The number of franchised passenger journeys in the UK rose to 1.654 billion between 2014 and 2015 – its highest level since current records began in 2002.
ORR’s ‘Rail Usage Statistics’ show that the number of passenger journeys increased by 4.2 per cent last year and 69.5 per cent since 2002-3.
There was also a 9 per cent increase in the number of non-franchised passenger journeys.
Franchised passenger kilometres rose by 4.5 per cent to 62.4 billion. The figures showed increases in both long-distance and regional rail travel.
Since 2008, UK passenger rail kilometres have increased by 17 per cent  – the second highest growth levels in Europe behind Austria.
