.

Published by GOV.UK

Publication date November 2020

Original source gov.uk

Website URL visit the website

Notes: n.a.

Back to statistic

55 References
Total number of railway fatalities including suicides in Great Britain (UK) from 2013/14 to 2018/19
Total number of fatalities on railways in Great Britain (UK) 2013-2019

Description
Source and methodology information
This statistic shows the total number of fatalities on the railway network including suicides in Great Britain (UK)
Source(s) Rail Safety and Standards Board from 2013/14 to 2019/20. Over the 2019/20 financial year, there were 283 suicides on the British rail network
and 31 non-suicide fatalities. In the period of consideration, the financial year with the highest number of
Conducted by Rail Safety and Standards Board
fatalities 2014/15, with a total of 286 suicide fatalities and 49 non-suicide fatalities.
Survey period 2013 to 2019

Region(s) United Kingdom (Great Britain)

Number of respondents n.a.

Age group n.a.

Special characteristics n.a.

Published by GOV.UK

Publication date November 2020

Original source gov.uk

Website URL visit the website

Notes: n.a.

Back to statistic

56 References
Number of public fatalities on railways in Great Britain from 2001/2002 to 2019/2020, according to
incident type
Public fatalities on railways in Great Britain by type 2001-2020

Description
Source and methodology information
This statistic shows the number of non-passenger public fatalities on railways in Great Britain from 2001 to 2020.
Source(s) Rail Safety and Standards Board ; GOV.UK Trespassing was consistently the main cause of death among public fatalities on railways. In 2019/20, 21
members of the public (not passengers) were killed on railways in Great Britain, of which 17 were trespassing at
Conducted by Rail Safety and Standards Board
the time.
Survey period 2001 to 2020

Region(s) United Kingdom (Great Britain)

Number of respondents n.a.

Age group n.a.

Special characteristics n.a.

Published by GOV.UK

Publication date November 2020

Original source gov.uk

Website URL visit the website

Notes: n.a.

Back to statistic

57 References
Number of railway fatalities caused by suicide in Great Britain from 2001/02 to 2019/20
Number of suicide fatalities on railways in Great Britain 2001-2020

Description
Source and methodology information
The number of railway fatalities caused by suicides in Great Britain increased from 192 fatalities in 2001/02, to
Source(s) Rail Safety and Standards Board 283 fatalities in 2019/20. Although this is an increase over the 19 years in question, the number of fatalities
recorded in 2017/18 were the second lowest at any time since 2011/12. In 2018/19 there were 311 deaths on
Conducted by Rail Safety and Standards Board
railways , which was an increase compared to the previous three years.
Survey period 2001 to 2020

Region(s) United Kingdom (Great Britain)

Number of respondents n.a.

Age group n.a.

Special characteristics n.a.

Published by Department for Transport (UK)

Publication date November 2020

Original source gov.uk

Website URL visit the website

Notes: n.a.

Back to statistic

58 References