Accredited official statistics

Rail passenger numbers and crowding on weekdays in major cities in England and Wales: 2025

Published 28 July 2026

Applies to England and Wales

About this release

This publication presents statistics on rail passenger numbers into and out of major cities in England and Wales on mainline services, excluding services operated by open access operators.

Passenger demand is much higher in Greater London than in other major cities in England and Wales, so additional detail is provided for individual stations in central London.

The publication also presents loadings for the 10 most crowded peak train services in England and Wales during autumn 2025.

Data coverage and limitations

These statistics are based on passenger counts taken on Tuesdays to Thursdays between 16 September and 13 December 2025, and represent travel on a typical autumn weekday.

They cover selected cities and operators, so do not represent all rail journeys and may not reflect travel at other times or under different conditions. Results may also be influenced by factors such as timetable changes, local events or disruption.

Passenger counts reflect conditions on specific count days and may be influenced by factors such as timetable changes, local events or disruption.

More information can be found in the data source and coverage section

Definitions

The following definitions are used throughout this publication: AM peak: Trains arriving into city centres between 07:00 and 09:59.

PM peak: Trains departing from city centres between 16:00 and 18:59.

City centre: 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.

Total standard capacity: The sum of standard class seats and a standing allowance for a service.

Passengers standing: The number of standard class passengers on a service that are in excess of the number of standard class seats at the critical load point. ^{[footnote 1]}

Passengers in excess of capacity (PiXC): The number of standard class passengers on a service that are in excess of the standard class capacity, which may include a ‘standing allowance’, at the critical load point. ^{[footnote 2]}

For more information, see the ‘About these statistics’ section

Headline figures

• On a typical autumn weekday in 2025, there were on average 1,923,600 daily passenger arrivals into major cities in England and Wales. This was an increase of 3% compared with 2024, showing continued recovery in rail demand following the pandemic.
• Whilst demand has increased across both London and major cities outside of London, crowding has decreased overall, an average of 1% (16,800) passengers per day travelled in excess of capacity (PiXC), 0.2 percentage points (pp) lower than in autumn 2024.
• London had the highest number of arrivals, with 1,256,600 daily passengers, over 10 times higher than Birmingham, which was observed to have the second highest number of daily arrivals, at around 116,700.
• 1 in 5 passengers (20%) were standing during the peak hours on a typical autumn weekday in 2025 across all major cities. This rose to 1 in 4 passengers in London.

Rail passenger demand by time of day

The proportion of travel undertaken during peak periods is higher in London than in any other major city.

Overall, there were 1,923,600 daily passenger arrivals across all major cities, a 3% increase in demand compared to 2024.

There were 1,256,600 arrivals into London on a typical autumn weekday in 2025, a 4% increase compared to 2024. Major cities outside of London saw 667,100 all day arrivals, 1% increase compared to 2024.

Figure 1: Passenger arrivals and departures into and out of major cities in England and Wales in 2025 by time of travel

Sources: RAI0202 and RAI0203

Figure 1 shows the number of passengers travelling into and out of major cities in England during peak and off-peak travel times on a typical autumn weekday in 2025.

Passenger demand remains concentrated in peak periods, particularly in the morning. In 2025, of the 1,923,600 daily passenger arrivals into major cities on the typical autumn day,  40% of daily arrivals occurred in the morning peak. Morning peak arrivals increased by 4% compared with 2024.

On a typical autumn weekday in 2025, there were around 718,400 PM peak departures, a growth of 3% compared to 2024. Growth was similar in London and in cities outside London, both at around 3%

Demand patterns differ between London and cities outside of London. In London, journeys are more concentrated in peak times. Around 575,500 (46%) passengers arrived during the AM peak, while 511,000 (41%) departed during the PM peak, reflecting strong two‑way peak flows into and out of the capital.

Rail passenger demand in major cities in England and Wales

London continued to dominate rail demand, with more than ten times the arrivals of other major cities.

On a typical autumn weekday in 2025, London remained the city with the largest number of rail passenger arrivals, with 1,256,600 daily arrivals, more than ten times higher than any other city. Outside of London, the 3 cities in England and Wales with the highest number of daily arrivals were Birmingham (116,700), Reading (106,800), and Manchester (96,000).

Rail passenger demand in major cities, excluding London

Most rail passenger journeys into and out of each city take place outside peak periods, although peak arrivals and departures still account for a substantial share of travel.

The average daily number of rail passengers arriving into major cities outside of London was 667,100 on a typical autumn weekday in 2025. Of these, around 186,000 (28%) travelled during the morning peak, showing a less pronounced peak pattern compared with London.

Figure 2: All day passenger arrivals and departures into and out of major cities in England and Wales on a typical autumn weekday in 2025, excluding London.

Source: RAI0201 

Figure 2 presents two stacked bar charts, one for arrivals and one for departures at major cities outside of London. Each bar illustrates the volume of peak and off-peak rail passengers. Across all cities, most passengers travelled outside peak times, with off-peak travel typically accounting for around two-thirds of journeys.

Passenger volumes were highest in Birmingham, Reading and Manchester. Birmingham recorded the highest volumes for both arrivals (116,700) and departures (118,000), with around one-third of passengers (34%) travelling during peak times. In contrast, smaller cities such as Nottingham and Leicester had lower passenger numbers and lower peak shares. The proportion of peak travel was similar between arrivals and departures within each city.

The increase in average daily arrivals into cities outside of London from a typical autumn weekday in 2024 to 2025 was 9,700 passengers per day (up 1%). The city with the largest passenger increase in absolute terms was Reading, where there was an increase of 3,900 daily arrivals between autumn 2024 and autumn 2025. The city with the greatest percentage increase in rail passenger arrivals was Newcastle which saw an increase of 10% in rail passenger arrivals, following the opening of a new line Northumberland Line. Cardiff saw the largest decline in passenger arrivals with a decrease of 1,800 passengers (5%) against autumn 2024, despite more services running.

Figure 3: Percentage change in average daily passenger arrivals and departures in cities outside of London with the largest proportional changes in travel: typical autumn weekday 2025 compared with autumn 2024

Source: RAI0201 

Figure 3 shows the percentage change in average daily passenger arrivals and departures between autumn 2024 and autumn 2025 for peak and off-peak travel in the three cities outside London with the largest proportional change in travel, as well as the total across all cities. Figures in brackets show the total number of passengers arriving and departing each city in 2025. Peak travel increased most in Newcastle (20%) followed by Liverpool (14%) and Leicester (3%). Off-peak travel also increased in Newcastle (10%), Liverpool (11%) and Leicester (9%).

Rail passenger demand in London

Figure 4: The stations in London where passenger counts were conducted, with the rail lines they serve.

Notes:

1. 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.
2. Passenger numbers are taken from counts conducted on trains at the city centre stations themselves, including standard and first class rail passengers.
3. All services on a ‘typical’ autumn weekday are counted.

Figure 4 shows the 12 London stations included in the passenger counts: Paddington, Marylebone, Euston, St Pancras International, King’s Cross, Old Street (for Moorgate), Liverpool Street, Fenchurch Street, London Bridge, Elephant and Castle (for Blackfriars), Vauxhall (for Waterloo) and Victoria.

On a typical autumn weekday in 2025, there were 1,256,600 daily arrivals into London, alongside a similar volume of daily departures.

A pronounced morning inbound and evening outbound pattern is present in the data, highlighting the continuing importance of commuter travel in London, despite overall demand being more spread across the day than before the pandemic.

Figure 5: Passenger arrivals and departures, by London station: Typical autumn weekday in 2025

Source: RAI0201 

Figure 5 shows two charts on arrivals and departures, containing stacked bars illustrating the volume of peak and off peak arrivals and departures at each London station. Liverpool Street has the highest volumes for both arrivals (291,600) and departures (302,000), 41% of which were during peak times, followed by London Bridge. Fenchurch Street had the greatest proportion of passengers arriving and departing during peak times, 60%.

Figure 6: Comparison of passenger arrivals and departures for London stations with largest proportional change in passenger numbers: on a typical autumn weekday in 2025 compared to Autumn 2024

Source: RAI0201 

Figure 6 shows the percentage change in average daily passenger arrivals and departures between autumn 2024 and autumn 2025 for the three London stations with the largest proportional changes in arrivals and departures, alongside the total across all London stations. Figures in brackets show the total number of passengers arriving and departing each London station in 2025. Peak arrivals increased by 11% at Euston, 6% at London Paddington and 6% at Liverpool Street, compared with a 4% increase across all London stations. Off-peak arrivals increased by 4% at Euston, 7% at London Paddington and by 9% at Liverpool Street, compared with a 3% increase overall. Despite having smaller percentage increases, Liverpool Street recorded the largest increase in passenger numbers, with around 12,900 additional peak passengers and 27,700 additional off-peak passengers.

An additional 49,000 passengers arrived into London city centre on a typical autumn weekday in 2025 than the equivalent figure in autumn 2024, representing an increase of 4%.

Crowding

Capacity

Seating capacity continues to increase year on year from the 2020 low, growing 4% over the last 12 months.

On a typical autumn weekday in 2025, train operators ran services into major cities in England and Wales, including London, with a total daily seating capacity of around 8,742,000 seats, a 4% increase compared with 2024.

Overall capacity increased for both arrivals and departures, reflecting timetable changes and additional services. Seating capacity increased by 5%, across cities outside of London and by 2% for London.

Across cities outside of London, capacity varied considerably. Manchester, Birmingham, and Reading continued to have the highest levels of seating capacity outside of London, reflecting higher levels of demand in these cities.

Within London, London Bridge had the greatest daily seating capacity, accounting for around one-fifth (20%) of all London arrival capacity. Seating capacity at London Bridge increased by 2% compared with autumn 2024. This follows a 5% decrease between autumn 2023 and autumn 2024, when timetable changes reduced the number of trains running on the Greenwich and Sidcup lines.

Figure 7: Total capacity (seating and standing) for peak arrivals and departures: autumn 2022 to 2025

Source: RAI0212 

Figure 7 shows total peak-time capacity (seating and standing) for arrivals and departures in London and cities outside of London between autumn 2022 and 2025. Total standard capacity increased year on year in both London and the cities outside of London, with London rising from around 1,792,000 in 2022 to 1,859,000 in 2025, while total standard capacity in the cities outside of London increased from around 943,000 million to just over 1,082,000 over the same period.

Passengers Standing

A quarter of passengers travelling during peak hours into and out of London were standing.

On a typical autumn weekday in 2025, an average of one in five passengers (313,700) were standing ^{[footnote 1]} during the morning and afternoon peaks in and out of major cities in England and Wales.

Standing occurs across both peaks, but patterns differ by location. In London, around one in four passengers (25%) were standing during peak hours. This remained stable compared to last year. However, in cities outside of London only 5% of passengers travelling during peak time were standing.

 The station within London with the highest proportion of passengers standing during the AM peak was Elephant and Castle (for Blackfriars) with 42%, directly comparable with autumn 2024. The city outside of London with the highest proportion of passengers standing during the AM peak was Birmingham with 13%, 2.2 pp higher than autumn 2024.

Passengers in excess of capacity (PiXC)

Passengers travelling in excess of capacity (PiXC) fell to 1.1%, the first decrease since 2020.

Across both the morning and evening peaks, 1.1% of passengers travelled in excess of capacity^{[footnote 2]}, with 16,800 PiXC passengers recorded on a typical autumn weekday in 2025.

Crowding is driven by both peaks. Higher levels can occur on heavily used services arriving into city centres in the morning, as well as on evening departures when large numbers of passengers leave at similar times. However, most services in both peaks operated below capacity, meaning crowding was concentrated on a relatively small number of routes and services.

The relatively low levels of crowding coincided with increased capacity and changes in travel patterns, including demand being less concentrated in peak periods than before the pandemic.

Figure 8: PiXC across both morning and evening peaks in select major cities with above average PiXC in England and Wales on a typical autumn weekday in 2025, excluding London:

City	2025 PiXC	2024 PiXC
Bristol	1.4%	1.3%
Birmingham	1.1%	2.2%
Sheffield	0.9%	1.6%
Cardiff	0.7%	0.1%
Cities outside of London	0.4%	0.7%

Source: RAI0209

Note: Passengers in excess of capacity (PiXC) are measured at the busiest point on each service and represent passengers travelling above total standard class capacity. Figures are aggregated across all services at each city and expressed as a percentage of total standard class passenger load. Results are based on passenger counts collected on a typical autumn weekday.

Figure 8 shows PiXC across both peak periods for major cities outside of London with above-average crowding. In 2025, Bristol had the highest PiXC in 2025 at 1.4%, followed by Birmingham (1.1%), Sheffield (0.9%) and Cardiff (0.7%). This compares with an average of 0.4% across all cities outside London. Compared with 2024, PiXC decreased in Birmingham and Sheffield but increased slightly in Bristol and Cardiff. PM peak crowding was generally greater in cities outside of London than AM peak crowding.

Crowding varies across the network. Some services experience higher levels of crowding than others, particularly on busy commuter routes into and out of major cities. While overall crowding levels were low, the most heavily loaded peak services operated at over 170% of seating capacity, indicating substantial standing on a small number of services.

Within London, crowding varied by station. Some major stations experienced higher levels of PiXC than others, reflecting differences in demand by route and time of day.

The biggest changes in crowding across both peak periods in London between a typical weekday in autumn 2024 and autumn 2025 were observed at Euston, King’s Cross, Marylebone and Vauxhall (for Waterloo), as shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9: Stations with above average PiXC across both peaks by London station:

Station	2025 PiXC	2024 PiXC
Euston	3.1%	1.7%
King’s Cross	4.2%	3.6%
Marylebone	3.6%	8.8%
Vauxhall (for Waterloo)	4.1%	4.8%
London Average	1.3%	1.4%

Source: RAI0209

King’s Cross had the highest proportion of passengers travelling in excess of capacity across both peaks of the London stations, with PiXC of 4.2% on a typical autumn weekday in autumn 2025. Euston had the largest annual increase in passenger crowding, with PiXC increasing by 1.4 pp when compared to 2024. Marylebone remained above the London average but recorded the largest decrease, with PiXC down by 5.2 pp.

The 10 busiest services in England and Wales

On a typical autumn weekday in autumn 2025, the average overall loading factor for services into major cities in England and Wales was 29%. Across both AM and PM peaks, the average overall load factor rose to 53%.

Table 1 below presents the 10 peak hours services in England and Wales with the highest overall load factor.

These 10 services are not representative of the average train service in autumn 2025.

Table 1: The 10 rail services in England and Wales with the highest load factor

Train operating company	Service description	Point of greatest load	Time at point of greatest load	Overall load factor at busiest point
Govia Thameslink (Thameslink)	Bedford to Three Bridges	St Pancras International	08:09	176%
West Midlands	London Euston to Crewe	Euston	17:46	170%
TfW	Bridgend to Rhymney	Llanishen	16:45	161%
South Western	Alton to London Waterloo	Vauxhall (for Waterloo)	08:22	159%
Govia Thameslink (Thameslink)	Bedford to Three Bridges	St Pancras International	08:24	155%
South Western	Fareham to London Waterloo	Vauxhall (for Waterloo)	08:19	151%
Govia Thameslink (Southern)	Epsom to London Bridge	London Bridge	08:28	150%
South Western	Portsmouth Harbour to London Waterloo	Vauxhall (for Waterloo)	08:27	149%
South Western	London Waterloo to Basingstoke	Vauxhall (for Waterloo)	17:50	147%
West Midlands	London Euston to Birmingham New Street	Euston	17:56	146%

Notes:

1. Overall load factor is calculated as the number of standard class passengers divided by total standard class capacity (including any standing allowance). A standing allowance may apply to journeys of 20 minutes or fewer, depending on rolling stock, but is not included for journeys on long distance services. For services where the journey time is greater than 20 minutes no standing allowance is permitted regardless of rolling stock.
2. Data on individual train services is subject to significantly greater sampling error than averages for stations and cities. In some cases, only one count is available, and on many services, only 3 or 4 counts have been conducted during the count period. As a result, statistics on individual services may not be representative of typical trends, and this list should be referenced alongside the aggregate statistics.

Rail utilisation

Crowding is concentrated in London and on specific peak services, while much of the wider network continues to operate with spare capacity even during the busiest periods.

Seating Load Factor, compares the number of passengers on a service with the number of seats available. A value of 100% means all seats were occupied, while values above 100% indicate that passengers were standing.

An alternative measure of service load is  overall load factor, which takes into account both the seating and standing capacity of the service.

On a typical autumn weekday in 2025, most services into and out of major cities in England and Wales operate with spare capacity. Almost two in three services (65%) operated with more than half of their seat capacity unoccupied. When both seating and standing space are considered, around four in five services (83%) were run with more than half of their total passenger capacity available. While this shows that, overall, there is considerable unused capacity across the network, it highlights the challenge of balancing efficiency with passenger experience.

Around one in three services exceed seating capacity at peak times, but only 5% exceed total capacity.

Peak-time utilisation presents a different picture to all day utilisation. During peak travel periods, almost half of the services (49%) were operating at over 80% seating capacity. Around one in three services (32%) were carrying passengers in excess of seating capacity, meaning passengers were standing.

A minority of services (15%) had over 200% seat utilisation into London during the morning peak, meaning at least twice as many passengers as seats. These services were largely on rolling stock specially designed to allow passengers to comfortably stand for relatively short journeys, such as the Class 700s operated by Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) and Class 345s operated by the Elizabeth Line.

In contrast, only 5% exceed total capacity. This indicates that while standing is common at peak times, more severe overcrowding remains relatively limited.

Utilisation varies by city, with spare capacity more common on services in cities outside of London.

Crowding is particularly concentrated on services to and from London. During peak periods, more than half (53%) of services arriving at or departing from London exceed seating capacity, and 8% exceed total capacity. Crowding is much lower in major cities outside of London, where on average only 14% of services exceed seating capacity and 3% exceed total capacity.

Average utilisation differs by city. During peak hours on a typical autumn weekday in 2025, seating utilisation averaged 122% on services arriving at and departing from London, compared with 63% on services arriving at and departing from cities outside London. When standing capacity is included, overall utilisation was on average 65% in London and 41% elsewhere.

Figure 10: Average utilisation rate (load factor) for rail services on a typical autumn weekday 2025 during peak periods

Source: RAI0216

Figure 10 shows the distribution of overall load factors during peak periods for three distinct service groups: services arriving at or departing from London (excluding long-distance services), long-distance services, and services operating within major cities outside London (excluding long-distance services). These groups do not overlap. The long-distance group consists of services operated by CrossCountry, Avanti West Coast and LNER. Overall load factor measures the number of passengers relative to the total standard capacity of a service, defined as the number of available seats and the standing allowance for the service.

Figure 10 shows that a small number of regional services (156 services) had very low utilisation, with 10% or less of total capacity used during peak periods. In some cases, these were positioning services timetabled to move rolling stock and staff into place ahead of busier services.

Figure 10 also shows that services operating above total capacity were relatively uncommon overall. Long-distance services were most likely to exceed total capacity, with 13% recording utilisation above 100%. This compared with 8% of services arriving at or departing from Central London, while fewer than 1% of regional services arriving at or departing from major cities outside London exceeded total capacity.

Rail passenger demand and crowding over time

The number of rail passenger arrivals and departures from major cities on the typical autumn weekday in 2025 was higher than in any other year on record.

An average of 3.9 million passengers were recorded travelling into and out of city centres by rail, 3% higher than the 3.8 million in autumn 2024 and 6% higher than the 3.7 million seen in autumn 2019. Excluding the Elizabeth Line, there were 3.3 million passengers in 2025, an 11% fall compared to Autumn 2019.

Figure 11 shows longer‑term trends in rail demand across Great Britain passenger journey data, providing context for these results.

Figure 11: Passenger journeys (million), Great Britain, annual data, April 1984 to March 2025, showing both including and excluding the Elizabeth Line

Source: Office of Rail and Road Data Portal, Table 1220

Note: The Elizabeth Line became fully operational in May 2022, and a considerable number of journeys transferred from London Underground (which is not included in these statistics). That is, these are not new or additional journeys. Excluding journeys on the Elizabeth Line provides a more meaningful like-for-like comparison of rail demand prior to the pandemic

Figure 11 presents a line chart depicting rail passenger journeys in Great Britain from April 1984 to March 2025, and the contribution of the Elizabeth line from May 2022. There were 1,829 million passenger journeys in 2025/26, up 6% from the previous year and is above pre‑pandemic levels. However, excluding the Elizabeth line provides a more comparable measure over time. On this basis, journeys totalled 1,572 million in 2025-26, which remains 7% lower than in 2019-20.

Rail travel is less concentrated in the traditional peak periods than before the pandemic 

 

Travel patterns have changed since the years preceding the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2020, the proportion of passengers travelling during the peak has decreased, whilst an increasing proportion of travel occurred during off-peak periods.

Figure 12: Proportion of passengers travelling peak and off-peak from 2016 to 2025

Source: RAI0201

Figure 12 shows the proportion of passengers travelling during peak and off-peak periods between 2016 and 2025, separately for London and cities outside London. The dotted lines indicate breaks in the time series. The 2017 break reflects the inclusion of Brighton, Cambridge and Reading in the analysis. The 2022 break reflects the opening of the Elizabeth line. Demand patterns differ between London and cities outside London, with peak travel remaining below pre-pandemic levels in both areas. In London, the proportion of passengers travelling during peak periods fell from 51% in 2019 to 43% in 2025, an 8 percentage point decrease. In cities outside London, the proportion travelling during peak periods fell from 32% to 29% over the same period, a decrease of 3 pp. This suggests a larger shift away from traditional peak-time commuting in London than in cities outside London. The proportions of passengers travelling at peak and off-peak times, both in London and in cities outside London, has largely stabilised since 2023, albeit there is a very slight trend back towards the pre-covid proportions.

Crowding on the railway has declined despite greater passenger numbers.

Figure 13: Passengers in excess of capacity across both AM and PM peaks for London and all cities: autumn 2011 to 2025

Source: RAI0209

Figure 13 shows PiXC ^{[footnote 2]} across both peaks for London individually and all cities combined for 2011 to 2025. The dotted lines indicate breaks in the time series. The 2017 break reflects the inclusion of Brighton, Cambridge and Reading in the analysis. The 2022 break reflects the opening of the Elizabeth line. PiXC initially fell from 2011 to 2012, then grew to peak crowding in 2016 of 4.5% (in London) and 3.8% (across all cities), before declining to 0% in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Crowding then slowly grew to a peak of 1.4% (in London, 1.3% all cities) in 2024, before falling for the first time since 2020 to 1.3% (in London).

The relatively low levels of crowding since 2020 coincides with a combination of increased capacity and changes in travel patterns, including demand being less concentrated in peak periods than before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rail passenger journeys in the UK

This section provides context on overall rail demand across Great Britain and the UK. Unlike the rest of this publication, which focused on selected stations and cities, these figures cover the full rail network.

Great Britain

A total of 1,812 million journeys were made by rail passengers in Great Britain in 2025. This is a 6% increase on the 1,704 million journeys in the previous year 2024.

Source: Passenger rail usage, ORR Data Portal

This is higher than the 3% increase in passengers travelling into and out of city centres on a typical autumn weekday between 2024 and 2025, as shown elsewhere in this publication. The two measures are calculated differently and cover different journeys, so they are not directly comparable, however, they both show an overall increase.

Scotland

The majority of rail services in Scotland are operated by ScotRail on behalf of the Scottish Government. In 2025 89.6 million passenger journeys took place on ScotRail, an increase of 6% compared to the previous year. This is in line with the average increase for non-ScotRail operators, where rail usage increased by 6% from 1,620 million passenger journeys in 2024 to 1,723 million in 2025.

Source: Passenger rail usage, ORR Data Portal

Rail passenger count statistics are not available for ScotRail trains, as the question of how best to count and report passenger numbers on specific trains is currently under review by the operator. For information on these statistics, please contact transtat@transport.gov.scot.

Northern Ireland

Statistics on passenger rail usage in Northern Ireland for the calendar year 2025 have not been published. Between April 2024 and March 2025 13.3 million passenger journeys took place by rail in Northern Ireland, a decrease of 3.8% when compared with the previous year, 2023-24. More details can be found at Public Transport Statistics Northern Ireland published by the Department for Infrastructure.

International comparisons

Direct comparisons should be treated with caution because countries differ in network size, service patterns, ticketing and the way journeys are recorded. Comparable, routinely published international data on crowding (for example, passengers standing or passengers in excess of capacity) is not available.

Figure 14: Rail passenger journeys by European country and percentage change from 2024 to 2025

Source: Eurostat and UK Passenger rail usage, ORR Data Portal

Figure 14 shows total rail passenger journeys for the UK, France, Germany and Italy, comparing 2025 with 2024. These EU countries are included as they have the highest levels of rail use in Europe. The UK saw the largest increase in passenger journeys (up 6%), Germany also increased (up 1%), while France and Italy both saw small decreases (each down 1%).

About these Statistics

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, including:

• informing government policy on rail, including long term strategic planning covering decisions on infrastructure, station and rolling stock investment
• understanding and monitoring passenger demand and crowding
• validating models of passenger demand
• demand assessment and capacity planning

The National Audit Office report ‘Increasing passenger rail capacity’, 2010 recognised that data on passenger numbers informs the evidence base for calibrating and validating forecasting models and recommended that the Department:

• pursue vigorously its efforts to require the rail industry to collect, verify and make available comprehensive data on passenger numbers, and
• compare modelled demand with actual demand from passenger count data and review significant areas of variance

Data source and coverage

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 statistics are based on passenger counts carried out at specific station stops between 16 September and 13 December 2025, and represent travel on a typical autumn weekday. As a result, they do not represent all rail journeys.

Data is collected from DfT operators (DFTO) and DfT franchised train operators at selected major cities across England and Wales. It does not include Open Access operators such as Heathrow Express and Grand Central.

These statistics are designed to represent a typical weekday during school term time in the autumn. They may not reflect travel at other times of year, on other days of the week, or during periods of disruption.

Passenger counts reflect conditions on specific count days and may be influenced by factors such as timetable changes, local events or disruption.

Strengths and limitations 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 they provide a reliable guide to the scale of passenger numbers at particular locations and times of day, a number of factors can affect the figures.

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 may also be subject to measurement error. Manual counts can be affected by human error, 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. 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 PiXC 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 crowded conditions. The method for calculating them has also varied over time. This will have an impact on the PiXC figures for each operator.

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

Background notes

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

The United Kingdom Statistics Authority 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 pre-release access list.

Tables accompanying this release

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

Passenger number statistics tables

RAI0201: City centre peak and all day arrivals and departures by rail on a typical autumn weekday, by city (ODS, 71.5 KB)

RAI0202: City centre arrivals and departures by rail on a typical autumn weekday, by city and time band, annual from 2011 (ODS, 219 KB)

RAI0203: Central London arrivals and departures by rail in on a typical autumn weekday, by station and time band (ODS, 191 KB)

Crowding (PiXC) by city and for London and South East operators

RAI0209: Passengers in excess of capacity (PiXC) on a typical autumn weekday by city, annual from 2011 (ODS, 28.1 KB)

RAI0210: Passengers in excess of capacity (PiXC) on a typical autumn weekday on London and South East train operators’ services: annual from 1990 (ODS, 9.14 KB)

RAI0211: Passengers in excess of capacity (PiXC) on a typical autumn weekday by operator, annual from 2000 (ODS, 22.9 KB)

Capacity, train loading, passengers standing and crowding (PiXC) by city and central London station

RAI0212: Peak rail capacity, standard class critical loads and crowding on a typical autumn weekday by city, annual from 2010 (ODS, 140 KB)

RAI0213: Peak rail capacity, standard class critical loads and crowding on a typical autumn weekday in London by station, annual from 2011 (ODS, 156 KB)

Crowding (PiXC) for train operators, by city and central London station

RAI0214: Peak crowding on a typical autumn weekday by city and train operator (ODS, 96.6 KB)

RAI0215: Peak crowding on a typical autumn weekday in London by station and train operator, annual from 2011 (ODS, 60 KB)

RAI0216: Utilisation rate on a typical autumn weekday during peak times (ODS, 8.95 KB)

Acknowledgements

The rail statistics team at DfT 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.

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1. For each service, the number of passengers standing is calculated as the difference between the standard class critical load and the number of standard class seats. The critical load point is the location where the passenger load on a service is highest on arrival at (AM peak) or on departure from (PM peak) a city. For each train operator the number of passengers standing are aggregated for all services at each city and are expressed as a percentage of the total standard class critical load. ↩ ↩²

2. The number of passengers in excess of capacity (PiXC) is the difference between the standard class passenger load and the standard class capacity (or zero if the number of passengers is lower than the capacity). The total number of PiXC are aggregated for all services at each city and are expressed as a percentage of the total standard class load. ↩ ↩² ↩³