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About this release

This publication provides information on the number of passengers travelling by rail into and out of a number of major city centres in England and Wales. Due to high levels of rail passenger demand in Greater London compared to every other major city in England and Wales, further detail is provided on individual stations in central London.

The statistics are based on counts of passengers carried out in England and Wales between 16 September and 13 December 2024. Data was collected from franchised train operators at selected major cities across England and Wales. The statistics in this publication do not include Open Access operators such as Heathrow Express and Lumo.

These are accredited official statistics and were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in October 2017. For more information, see the About these statistics section.

This publication focuses on passenger numbers during the morning and evening peak hours on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, when rail travel tends to be busiest. The AM peak covers trains arriving into city centres between 07:00 and 09:59, whereas the PM peak reflects trains departing between 16:00 and 18:59. A city centre is defined using a cordon to include the major city centre stations. In some cases, passengers will not alight at the cordon station but are counted there. For crowding statistics, passengers are counted at the busiest station on the route when entering or leaving the city centre.

The loading at the busiest point for the 10 most crowded peak train services in England and Wales during the autumn period is also presented.

Headline figures

On a typical autumn day in 2024, there were on average 3,745,500 arrivals and departures by rail into or out of major city centres in England and Wales. Figure 1 shows that 422,900 arrivals and departures took place between 08:00 and 08:59, and 401,300 arrivals or departures took place between 17:00 and 17:59.

Figure 1: Total rail passenger arrivals and departures at major cities in England and Wales by hour on a typical autumn day in 2024

This publication focuses on arrivals during the morning peak when rail travel tends to be busiest. Further information on departures during the afternoon peak can be found in the associated statistical tables.

On a typical autumn day in 2024, there were on average 1,865,000 passenger arrivals into major cities in England and Wales. This represents an increase of 90,600 passengers (5%) compared to autumn 2023 and was the highest number of daily arrivals since the time series began in 2010^{[footnote 1]}, as shown in Figure 2. Of these daily arrivals in autumn 2024, an average of 39% or 730,300 were in the morning peak (07:00 to 09:59).

Figure 2: Rail passenger arrivals at major cities in England and Wales on a typical autumn day (2014-2024)

During the morning peak, the daily number of passengers standing was 168,900 as shown in Figure 3. This was 22% of passengers travelling at that time, 1 percentage points (pp) higher than the equivalent proportion in autumn 2023.

Figure 3: Rail passengers standing during the morning peak on a typical autumn day in England and Wales (2014 to 2024)

The daily number of passengers in excess of capacity (PiXC) during the morning peak was 10,600 or 1.4% of passengers travelling at this time, as shown in Figure 4. This was 0.2 pp higher than the equivalent proportion in autumn 2023.

Though passenger arrivals have recovered to levels observed in 2019, PiXC remains lower. This is likely due to greater standing capacity on trains in autumn 2024 driven by Elizabeth Line services operating into London city centre, where crowding has historically been highest.

Figure 4: Proportion of passengers in excess of capacity during the morning peak on a typical autumn day in England and Wales (2014 to 2024)

Rail passenger demand in major cities in England and Wales

On a typical day in autumn 2024, the city with the highest number of daily passenger arrivals was London, with an average of 1,207,600 passenger arrivals. This was an increase of 6% on the equivalent figure in autumn 2023. Outside London, the 3 cities in England and Wales with the highest number of daily passenger arrivals were Birmingham (117,700), Reading (102,900), and Manchester (95,300) as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5: Average daily passenger arrivals into major cities in England and Wales (excluding London) on a typical day in autumn 2023 and autumn 2024

Figure 6 shows that the city with the largest percentage increase in daily passenger arrivals was Bristol, where there was a 13% year-on-year growth from 30,200 passenger arrivals in autumn 2023 to 34,100 daily passenger arrivals in autumn 2024. The city with the largest percentage decrease in daily passenger arrivals was Leicester, where there was a 12% decrease from 29,300 arrivals in autumn 2023 to 25,700 daily arrivals in autumn 2024.

Figure 6: Percentage change in average daily arrivals into major cities in England and Wales (excluding London) on a typical day between autumn 2023 and autumn 2024

Rail passenger demand in central London stations

Passenger numbers arriving into London are counted on arrival at the first station stop in Zone 1 of the TfL Travelcard area on route to London. For example, services terminating at Charing Cross or Cannon Street will be counted at London Bridge. Conversely, passengers departing London are counted at the final station from which a train departs before leaving Zone 1.

Figure 7 shows that the station in London with the highest average number of daily passenger arrivals was Liverpool Street. An average of 273,600 passengers arrived into central London at this station on a typical day in autumn 2024.

Figure 7: Average daily passenger arrivals into London terminals on a typical day in autumn 2023 and autumn 2024

The central London station with the largest percentage increase in daily passenger arrivals on a typical day in autumn was Paddington, which saw a 10% year-on-year growth from 122,300 passenger arrivals in autumn 2023 to 134,200 daily passenger arrivals in autumn 2024. The central London station with the smallest percentage increase in daily passenger arrivals was Elephant and Castle, which saw a less than 1% increase from 30,000 arrivals in autumn 2023 to 30,100 daily passenger arrivals in autumn 2024.

Passengers standing

This section focuses on passenger numbers during the morning peak hours on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, when rail travel tends to be busiest.

On a typical day in autumn 2024, a daily average of 168,900 rail passengers were standing during the morning peak into major cities in England and Wales. This represents a national average of 21.6% of all rail passengers travelling on these services, an increase of 1.1聽pp聽on the equivalent figure in autumn 2023. An average of 35% of AM peak services had at least one passenger standing on the typical day in autumn 2024, an increase of 4 pp on the equivalent figure in autumn 2023.

Table 1a: Proportion of rail passengers standing in the AM peak by city in England and Wales on a typical day in autumn 2024

City	Proportion of passengers standing
Birmingham	10.6%
Brighton	3.2%
Bristol	2.5%
Cambridge	4.0%
Cardiff	0.7%
Leeds	5.3%
Leicester	5.4%
London	26.4%
Liverpool	7.7%
Manchester	5.3%
Newcastle	1.6%
Nottingham	2.7%
Reading	0.6%
Sheffield	2.8%

Table 1b: Number of rail passengers standing in the AM peak by city in England and Wales on a typical day in autumn 2024

City	Number of passengers standing
Birmingham	4,154
Brighton	189
Bristol	220
Cambridge	332
Cardiff	74
Leeds	1,145
Leicester	251
London	159,215
Liverpool	1,198
Manchester	1,612
Newcastle	69
Nottingham	103
Reading	119
Sheffield	188

The city with the largest pp increase in the number of passengers standing was Birmingham, which saw 10.6% of passengers standing during the morning peak, up 2.1 pp from autumn 2023.

The proportion of rail passengers standing in London on a typical day in autumn 2024 was higher than the national average at 26.4%. The station within London with the largest pp increase in the number of passengers standing was Elephant and Castle, where 42% of passengers were standing, 5 pp higher than the equivalent figure in autumn 2023.

Passenger crowding

This section focuses on passenger numbers during the morning peak hours on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, when rail travel tends to be busiest. Rail passenger crowding is measured using passengers in excess of capacity (PiXC). The passengers in excess of capacity measure is the number of standard class passengers on a service that are in excess of the standard class capacity, which may include a 鈥榮tanding allowance鈥�, at the critical load point. The total number of聽PiXC聽are aggregated for all services at each city and are expressed as a percentage of the total standard class load.

Table 2a: Proportion of rail passengers in excess of capacity (PiXC) in the AM peak by city in England and Wales on a typical day in autumn 2024

City	Proportion of PiXC
Birmingham	1.6%
Brighton	0.0%
Bristol	1.0%
Cambridge	0.0%
Cardiff	0.1%
Leeds	0.2%
Leicester	0.0%
Liverpool	0.0%
London	1.6%
Manchester	0.0%
Newcastle	0.0%
Nottingham	0.0%
Reading	0.4%
Sheffield	1.3%

Table 2b: Number of rail passengers in excess of capacity (PiXC) in the AM peak by city in England and Wales on a typical day in autumn 2024

City	Number of passengers in excess of capacity
Birmingham	624
Brighton	0
Bristol	91
Cambridge	0
Cardiff	9
Leeds	51
Leicester	0
Liverpool	0
London	9,694
Manchester	3
Newcastle	0
Nottingham	0
Reading	83
Sheffield	87

In the morning peak, the total PiXC on a typical day in autumn 2024 was 1.4% in major cities in England and Wales. This represented an increase of 0.1 pp. The city with the largest increase in crowding in the morning peak was Birmingham where PiXC doubled from 0.8% in autumn 2023 to 1.6% in autumn 2024.

Rail passenger crowding in London was higher than the national average. In London, PiXC in the morning peak rose 0.2 pp from 1.5% in on a typical day in autumn 2023 to 1.6% on a typical day in autumn 2024. The station within London with the largest pp increase in crowding was St Pancras International, where PiXC rose 1.1 pp from 2.4% to 3.6%.

The 10 busiest trains in England and Wales

The load factor of a train service is calculated by dividing the passenger load in standard class carriages by the total capacity in standard class carriages (total standard seats and standing allowance). For shorter journeys, where the journey time between stations is 20 minutes or fewer, a standing allowance may be applied depending on the rolling stock. For services where the journey time is greater than 20 minutes no standing allowance is permitted regardless of rolling stock.

Data on individual train services is subject to significantly greater sampling error than averages for stations and cities. On many services, only 3 or 4 counts are taken and in some cases only a single passenger count has been conducted during the count period. Statistics on individual services may not be representative of typical trends, and this list should be referenced alongside the aggregate statistics for trends in crowding. In addition, the autumn 2024 data were collected prior to the December 2024 timetable change and may not provide a guide to current crowding. However, it is recognised that there is a demand for this type of data.

The 10 morning and evening peak hours services in England and Wales with the highest load factors are detailed below, with commentary and context provided by the train operator running the service. The department has paraphrased this commentary to meet government accessibility standards. Any qualitative evidence within this contextual text has not been validated by the department and does not constitute official statistics. Similarly, any views or opinions stated therein are the operator鈥檚 and do not reflect the departmental position. Inclusion of this text does not constitute government endorsement of the evidence or views presented.

Table 3: The 10 rail services in England and Wales with the highest load factor.

Train operating company (TOC)	Service Description	Point of Maximum Load	Maximum Load Factor
Thameslink	07:30 Bedford to 09:40 Three Bridges	London St. Pancras International	184%

Context: Rolling stock operated by Thameslink operating on the Midland Mainline route from Bedford was designed with large areas for comfortable standing between short station stops. Crowding for many slow or semi-fast services on this route between station stops of less than 20 minutes is calculated including a standing allowance.

However, fast trains operating on this route exceed the 20-minute threshold for journey duration between station stops meaning that crowding calculations do not include an allowance for standing capacity. This means that some fast trains are classified as 鈥榠n excess of capacity鈥� despite exhibiting similar levels of crowding to slower services that are not classified as 鈥榠n excess of capacity鈥�.

For example, the 07:48 Bedford to Brighton services exhibits similar levels of crowding to the 07.30 Bedford to Three Bridges service, but the inclusion of standing capacity in the crowding calculation results in a maximum load factor of 67% and is not considered to be in excess of capacity.

Train operating company (TOC)	Service Description	Point of Maximum Load	Maximum Load Factor
Thameslink	07:15 Bedford to 09:00 Three Bridges	London St. Pancras International	179%

Context: Post COVID-19, the train service has restored passenger seats on the Midland Main Line fast route faster than passenger demand has returned and so the crowding passengers experience is better than pre-COVID-19. Long-term plans are being developed to increase the train service to accommodate future increased passenger numbers while reducing the number of passengers standing.

Train operating company (TOC)	Service Description	Point of Maximum Load	Maximum Load Factor
West Midlands Trains	17:46 London Euston to 19:57 Crewe	London Euston	179%

Context: This service was introduced in December 2014 as part of London Midland鈥檚 鈥榩eak 110mph鈥� launch, supported by 10 new Class 350/3 trains. It operates with 8 cars鈥攖he longest formation currently used on the Trent Valley route. Because it runs non-stop to Milton Keynes (a journey over 20 minutes), no standing allowance is factored into its capacity.聽

There are no planned changes to this service, but West Midlands Trains continues to monitor demand. In May 2023, the removal of First Class added 48 standard class seats. Timetable changes since December 2022 have aimed to optimise available capacity to/from London Euston.聽

West Midlands Trains report that further enhancements are planned with the rollout of new Class 730 trains on the West Coast Main Line, expected to boost capacity both on the Trent Valley route and across the wider network.

Train operating company (TOC)	Service Description	Point of Maximum Load	Maximum Load Factor
West Midlands Trains	07:54 Leamington Spa to 08:34 Birmingham Snow Hill	Birmingham Moor Street	172%

Context: This service was scheduled to arrive at Birmingham Snow Hill station at 08:34, during the weekday morning peak period when trains arriving into Birmingham city centre via the Snow Hill lines are typically at their busiest.聽

In autumn 2024, all available West Midlands Trains stock was in use, but there weren鈥檛 enough units to run all peak services at full length. As a result, train formations varied from 2 to 6 cars. This particular service ran with 2 cars, while the two adjacent, busier services had 4 and 5 cars respectively. Stock was allocated to maximise capacity on the most crowded services.聽

Passenger counts were based on one-off manual surveys, which can be affected by daily fluctuations. While the autumn 2024 count showed high usage, counts in spring 2024 and 2025 showed lower patronage, suggesting that specific events may have influenced the autumn figures.聽

No changes are currently planned for this service, but West Midlands Trains continues to monitor demand and offers a 鈥淗ow busy is my train鈥� tool to help passengers plan more comfortable journeys.

Train operating company (TOC)	Service Description	Point of Maximum Load	Maximum Load Factor
Thameslink	07:03 Bedford to 08:59 East Grinstead	London St. Pancras International	163%

Context: See context for 07:30 Bedford to Three Bridges.

Train operating company (TOC)	Service Description	Point of Maximum Load	Maximum Load Factor
South Western Railway	17:35 London Waterloo to 20:19 Weymouth	Vauxhall	161%

Context: This 10 coach service is specifically busy between London Waterloo and its first calling point, Basingstoke, which is served by 15 direct trains from Waterloo an hour either side of its departure.

Train operating company (TOC)	Service Description	Point of Maximum Load	Maximum Load Factor
Chiltern Railways	06:14 Stourbridge Junction to 08:42 London Marylebone	London Marylebone	158%

Context: No context provided.

Train operating company (TOC)	Service Description	Point of Maximum Load	Maximum Load Factor
South Western Railway	18:00 London Waterloo to 19:39 Portsmouth Harbour	Vauxhall	156%

Context: This 12 coach service is specifically busy between London Waterloo and its first calling point, Woking, which is served by 23 direct trains from Waterloo an hour either side of its departure.

Train operating company (TOC)	Service Description	Point of Maximum Load	Maximum Load Factor
Chiltern Railways	18:59 London Marylebone to 20:07 Aylesbury Vale Parkway	Harrow-On-The-Hill	155%

Context: Over the May 24 timetable, of which Autumn 2024 counts are part of, Chiltern introduced an additional morning peak (0721 Princes Risborough to Marylebone) and evening peak service (1737 Marylebone to Princes Risborough) to manage the high peak levels of crowding they have seen. Chiltern and the DFT are working together to bring in additional rolling stock and capacity.

Train operating company (TOC)	Service Description	Point of Maximum Load	Maximum Load Factor
South Western Railway	06:27 Fareham to 08:19 London Waterloo	Vauxhall	153%

Context: This 10 coach service is specifically busy between its last calling point, Woking, and London Waterloo. Woking is served by 28 direct services to London Waterloo an hour either side of this service.

Changes in rail passenger numbers since 2019

Following the government鈥檚 鈥榳ork from home鈥� and 鈥榮tay at home鈥� guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic, rail passenger volumes, and consequently, services, were significantly reduced in Spring 2020. According to ORR passenger usage statistics, demand has now broadly returned to pre-pandemic levels, including passengers on the Elizabeth Line. Crowding data from autumn 2019 provides a useful benchmark for comparing current crowding levels with those before the pandemic.

On a typical day in autumn 2024, the number of overall rail passenger arrivals into major cities in England and Wales was similar to autumn 2019, with 1.87 million daily arrivals on a typical day in autumn 2024 and 1.84 million on a typical day in autumn 2019.

The proportion of journeys during peak hours on a typical day in autumn 2024 was lower than in autumn 2019. In autumn 2024, there were 0.73 million arrivals during the AM peak, which was 13% lower than the equivalent figure in autumn 2019. There were 1.21 million arrivals during off-peak hours in autumn 2024 which was 9% higher than the equivalent value in autumn 2019. This information is shown in Figure 8.

Figure 8: Comparison of AM peak and off peak arrivals between a typical day in autumn 2019 and autumn 2024 in England and Wales

Rail passengers travelled later in the day in autumn 2024 than autumn 2019. Figure 9 shows that on a typical day in autumn 2019, 11.8% of passengers travelled before 8 am and 9.7% travelled after 8 pm. On a typical day in autumn 2024, a higher proportion of journeys took place after 8 pm (11.6%) than before 8 am (9.7%).

Figure 9: The number of rail passenger arrivals into major cities in England and Wales by hour on a typical day in autumn 2024 and autumn 2019.

Figure 10 shows that since autumn 2019, rail passenger usage has grown in London but declined in major cities outside the capital. An average of 1.21 million passengers arrived into London city centre on a typical day in autumn 2024, 9% higher than the equivalent figure in 2019. In major cities in England and Wales outside London, the equivalent figure was 0.66 million passengers on a typical day in autumn 2024, 10% lower than the equivalent figure in 2019.

Figure 10: Comparison of arrivals into London and other major cities in England and Wales between a typical day in autumn 2019 and autumn 2024

Rail passenger journeys in Scotland

The majority of rail services in Scotland are operated by ScotRail on behalf of the Scottish Government. Comparable statistics on rail crowding in Scotland are not published, and the best available comparison of trends available is passenger demand growth. Between October and December 2024 an estimated 21.8 million passenger journeys took place on ScotRail, an increase of 4% on the equivalent figure between October and December 2023. This was lower than the increase for non-ScotRail operators, where rail usage increased by 7% between 396.5 million passenger journeys in October to December 2022 to 424.0 million in the same period in 2023.

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International comparisons

Data on passenger crowding is not published for countries comparable to the United Kingdom. Data on passenger rail demand in the European Union is collected by聽.聽During the calendar year 2024 in major G7 economies within the European Union, there were:

• 2.9 billion passenger journeys in Germany
• 1.3 billion in France
• 0.8 billion in Italy

Between 2023 and 2024, the quantity of rail passenger journeys increased by:

• 5% in Germany
• 7% in France
• 5% in Italy

During the calendar year 2024, 1.7 billion passenger journeys were taken in Great Britain. This was a growth of 9% on the previous year. This information is shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11: Total rail passengers transported by European Country, 2023 and 2024

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Statistics on passenger rail usage in Northern Ireland for the calendar year 2024 have not yet been published. Between April 2023 and March 2024 13.8 million passenger journeys by rail were taken in Northern Ireland, a 7% increase on the previous 12 months. More details can be found at聽聽published by the Department for Infrastructure.

Contextual information of train operators

The following is information supplied by train operating companies to accompany our statistical release, which the department has paraphrased to meet government accessibility standards. Any qualitative evidence within this contextual text has not been validated by the department and does not constitute official statistics. Similarly, any views or opinions stated therein are the operator鈥檚 and do not reflect the departmental position. Inclusion of this text does not constitute government endorsement of the evidence or views presented.

Although a feature of this publication since 2021, the information supplied below does not map directly to the statistical content within this release. For this reason, the department intends to remove this information from the Accredited Official Statistics Report from next year. If you would like it to be retained, please share your feedback by contacting rail.stats@dft.gov.uk.

Cross Country

For the June 2024 timetable which covered the counts period for the Autumn 2024 counts submission, the following contextual information should be considered:聽

• A small number of northbound services (Reading/Birmingham 鈥� Newcastle/York) had accelerated paths, including an earlier departure from Birmingham New St (typically xx:28 instead of xx:30).鈥疶his allowed for a shorter journey time to York/Newcastle, with a reduced dwell at Derby.鈥疶he accelerated times allowed a connection to be made between York and Newcastle into services that departed Birmingham New St 24 minutes earlier at xx:03.聽

• Associated with the above, Birmingham New Street to Nottingham departures were retimed to depart Birmingham New Street earlier (typically xx:09 instead of xx:19), to free a path for the accelerated services.聽

• A Resilience Timetable was operated between 10th August 2024 and 9th November 2024, where several services were not run, to accommodate crew shortages.

Greater Anglia

Greater Anglia has continued to monitor demand and travel patterns throughout 2024 and 2025. Strong Leisure demand continues at weekends while weekdays continue to grow with Monday peak demand now more comparable to Midweek, although Friday peaks remain quieter.鈥疍emand was noticeably stronger in late 2024 and this has continued into early 2025.聽

Greater Anglia report that the resolution of the industrial action in 2024 appears to have improved overall confidence in rail travel.鈥疐rom late April 2025, several weekday commuter services have been enhanced with increased capacity, ahead of further weekend service changes scheduled for the May 2025 timetable update. Train services are also routinely strengthened during periods of engineering work on nearby routes or when major sporting events are taking place.聽

Further improvements to West Anglia services are planned for December 2025, aligned with a broader timetable revision on the East Coast Main Line (ECML). Further enhancements to rural services are scheduled for 2026鈥�27.

London North Eastern Railway

The majority of LNER鈥檚 services are comprised of the Azuma fleet.聽 Year-on-year, both Leisure and Business travel have seen an increase in journeys, with Leisure experiencing the larger rise.聽 Anglo Scots services saw a higher year-on-year uplift in journeys, due to their higher proportion of Leisure travel.聽 Almost every weekend during the Autumn 2024 count period was impacted by engineering, resulting in reduced timetables and increased journey times.

Northern

During this Autumn season, Northern saw a greater number of cancellations due to lower number of conductors making themselves available on Sundays, weather events and a higher sickness absence. These impacted Northern鈥檚 ability to run the service their customers deserve. At the end of December, Northern introduced an amended timetable for Sundays that provided greater reliability for customers moving into 2025.

South Western Railway

While commuter demand is roughly two-thirds of pre-pandemic levels, the concentration of the peak on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays can lead to high demand on specific services. This is particularly evident at the London end of some long-distance services, which often provide the fastest non-stop route to Waterloo from locations such as Woking. SWR has been continually monitoring demand to redeploy its fleet to strengthen capacity where it is most needed. The phased rollout of its new fleet of 90 Arterio trains has commenced, which will considerably strengthen capacity on the suburban network and free up units to strengthen other services.

Southeastern

Since the compilation of the 2024 Autumn passenger counts, Southeastern introduced 44 additional weekday Metro services as part of the December 2024 timetable update.鈥疶he May 2025 timetable brought further enhancements, including the deployment of additional Class 377 Electrostar trains. These newer units replaced older rolling stock on the Maidstone East route, enabling longer trains on some of the busiest services and increasing capacity. The changes also included additional services for stations between Ashford and Maidstone East to Charing Cross.

West Midlands Trains

West Midlands Trains鈥� passenger count data for Autumn 2024 were compiled using a combination of scheduled manual surveys and data from Automatic Passenger Counting (APC) systems. APC equipment was primarily installed on the newly introduced Class 730 trains and selected Class 350 Desiro units.聽

For services with APC data, the largest representative sample鈥攅xcluding known holiday periods鈥攚as used to ensure the counts reflect typical weekday demand during the survey window.聽

Manual surveys, mainly covering regional services at Birmingham stations, were conducted on dates chosen to represent typical Autumn 2024 demand. No known service disruptions occurred on these dates. However, as with all manual counts, results are subject to natural day-to-day variation.

Transport for Wales

Transition to new fleet: Over the past year, with Welsh Government investment, Transport for Wales (TfW) has significantly expanded the deployment of new trains, increasing capacity across most routes. This includes the introduction of 5-car Class 197 services to and from Manchester, as well as additional and longer Mark IV services. However, capacity challenges remain on the Shrewsbury鈥揃irmingham corridor due to the withdrawal of some Class 158 units following an operational incident in Autumn 2024. Efforts are ongoing to expand Class 197 operations on this route. As of now, 77% of TfW鈥檚 Wales and Borders fleet consists of new trains.聽

Service Increases: In 2024/25, TfW increased the number of scheduled services at its busiest stations compared to the previous year. Notably, the reinstatement of the hourly Chester鈥揕iverpool service boosted frequencies at Liverpool Lime Street. In June 2024, the launch of the first phase of the South Wales Metro led to an uplift in Core Valley Lines (CVL) services, enhancing capacity to and from Cardiff Central and Cardiff Queen Street.聽

Punctuality Performance: Wales and Borders services saw a marked improvement in punctuality in 2024/25, with 74.8% of station calls arriving within three minutes of the scheduled time, an increase of 5.6 percentage points year-on-year.聽

Reliability: Service reliability also improved, with cancellations on Wales and Borders routes falling by 0.8 percentage points to 4.4% by year-end. This trend is expected to continue as the new fleet becomes more reliable and fleet availability increases.

Strengths and weaknesses of the data

The statistics on rail passenger demand and crowding are based on counts carried out by train operators of the numbers of passengers using their services, either using automatic counting equipment fitted to trains or manual counts carried out on board trains or at stations. While the statistics should be a reliable guide to the magnitude of passenger numbers at particular locations and at different times of day, a number of factors can affect these statistics.

Passenger numbers on individual train services fluctuate from day to day and may vary across the autumn period. This can have an impact on the aggregate statistics, depending on the sample of days each year on which passengers are counted. This particularly affects cases when counts are based on a small number of services or where services have only been counted a small number of times, as changes from year to year may reflect these fluctuations rather than a genuine trend. For the same reason, small differences in the crowding figures between routes or when comparing different years may not be reflective of typical trends.

Passenger counts can be subject to measurement errors. For example, with manual counts there is a risk of human error leading to incorrect counts, particularly on busy trains. Load-weighing equipment calculates the passenger load by assuming an average weight per passenger, which may not always be representative of the passengers on every train, and all automatic counting equipment can sometimes develop faults.

The statistics are designed to represent a typical weekday during school term time in the autumn and may not be representative of other times of year, or on particular days of the week. They will also not reflect crowding seen on days when there was disruption. The autumn period is used because it is the time of year when commuter demand is generally at its greatest, but this will not necessarily be the case for all operators and on all routes, and crowding may be higher at other times of year or on particular days of the week in some cases.

The basis on which standing allowances for different types of rolling stock are calculated can vary between train operators, usually because of the types of rolling stock in their fleets and the types of passenger services they provide. The method for calculating them has also varied over time. This will have an impact on the聽PiXC聽figures for each operator.

Because some services include a standing allowance in their standard class capacity while longer distance services only include the number of standard class seats, the nature of聽PiXC聽is different in these cases. On services with no standing allowance it represents passengers having to stand for more than 20 minutes, whereas on services with a standing allowance, it represents passengers standing in cramped conditions.

More information about the methodology behind these statistics and factors that affect them can be found in the聽notes and definitions document that accompanies this statistical series.

Tables accompanying this release

Ten tables have been published alongside this release, 3 showing passenger number statistics and 7 showing crowding statistics. The tables are listed below and can be found聽in the accompanying statistical data sets - capacity and overcrowding.

Passenger number statistics tables

Passenger number statistics tables

RAI0201	City centre peak and all day arrivals by rail on a typical autumn weekday, by city: annual from 2010
RAI0202	City centre arrivals and departures by rail on a typical autumn weekday afternoon, by city and time band: annual from 2011
RAI0203	Central London arrivals and departures by rail on a typical autumn weekday afternoon, by terminal and time band: annual from 2011

Crowding statistics tables

RAI0209	Passengers in excess of capacity (PiXC) on a typical autumn weekday by city: annual from 2011
RAI0210	Passengers in excess of capacity (PiXC) on a typical autumn weekday on London and South East train operators鈥� services: annual from 1990
RAI0211	Passengers in excess of capacity (PiXC) on a typical autumn weekday by operator: London and South East train operators: annual from 2000
RAI0212	Peak rail capacity, standard class critical loads and crowding on a typical autumn weekday by city: annual from 2010
RAI0213	Peak crowding on a typical autumn weekday in London by terminal and train operator: annual from 2011
RAI0214	Peak crowding on a typical autumn weekday by city and train operator: annual from 2011
RAI0215	Passengers in excess of capacity (PiXC) on a typical autumn weekday in London by terminal and train operator: annual from 2011

Acknowledgements

The rail statistics team at聽DfT聽would like to say thank you to colleagues in Train Operating Companies who have spent time collecting, processing, and checking data to be used in this statistical publication.

About these statistics

Further details about all the statistics in this report can be found in the聽notes and definitions.

The United Kingdom Statistics Authority聽first designated these statistics as accredited official statistics in 2013, in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and signifying compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. Designation can be broadly interpreted to mean that the statistics:

• meet identified user needs
• are well explained and readily accessible
• are produced according to sound methods
• are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest

Once statistics have been designated as accredited official statistics it is a statutory requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed. The continued designation was confirmed in October 2017, accredited official statistics status of rail passenger numbers and crowding statistics.

Details of ministers and officials who receive pre-release access to these statistics up to 24 hours before release can be found in the聽pre-release access list.

Users and uses of these statistics

These statistics and the underlying passenger counts are used within government and across the rail industry for a wide variety of purposes. Some of the main uses include:

• informing government policy on rail, including decisions on infrastructure, station and rolling stock investment
• in the day to day running of train operating companies, including planning timetables and rolling stock deployment
• understanding and monitoring passenger demand and crowding
• validating models of passenger demand

Get in touch

We are always keen to hear how these statistics are used and would welcome your views on this publication. Comments and queries can be addressed to聽rail.stats@dft.gov.uk.

To hear more about聽DfT聽statistical publications as they are released, follow us on X at聽.

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