Rail passenger numbers and crowding published

[whole diary]

[John D]

New figures just released (haven't read them all yet)

But have spotted in section 5.3 that Bristol has highest PiXC (passengers in excess of capacity)

Rather proves Bristol rail in peaks is struggling, and so far this year not really done anything about transferring in extra stock

section 4.2 says peak passenger numbers at Paddington grew 6% in a year, 7% increase in off peak in a year

Section 5.4 has the busiest services (into cities when surveyed, so could excludes things like Portsmouth-Cardiff when 2coach set is used), South West trains has 4 of 10.   The third busiest nationally is a Bridgend to Rhymney train !

Section 6 says 13% of long distance services are in excess of capacity

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/rail-passenger-numbers-and-crowding-on-weekdays-in-major-cities-in-england-and-wales-2025/rail-passenger-numbers-and-crowding-on-weekdays-in-major-cities-in-england-and-wales-2025

[eightonedee]

Thanks John D.

One really striking feature of the figures (apart from the change in the list of stations in 2017) is how many passengers arrive in Reading. From 2017 (when it first appears) to the pandemic, it is third behind Birmingham (first) and Manchester (second) in the number of arrivals, but after the pandemic it overtook Manchester and even has more arrivals at peak times than Birmingham in 2025.

Was the completion of the final phase of the current Manchester tram system in 2020 partly responsible?

 

[ChrisB]

Elizabeth Line?

[eightonedee]

Elizabeth Line?

But Reading was no.3 in 2017, five years before the Elizabeth Line opened. These figures are also for arrivals, so the new services replaced a previous GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) service from places that also had direct services.

[TaplowGreen]

One wonders how much of this additional overcrowding is caused by increased numbers of trains being short formed/formed of smaller trains?

Not sure if that's as big an issue elsewhere as it is for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)?

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/chance-of-getting-seat-on-london-commuter-train-is-at-all-time-low/ar-AA28SUWf?ocid=socialshare

[Chris from Nailsea]

It is perhaps encouraging to note that the Secretary of State for Transport, Heidi Alexander, has herself experienced some degree of overcrowding, on GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) trains between Swindon and London Paddington:

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

'I've sat on train floors' - transport secretary

[Image from here is not available to guests]

The transport secretary has said she has sat on the floors of overcrowded trains as she vowed to improve the rail network.

When asked about delays and overcrowding on the railways, Heidi Alexander told BBC Radio Wiltshire: "I've had this problem myself to be honest. I am on trains a lot and I've sat on the floor on a couple of occasions," the South Swindon MP^▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post (a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London), depending on context) added. "As Secretary of State, I've sat on the floor on a Great Western train from Paddington to Swindon."

(BBC article continues)

[Noggin]

Used to commute Reading to London up until 2009 and I'm pretty sure that it's a lot better now - pre-Electrification in the morning rush hour you often had to wait for up to three HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units))'s to come through the station before you were actually able to fit on one (zero chance of getting a seat). At one point, a first class season ticket wasn't that much more expensive than second (let's say £150 a month), so quite a lot of people started buying a first class ticket to get a seat, until first was also jammed. Apparently some rather influential people complained, at which point the (unregulated) first class season ticket was jacked up and the riff-raff headed back to second.

Oh yes, and during electrification, I seem to remember the reliability getting so bad that we actually got a discount on a number of month's tickets. And remember, that was before smart phones, so the best you could do for amusement as you sat on the floor was to read your book or call your mates, or if you weere important you might send a few emails on your Blackberry. 

Finally, the Thames Valley stoppers were 3-car only for much of the day and my recollection is that they might even have been hourly to the smaller stations like Burnham.

[TaplowGreen]

It is perhaps encouraging to note that the Secretary of State for Transport, Heidi Alexander, has herself experienced some degree of overcrowding, on GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) trains between Swindon and London Paddington:

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

'I've sat on train floors' - transport secretary

[Image from here is not available to guests]

The transport secretary has said she has sat on the floors of overcrowded trains as she vowed to improve the rail network.

When asked about delays and overcrowding on the railways, Heidi Alexander told BBC Radio Wiltshire: "I've had this problem myself to be honest. I am on trains a lot and I've sat on the floor on a couple of occasions," the South Swindon MP^▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post (a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London), depending on context) added. "As Secretary of State, I've sat on the floor on a Great Western train from Paddington to Swindon."

(BBC article continues)

An experience which was memorably shared by her (former) comrade and Leader........however in his case it was later proved that he had been, shall we say, a little "economical with the actualite"? 

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/truth-traingate-new-footage-prove-11051982

[John D]

Latest quarterly (April - June) usage figures have been published by ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road, formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about)

https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/media/u3dhxikw/passenger-rail-usage-apr-jun-2026.pdf

For GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) passenger journeys are 3% on same quarter previous year

However as journeys might be distorted by split ticketing, these are the passenger Km

April - June 2026 1652m Km

And for comparison, Pre-Covid
April - June 2019 1573m

So GWR now 105.1% of pre-Covid passenger km

During which time have removed some 387s, scrapped (after accidents) some 158s, removed remaining HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)), but only managed to put one class 230 into non-daily service, and barely get one 175 into daily service.

Am I missing something, or have they cut the fleet, and have 5% more
People squeezing on.

[Red Squirrel]

There is some odd wording in section 3:

Passenger train kilometres includes only the distance covered by a locomotive itself and does not account for the number of carriages.
[...]
Passenger vehicle kilometres includes both the distance covered by locomotives and the carriages they transport.

The wording seems to suggest that whoever wrote this wouldn't know the difference between a train and a bowl of porridge.

[eightonedee]

The wording seems to suggest that whoever wrote this wouldn't know the difference between a train and a bowl of porridge

..or that no-one has checked the standard wording for decades?