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CHAPTER 8 RAIL SERVICES

1. Introduction

1.1 This chapter provides information on rail services, such as the numbers of passenger journeys of various types, passenger receipts, punctuality and passenger satisfaction, the amount of freight lifted by origin, destination and commodity, lines open for traffic, number of stations, railway accidents, and some statistics about the Glasgow Subway.

1.2 For simplicity, the Scottish passenger rail franchise is referred to throughout as ScotRail. From 31 March 1997 to 16 October 2004, it was operated by National Express, under the name ScotRail; from 17 October 2004, it has been operated by First Group, under the name First ScotRail.

2. Main Points

Journeys & Trends

2.1 There were 76.7 million rail passenger journeys within Scotland during 2006-07 and 2.8 million cross-border journeys originating in Scotland. Total passenger revenue from journeys originating in Scotland was £248.4 million for 2006-07. ( Table 8.1)

2.2 There were 79.5 million rail passenger journeys originating in Scotland in the 2006-07 financial year. This was around 1.4 million (2%) more than in the previous year, and 22 million (38%) more than 10 years earlier. Following a fall in the early 1990's, passenger numbers increased in every year after 1994-95, to 64.9 million in 1999-2000. However, they then fell by 0.1 million in 2000-01 due to the effects on rail services of the speed restrictions which were imposed following the accident at Hatfield in October 2000 (e.g. the Edinburgh/Glasgow daytime frequency was halved for about two months, and some sleeper services did not run for about five months). There were falls of 0.2 million in 2001-02 and 3.2 million in 2002-03 due to the effects on services of the ScotRail drivers' pay dispute, including some one day strikes and a special timetable (involving a reduction of about a quarter in weekday services) from January to May 2002. Subsequently, patronage recovered, with a 8% rise in the number of rail passenger journeys originating in Scotland in 2003-04 and an increase of 10% to 72.9 million in 2004-05. ( Table H1). ( Table 8.1)

2.3 There were 2.8 million cross-border passenger journeys originating outwith Scotland in 2006-07, 0.2 million more than in 2005-06. Cross-border passenger journeys originating outwith Scotland had been increasing since 1994-95 (2.1 mill), to 2.7 million in 1999-2000. However, they fell slightly in 2000-01 and 2002-03 due to the problems referred to above. Passenger revenue for cross-border passenger journeys originating outwith Scotland was £77.5 million in 2006-07. ( Table 8.2)

Journey Stages & Distances

2.4 In 2007-08, there were an estimated 81.3 million passenger train journey stages on ScotRail services, 4.1 million (5%) more than in the previous year. This is an increase of around 45% since 1997-98 (56.1 million) and the highest level since records of ScotRail passenger numbers began in 1992-93. The effects of the Hatfield and drivers dispute problems (described earlier) led to falls of 4% in 2001-02 and 6% in 2002-03. ( Table 8.3)

2.5 Tables 8.4 to 8.8 show passenger journeys made using national rail tickets excluding journeys for which full information is not held centrally (e.g. SPT Zonecards). In 2006-07, 92% of the 67 million passenger journeys to, from or within Scotland were within Scotland. The North East of England and London were the main origins/destinations of cross-border passenger journeys with 1.3 million and 1.2 million respectively ( Table 8.4).

2.6 In 2006-07 59% of passenger journeys using national rail tickets to Aberdeen involved travelling distances of 100+ kms, 46% of journeys to Edinburgh were between 20 kms and 49.99 kms, and 29% of journeys to Glasgow were between 10 kms and 19.99 kms. ( Table 8.5)

Stations

2.7 In 2006-07, there were 64.1 million passenger journeys, wholly within Scotland, using national rail tickets. About 25 million of these started at a station within Glasgow, 7.9 million started in Edinburgh, 3.4 million in North Lanarkshire, 3.2 million in South Lanarkshire and 2.7 million in Renfrewshire. Of these journeys within Scotland, there were 8.1 million within Glasgow, 2.5 million between Glasgow and North Lanarkshire, 2.4 million between Glasgow and South Lanarkshire, 1.9 million between Edinburgh and Fife, 1.5 million between Glasgow and Renfrewshire, 1.5 million between Edinburgh and Glasgow, 1.4 million between Glasgow and East Dunbartonshire, 1.2 million between Edinburgh and West Lothian, and 1.1 million between Glasgow and West Dunbartonshire. ( Table 8.6)

2.8 In 2006-07, Glasgow Central was the busiest national rail station in Scotland, with 21 million passenger journeys using national rail tickets to or from it. Edinburgh Waverley was used by over 15 million passengers, Glasgow Queen Street by 14 million, Paisley Gilmour Street by 3.2 million, Aberdeen by 2.3 million, Stirling by 1.9 million, Partick and Haymarket by 1.6 million, Charing Cross (Glasgow) and Dundee by 1.5 each, and Ayr by 1.4 million. Including those already listed, there were 55 stations for which more than half a million passenger journeys each were recorded in the national ticketing system. ( Table 8.7)

2.9 Of the stations in Scotland which have opened (or re-opened) since 1970 Exhibition Centre (763,000), Bathgate (651,000), Livingston North (624,000), Argyle Street (617,000), South Gyle (410,000), Dyce (401,000), Anderston (382,000), and Edinburgh Park (368,000) had the largest passengers volumes in 2006-07. . ( Table 8.8)

Punctuality & Service

2.10 In 2007-08 90.6% of ScotRail services and 86.2% of Virgin West Coast of trains arrived on time. 88.2% of Cross Country and 83.6% of National Express East Coast were on time. For all GB long-distance operators it was 86.2% and for all GB regional operators it was 89.6%. ( Table 8.9)

2.11 In 2007-08, 95.9% of ScotRail trains arrived within 10 minutes of the scheduled arrival time, 1.4% arrived 20 or more minutes late, and 1.1% were cancelled. ( Table 8.10)

2.12 The number of passengers in excess of capacity (see paragraphs 3.16 to 3.18) on Edinburgh commuter services across the Forth was 2.0% in 2003. Such information has not been collected since. ( Table 8.11)

2.13 In 2007, 84% of ScotRail passengers were either satisfied or said good when asked their opinion of their overall journey. The equivalent figure was 87% for non-ScotRail passengers whose journeys started in Scotland, 82% for all GB regional operators and 86% for all GB long-distance operators. The table shows ScotRail passengers' ratings of 14 aspects of service: in 2007, there were 12 for which at least 70% of those surveyed were satisfied, or said good. ( Table 8.12)

Rail Freight

2.14 In 2006-07, 13 million tonnes of freight was lifted in Scotland by rail, 9% less than the previous year, but over twice the amount in 1996-97. Of all freight lifted in Scotland, 55% was delivered elsewhere within the UK and about 4% was delivered outwith the UK (because of the way that the statistics are compiled, this figure includes freight for export which was delivered to a port in Britain, as well as Channel Tunnel traffic). The amount of freight lifted in Scotland with a destination in Scotland had increased by 2.03 million tonnes (62%) over the period 1996-97 to 2006-07. In 2006-07, coal and other minerals accounted for 9.9 million tonnes (76%) of the freight lifted in Scotland. Dividing the number of tonne-kilometres by the number of tonnes gives an average length of haul of 130 kilometres for traffic remaining in Scotland, 355 kilometres for traffic to other parts of the UK, and 708 kilometres for traffic destined for outwith the UK. ( Table 8.13)

2.15 A total of 2.06 million tonnes of freight lifted elsewhere in the UK was delivered in Scotland in 2006-07, along with 0.45 million tonnes of freight from outwith the UK (the latter figure includes imported freight which was lifted at ports in England or Wales). The total amount of freight with a destination in Scotland increased by 6%, from 7.35 million tonnes in 2005-06 to 7.82 million tonnes in 2006-07. ( Table 8.14)

Railway Network

2.16 The total route length of the railway network in Scotland is 2,736 kilometres, of which 639 kilometres is electrified. These figures do not represent the total length of railway track: a kilometre of single-track and a kilometre of double-track both count as one kilometre of route length. ( Table 8.15)

2.17 The number of passenger stations has increased from 333 in 1997-98 to 345 in 2007-08, an increase on the previous year (344). ( Table 8.16)

2.18 The local authorities which had the largest numbers of stations located in their areas in 2007 were Glasgow (60) and Highland (58). Two mainland councils did not have any stations in their areas: Midlothian and Scottish Borders. ( Table 8.17)

Subway

2.19 On the Glasgow Subway, over the past ten years, the number of passenger journeys has fluctuated between about 13.2 million and 14.7 million. In 2007-08, there was an increase of 1.3 million passenger journeys over the previous year to 14.4 million. Passenger receipts (excluding other revenue) were £13.1 million in 2007-08, 6% more in cash terms, and 1% more in real terms, than in the previous year . ( Table 8.18)

Accidents

2.20 The number of train accidents edged up from 46 to 53 in 2007. There has been an increase in the number of collisions with level crossings and other obstructions over the past 3 years from 23 to 32. There was only 1 report of a missile through a cab window. There were 3 deaths due to train accidents. There were 202 injuries occurring on railway premises which was 41% lower than the peak of 342 in 1997/98. ( Table 8.19)

2.21 The total number of fatalities fell from last years 10 year peak of 28 to 21. The majority of these were trespasser/suicide deaths. ( Table 8.20)

3. Notes and Definitions

3.1 All the statistics are based on the sales of tickets, with the rail industry's central ticketing system (formerly called CAPRI - Computer Analysis of Passenger Revenue Information, now replaced and renamed LENNON - Latest Earnings Nationally Networked Over Night) being the source of most of the figures. LENNON holds information on all national rail tickets purchased in Great Britain. They do not include journeys made by people without tickets, by railway staff using special passes, and by blind people under a free concessionary travel scheme. A single ticket is counted as one passenger journey, a return ticket is counted as two passenger journeys (one in each direction), and the number of journeys made by holders of season tickets is estimated from the sales of such tickets, using the standard factors for season tickets of various lengths which are adopted for the production of National Rail passenger statistics. There is multiple counting when a passenger uses more than one ticket to make a journey (e.g. a journey from A to B, and then on to C, using a separate single ticket for each of the journey stages would be counted as two passenger journeys)

3.2 LENNON does not record directly sales of certain products, including:

• some operator-specific tickets;
• some types of promotional fares (such as two for the price of one) and combined rail plus add-on tickets (e.g. covering a journey by rail and admission to an attraction);
• multi-modal travelcard-type tickets, such as the SPT Zonecard

Separate estimates of the total numbers of passenger journeys made using such tickets are added to the database at a later stage (e.g. Zonecard rail journeys are estimated using information from SPT's surveys of a sample of holders of different types of Zonecards).

3.3 Figures for Scotland are produced on three different bases (due to differences in the available information). In ascending order of size, they are:

• passenger journeys using national rail tickets - used for Tables 8.4 to 8.6;
• passenger journeys - used for Tables 8.1 and 8.2;
• ScotRail passenger train journey stages - used for Table 8.3

3.4 Passenger journeys made using national rail tickets: these figures are produced from LENNON information about the numbers of national rail through tickets sold for journeys between particular destinations. A journey from North Berwick to Carlisle made using a through single ticket would be counted as only one passenger journey, even though it involves a change of train (and a change of operator). However, a passenger who purchased separate single tickets for (a) North Berwick to Edinburgh and (b) Edinburgh to Carlisle would be counted as making two passenger journeys using national rail tickets, because two single tickets were sold. Tables 8.4 to 8.6 provide figures on this basis, matching the Regional usage profiles figures in National Rail Trends yearbook: the number of through tickets sold between destinations. (The information presented in Tables 8.4 to 8.6 ignores the effect of the ORCATS allocation process, which is described later.)

3.4 Passenger journeys: these figures are produced by adding together:

• the numbers of passenger journeys made using national rail tickets - produced from LENNON information about national rail ticket sales, as described in the previous paragraph; and
• estimates of the numbers of certain types of passenger journey that are not recorded directly by LENNON, such as those which are made using some types of promotional fares, combined rail plus add-on tickets, and multi-modal travelcard type tickets, such as the SPT Zonecard

3.5 ScotRail passenger train journey stages: these figures are produced from:

• data which have been subject to the ORCATS process (Operational Research Computer Allocation of Tickets to Services). This uses the national rail ticket sales information from LENNON to allocate the revenue from a passenger's ticket to the Train Operating Companies ( TOCs) which provide the services on the route or routes which were used for the passenger's journey. In the ORCATS process, a passenger journey that would involve a change of train is counted against each of the trains that would be used in the course of that journey.
• For example, a journey made using a through single ticket from North Berwick to Carlisle would be counted twice, to reflect the fact that the passenger would use one train from North Berwick to Edinburgh, and then change at Edinburgh to another train to Carlisle. This is done in order that the revenue relating to the ticket can be allocated pro rata to the operators of the different trains used in the course of the journey. This process applies even if the same company operates both (or all) the trains which were used in the course of a journey. Therefore, the figures for ScotRail passenger train journey stages in Table 8.3 represent the numbers of different trains used in the course of journeys on ScotRail services, not the actual numbers of journeys made
• estimates of the numbers of journeys (or parts of journeys) made using tickets (such as Zonecards) whose sales are not recorded directly by LENNON (some of these estimates are added after the allocation process)

The figures in Table 8.3 are on the same basis as the Rail usage and Train Operating Company figures in the National Rail Trends yearbook, although they differ slightly in the way the Zonecard adjustment is made.

3.7 Journeys originating in Scotland, and cross-border journeys: the statistics are compiled on the basis of where each journey starts. For example, someone who used a Zonecard to travel from a suburban station to, say, Glasgow Central, and then bought a single to (say) Manchester, would be counted as making one internal (within Scotland) journey and one cross-border originating in Scotland journey.

3.8 Ticket types: the following are identified:

• Full fare - e.g. first class, standard single and standard open return;
• Reduced fare - e.g. saver, supersaver, cheap day return, special promotional fares, such as two for the price of one and combined rail plus add-on tickets (see below);
• Season tickets - includes Zonecards

3.9 Journeys datasets in LENNON - LENNON contains two datasets - pre-allocation (sales) and post-allocation (earnings). Allocations are created for each ticket group, dependant on sales levels, by ORCATS (Operational Research Computer Allocation of Tickets to Services). These allocations are principally used to apportion journeys between TOCs. ORCATS is a mathematical model, which was introduced in the 1980s, which uses a similar logic to journey planning systems and identifies passenger 'opportunities to travel' from an origin station to a destination station using timetable information. An opportunity to travel may include one or more changes of train and one journey will be generated for each train used during an opportunity to travel. This will result in the number of journeys being inflated by around 5%, compared to the pre-allocation dataset which does not assign journeys between TOCs.

3.10 Revenue: this includes all ticket revenue and miscellaneous charges associated with passenger travel, such as car park charges earned by the Train Operators. In the case of combined rail plus add-on tickets (e.g. a ticket which covers both a journey by rail and admission to an attraction, or a ticket which covers both a journey by rail and a bus, taxi or ferry journey from the destination station), the figures held in the database for revenue from the sales of such tickets do not indicate how much relates to the rail travel. Therefore, all the revenue from the sales of such tickets is counted in these statistics.

3.11 Concessionary fares: the figures for revenue include payments made by passengers for concessionary fares, but not the additional payments made by local authorities and the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport to reimburse the train operator for the difference between the concessionary fare and the normal fare for the journey (because these are not recorded in the database).

3.12 Passenger journeys, using national rail tickets, to and from particular stations: the figures in Tables 8.7 and 8.8 are produced from information about through tickets sold for journeys between different destinations, and are subject to the same points as were made in the earlier paragraph on passenger journeys made using national rail tickets. However, there are differences, because the figures in these tables aim to represent the numbers of people using each individual station (but not counting those who change trains there, unless they buy another ticket: these figures are of entries and exits to/from the national rail system, not counting interchanges). Normally, a single journey between two stations within Scotland will be counted twice (once against the origin station and once against the destination station) and a single journey between Scotland and England will be counted only once (against only the station in Scotland). However, when the contractor working for the Office of Rail Regulation ( ORR) produced the figures, there were two complications, the second of which caused some journeys to be counted less than this:

• in the case of some places with more than one station, it is possible to buy a ticket which allows travel to and from any of the stations at that place. Such tickets are recorded in the database as being to/from a group station (e.g. Glasgow stations) rather than being to/from any particular station (e.g. Central or Queen Street). When the ORR's contractor produced statistics of the numbers of passengers using each station (like those in Table 8.7), it split the numbers of journeys made using tickets which specified origins/destinations as places (e.g. Glasgow) between the relevant stations. This could be based on information about services and passenger numbers for the places concerned, or could simply count them all against the major stations within the group
• it is possible to purchase national rail tickets for travel between a particular station (or place) and an SPT zone in Glasgow - the ticket allows the traveller to use any of the stations in that SPT zone. Such tickets are recorded in the database as being between the specified place and the SPT zone. In such cases, when it produced the station usage statistics, the ORR's contractor counted journeys against origins/destinations outwith Glasgow as described above. However, the contractor did not count origins/destinations which were recorded as SPT zones against any of the Glasgow stations, because it had no basis on which to split the journeys made using such tickets between the stations in the zones. The result is a further underestimation of the number of passengers using Glasgow stations (in addition to the exclusions, mentioned earlier, such as journeys made using SPT Zonecards). As a result, the total of the figures produced on this basis for all the stations in Scotland is about 5% less than the total usage of Scottish stations that one would obtain from Table 8.4 by simply counting each journey within Scotland twice, and each cross-border journey once. ( NB: this complication does not affect the numbers of journeys between council areas shown in Table 8.6, because all SPT zone journey origins and destinations were counted as being within Glasgow)

Station usage figures were produced on this basis for every station in Great Britain, and made available on the ORR Web site, as described in section 5. The ORR station usage data consist of separate estimates of the total numbers of people entering, exiting and interchanging at stations. The station usage information from which Table 8.7 was produced is based on ticket sales covering all National Rail stations throughout England, Scotland and Wales. (It does not include those stations that are owned by London Underground. The ticketing system does not record certain journeys made using TfL bought travelcards, TfL Freedom Passes, staff travel passes and certain other PTE specific products. For example, a large proportion of tickets sold in London are not recorded in the ticketing system, and so will have a significant impact on the London figures in the ORR station usage file.) The calculation of station usage levels uses sales recorded in the railway ticketing system prior to their allocation to individual operators, and so does not take into account any changes of train during the course of a journey. The figures which appear in Table 8.7 are estimates of the numbers of entries and exits, and do not include the estimated numbers of people who change trains at the specified stations (unless they buy another ticket there).

Rail punctuality - Public Performance Measure

3.13 The Public Performance Measure ( PPM) combines punctuality and reliability into a single measure of the performance of individual trains against the planned timetable for the day, which may differ from the published timetable (e.g. due to engineering works, speed restrictions, flooding, etc).

3.14 For long-distance operators (such as GNER, Virgin CrossCountry and Virgin West Coast) the PPM is the percentage of trains arriving within ten minutes of timetable at the final destination; for regional operators (such as ScotRail) the PPM is the percentage arriving within five minutes of timetable. (The definitions differ because, in general, long-distance operators' trains run further than regional operators' trains.) The figures relate to all the services which are provided by the operator, so (for example) the PPM for GNER is an overall measure for all its trains, not just for those which run to, from or within Scotland.

3.15 Trains which complete their journey are measured for punctuality at the final destination. When a train fails to run its entire planned route, calling at all timetabled stations, it is either shown as cancelled (if it runs less than half of its planned mileage) or counted in the 20 or more minutes late band. Therefore, such a train would not be counted as arriving at the final destination within the number of minutes specified in the PPM.

Passengers in excess of capacity

3.16 From 2001 to 2003, the former Strategic Rail Authority monitored overcrowding on Edinburgh commuter services across the Forth Bridge . Passengers in excess of capacity ( PIXC) was calculated for weekday commuter trains which arrived in Edinburgh between 07:00 and 09:59, or which departed between 16:00 and 18:59.

3.17 PIXC was calculated as the number of passengers travelling in excess of capacity on all of the specified services divided by the total number of passengers travelling on those services, and expressed as a percentage. For journeys of more than 20 minutes, capacity was deemed to be the number of standard class seats on the train; for journeys of 20 minutes or less, there was also an allowance for standing room (which varies with the type of rolling stock - e.g. for modern sliding door stock, it was typically of the order of 35% of the number of seats).

3.18 The SRA set limits on the level of PIXC at 4.5% on one peak, and 3.0% across both peaks. However, there is no requirement to monitor passengers in excess of capacity under the current Scottish passenger rail franchise, which applies from 17 October 2004 (the date when First Group took over the operation of the ScotRail franchise) - and therefore such information is no longer collected.

Rail passenger satisfaction: National Passenger Survey

3.19 Passengers' ratings of their train journeys are shown in three groups: those which are regarded as generic; those which relate to the station; and those which relate to the journey.

3.20 The table shows the percentages who said that they were satisfied / very satisfied with each factor, or who rated it as good / very good. The difference between the percentage shown for a factor and 100% is made up of both

(a) those who said that they were dissatisfied / very dissatisfied, or who rated it poor / very poor; and

(b) those who said that they were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, or who rated it neither good / very good nor poor / very poor.

3.21 A passenger who changes trains in the course of a journey is asked for his/her views of the first station and the first train that was used in the journey. In all analyses, such a person's answers are counted against the operator of the first train.

3.22 ScotRail is classified as a regional operator by the Office of Rail Regulation, therefore results for ScotRail should be compared with those for all GB regional operators that appear in the table. 'Others whose journey started in Scotland' is made up of long distance routes and these results should be compared with all GB long distance operators.

Freight traffic

3.23 Freight traffic: the figures for 1996-97 onwards were prepared from information supplied by the rail freight companies. The numbers of tonne-kilometres in those years relate to the whole distance that the freight is carried on the companies' trains, not just to that part of the journey which is within Scotland.

3.24 Origins and destinations of freight traffic: three points should be noted about the figures which have been provided by the rail companies for 1996-97 onwards:

(i) lifted within Scotland includes freight from abroad which arrives at a Scottish port (eg Hunterston) and is lifted from there by rail;

(ii) lifted outwith UK includes freight from abroad which was imported via ports in England and Wales (eg Teesside) and was then brought from there into Scotland by rail;

(iii) lifted within Scotland, delivered outwith UK includes freight which is delivered to a Scottish port (eg Leith) or to an English port (eg Southampton) for export

It follows that the figures in the tables for freight lifted or delivered outwith the UK cover much more than just rail traffic which goes through the Channel Tunnel.

There are no statistics available for freight lifted or delivered outwith UK in the years prior to 1996-97. In the figures that were produced for those years, traffic delivered by rail to ports for export was counted on the basis of the location of the port, and so was counted under either Scotland or elsewhere in the UK. Similarly, freight which was imported, and picked up by rail at a port, was counted on the basis of the location of the port. However, the figures that were produced for those years excluded any international freight traffic through the Channel Tunnel (for which freight services commenced in June 1994).

Other statistics

3.25 Railway Accidents: the statistics are of railway incidents statutorily reported under The Reporting of Incidents, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 ( RIDDOR). These regulations came into force on the 1 April 1996 and brought railway accident reporting in line with other industry accident reporting. The fatalities are classified by the former Region because those are the areas which are shown in the Rail Atlas which HM Railway Inspectorate uses to identify the locations of the fatalities. Due to an EU safety directive which came into force in 2006, railway accident statistics in table 8.19 and 8.20 have been changed from a financial year basis to a calendar year basis with effect from 2003.

4. Sources

4.1 Tables 8.1, 8.2, 8.3 (ScotRail figures) and 8.4 to 8.8 were supplied by the Office of Rail Regulation, which produced the numbers of passenger journeys, and the associated revenue, from information held in the LENNON database. This records the number of tickets, and the associated revenue, for journeys between every pair of railway stations in Great Britain, and other information, such as estimates (which are sent to it by ScotRail) of the numbers of rail journeys which were made by holders of SPT's multi-modal Zonecard - for further details, please see the notes and definitions in Section 3. As indicated earlier, the ORR provided revised figures for 2003-04 and earlier years for Tables 8.1, 8.2 and H1. Some of the other tables include figures for 2003-04 and earlier years which appeared in previous editions, having been supplied by the former Strategic Rail Authority, which derived them in a similar way.

4.2 The SPT figures in Table 8.18, were compiled from information provided by the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport.

4.3 The rail punctuality (Public Performance Measure) figures in Table 8.9 and 8.10 were provided by the ORR. The punctuality of trains is generally recorded using automated monitoring systems, which log performance using the signalling equipment.

4.4 The Passengers in Excess of Capacity figures in Table 8.11 were provided by the former Strategic Rail Authority, based on the train operating company's annual Autumn count of passengers in excess of capacity.

4.5 The rail passenger satisfaction survey figures in Table 8.12 were provided by Passenger Focus. The survey is conducted by distributing self-completion questionnaires, with reply-paid envelopes, at about 620 stations across GB, which are selected to be representative of the entire network, including about 46 stations in Scotland. The questionnaires are distributed at different times of the day and across different days of the week. There are two survey periods per year: Spring and Autumn. The overall response rate is about 37%. The data are weighted to represent the passengers using each operator's services, in terms of the proportions of sales of tickets of different types, with the aim of reflecting the balance between journeys for different purposes, such as commuting, business travel and leisure. Passenger Focus publishes the results of the Spring and Autumn surveys separately, but has combined them for publication here, in order to provide annual figures.

4.6 Tables 8.13 and 8.14: the figures for 1996-97 and later years were prepared from information supplied by the rail freight companies.

4.7 Tables 8.15, 8.16 and 8.17 were compiled from information supplied by Network Rail.

4.8 Table 8.19 and 8.20 were compiled by HM Railway Inspectorate of the Health and Safety Executive.

5. Further Information

5.1 Rail statistics for Great Britain are available from the annual DfT publication Transport Statistics Great Britain and from the Office of Rail Regulation's quarterly National Rail Trends. The fourth quarter edition of National Rail Trends also includes figures for individual Train Operating Companies and for Scotland, Wales and the regions of England. Figures for the 100 busiest stations are available on the ORR Web site www.rail-reg.gov.uk - tel: 020 7282 2192/2196 or rstats@orr.gsi.gov.uk.

5.2 Passenger satisfaction figures from the National Passenger Survey - contact David Greeno of Passenger Focus (tel: 0870 336 6037).

5.3 Services supported and/or operated by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (icnlduing Glasgow Subway) - Ron Hunter of SPT(tel: 0141 333 3297).

5.4 Rilway accidents - Paul Wilkinson, HM Railway Inspectorate (tel: 0207 717 6521) email paul.wilkinson@hse.gsi.gov.uk.

5.5 Network Rail statistics - contact David Boyce (tel: 0141 555 4107).

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