The Department for Transport (DfT) has this week published figures showing that national rail passenger numbers have reached a new post-pandemic milestone, with 95% of pre-COVID levels being recorded on 10 August.
This came in a run of seven straight days, from Saturday 6 August to Friday 12 August, where 93-95% of pre-Covid passenger levels were hit every single day of the week.
Darren Caplan, Chief Executive of the Railway Industry Association, said: “Given all the industrial action of recent weeks, and that the month of August is the traditional summer season when many go on holiday, it is astonishing that we are now getting 95% of pre-Covid passenger levels reached on the national rail network, and in a week where over 93% was recorded every single day of the week. This welcome milestone has been hit less than six months since pandemic restrictions started being relaxed, and is a clear vote of confidence in UK rail.
“One must assume it is only a matter of time before we are back to 100% of pre-Covid levels. Given this, RIA and our members once again urge the Treasury and policy-makers and influencers not to base 30-year programmes and forecasts for the future of rail on the abnormal period of the pandemic, but instead to plan increased investment for the growth in capacity we are going to need in the years ahead.”
