Think Railways

The number of passenger journeys on franchised rail services in Great Britain reached 1.654 billion in 2014-15, according to the Passenger Rail Usage report published by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR).

This is the highest recorded figure since the series began in 2002-3 and an increase of 4.2% (67.3 million) on the previous year. Growth in the franchised Long distance and Regional sectors outstripped growth in London and South East. This is also an increase of 69.5% since 2002-3, when only 975.5 million journeys were made.

£8.9 billion of passenger revenue was generated from passenger journeys made in Great Britain in 2014-15. This was split between £8.8 billion by franchised operators and £63 million by non-franchised operators. Overall passenger revenue increased by 7.4% on 2013-14.

The total number of TTKM across all operators in 2014-15 Q4 increased by 1.0% compared to 2013-14 Q4, recording a total of 130.7 million kilometres. For the fourth consecutive quarter, First Transpennine Express recorded the largest increase in its TTKM for franchised operators, primarily due to the introduction of additional services between Leeds and Manchester in May 2014. Virgin Trains West Coast launched two new direct services between London and Blackpool, and London and Shrewsbury with the commencement of their December 2014 timetable, thereby increasing their TTKM this quarter.