The Railway Industry Association (RIA), the voice of the UK rail supply community, has responded to the Department for Transport’s (DfT) latest statistics released on rail travel in Great Britain.
RIA has welcomed the fact that rail passenger numbers reached the milestone of 90% of pre-Covid levels on Thursday 19 May, and reached 92% in the following three days. The statistics show that passenger numbers are returning both during weekdays and weekends, approaching the highest levels since 15 March 2020.
Darren Caplan, Chief Executive at the Railway Industry Association (RIA), said:
“These figures show that people are returning to rail in ever greater numbers. In the week of 16-22 May, every day of the week saw passenger figures hitting between 86% and 92% of pre-Covid levels, less than three months since pandemic restrictions started being relaxed. This is not just leisure travel coming back – commuter travel, including Mondays and Fridays, has been steadily increasing too.
“So RIA continues to ask Government and the new Great British Railways not to base the 30-year strategy it is planning on the last two years. If the industry and decision makers work closely together to continue attracting passengers back, the future for rail really can be bright in the years ahead.”
Photo credit: RIA
