ABSTRACT
Notwithstanding the operational problems, rail passenger traffic grew considerably in the late 1990s, levelled off post-Hatfield and then continued to grow. This is the product of a long period of economic growth fuelling overall transport demand, growing congestion on the road network forcing people to look for alternative modes and successful marketing and customer service work by some TOCs. 1 Total passenger journeys post-privatisation have increased by approximately 25 per cent and, by 2004, were already higher than in 1950. Similarly, passenger kilometres have moved ahead of the 1950 figure 2 too. However, it has been pointed out that 70 per cent of rail trips begin or end in London and 68 per cent of all rail trips are on London and south east commuter services (SRA 2004), so there is a continuing regional bias to the pattern of rail utilisation. In addition, despite the growth, rail’s market share of passenger transport (using passenger kilometres) has remained steady, at around 6 per cent, because of the increase in road traffic, so overall there has been no modal shift. This has major implications with regard to what would need to be done to enhance rail capacity if significant modal shift were to be energetically pursued. With regard to the fixed infrastructure, there have been only minimal closures since privatisation, the length of the electrified network has hardly grown, the number of stations has increased, despite some losses to light rail conversions, and there have been few outright station closures. This chapter will now go on to review the extent to which town planning outcomes were positively associated with this growth in rail traffic and will begin by focusing on the long distance passenger network focused on London, before moving on to the networks serving provincial cities, then rural routes and finally freight, with some final conclusions at the end. Passenger journeys by sector 1999–00 to 2006–07: Great Britain (millions) https://www.niso.org/standards/z39-96/ns/oasis-exchange/table">
Long distance operators
London and SE operators
Regional operators
Total passenger journeys
1999-00
72
639
220
931
2000-01
70
664
223
957
2001-02
74
663
222
960
2002-03
77
679
219
976
2003-04
81
690
240
1012
2004-05
84
704
256
1045
2005-06
89
720
273
1082
2006-07
98
773
292
1164
Source: ORR National Rail Trends Yearbook April 06–March 07.