How many people use the railways?

The Office of Rail and Road publishes rail passenger journeys quarterly, train punctuality and cancellations every four weeks, and estimates of usage at every station each year. All of it is on the ORR data portal.

Punctuality measures changed in 2019, so the "Public Performance Measure" and the newer "on time" measure cannot be compared directly.

Official sources: ORR data portal

The latest figure

The newest value is at Office of Rail and Road (ORR). More on it: Rail passenger journeys (Great Britain).

When is the next figure out?

Quarterly on the ORR data portal, about three months after the quarter ends; April to June 2026 was published on 1 October 2026 and the next release is 17 December 2026. Data tables are downloadable from the portal (ODS/CSV); file links change each release

Every official release due in the next two weeks is on the release calendar.

Terms used in this answer

• Great Britain and the United Kingdom
  Great Britain is England, Scotland and Wales. The United Kingdom is Great Britain plus Northern Ireland. Some statistics cover only one or the other.
• Financial year
  The UK government's accounting year, running from 1 April to 31 March. Written as 2025-26 or FYE March 2026. The tax year runs 6 April to 5 April.
• Administrative data
  Information collected by organisations while running a service, such as tax records, benefit claims or hospital activity, and then used to produce statistics.
• Year-on-year change
  The change between a figure for one period and the same period twelve months earlier, such as March this year compared with March last year.
• Real terms
  A figure adjusted to remove the effect of inflation, so amounts from different years can be compared by what they would buy rather than their face value.

Where the figures come from

• Department for Transport statistics and Office of Rail and Road official rail statistics
  How to find and use official DfT data on road traffic, casualties, vehicles and buses, and ORR rail data on journeys, punctuality and stations.

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This answer says where the official figures are published and how they are defined. It gives no verdict on any claim. To report an error, send a correction request. More questions about energy, transport and emissions: all Energy, transport and emissions questions.