New figures show that the demand for railway services is getting closer to levels recorded before the Covid pandemic, and could be about to overtake them.

The latest quarterly figures from the Office of Rail and Road for the three months to December 2024 show that passenger numbers grew by 7 per cent in the last quarter year-on-year, and that revenue was up by 8 per cent over the same period.

There were 446 million journeys, compared with 417 million journeys made in the same quarter in the previous year.

There were 1.7 billion journeys in the 12 months to December 2024, which was a 9 per cent increase on the 1.6 billion over the 12 months to December 2023.

Total passenger revenue in the latest quarter was £2.9 billion. This is an 8 per cent increase on the £2.7 billion in the previous year, when adjusted for inflation.

A total of 16.2 billion passenger kilometres were travelled in the latest quarter. This was a 7 per cent increase on the 15.1 billion kilometres in the previous year.

Meanwhile, the Department for Transport said passenger journeys in the week ending Sunday 2 March 2025 were 91 per cent of those observed in the equivalent week in 2019. In the current publishing period, weekly average usage figures have been between 81 and to 98 per cent of the same week before the pandemic, compared to 71 to 90 per cent in the last publishing period. These figures exclude the Elizabeth Line, where ‘updated adjustment factors’ are outstanding.

Railway Industry Association chief executive Darren Caplan said: ‘These figures by the ORR provide further, sustained evidence, of a return to rail post-pandemic.

‘Even in tough economic times, with a restructure in the offing, rail has a bright future. The Government clearly needs to continue to invest in it as the numbers using rail grow and more capacity will be needed.’

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