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SCOTTISH TRANSPORT STATISTICS: No 21

Chapter 8 RAIL SERVICES

1. Introduction

1.1 This chapter provides information on rail services, such as the numbers of passenger journeys originating in Scotland, cross border passenger journeys, passenger receipts, 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 Underground.

1.2 The main change in this edition is that Table 8.3, which previously covered only services supported by Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive, has now been expanded to provide some figures for ScotRail passenger services, and for ScotRail services other than those which are supported by SPTE.

2. Main Points

2.1 The total number of passenger journeys originating in Scotland was 65.3 million in 2001-02. This was 2.4 million (4%) fewer than in the previous year, but about 10.5 million (19%) more than 10 years earlier. Following a rise and then a fall in the early 1990's, passenger numbers increased in every year after 1994-95, to 67.5 million in 1999-2000 and 67.7 million in 2000-01. The increase of only 0.2 million in 2000-01 reflects the effects on rail services of the speed restrictions which were imposed following the accident at Hatfield in October 2000 - for example, some journey times took much longer, the Edinburgh/Glasgow daytime frequency was halved for about two months, and some sleeper services did not run for about five months, with consequent effects on patronage. The fall of 2.4 million in 2001-02 reflects 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. (Table 8.1)

2.2 There were 62.7 million passenger journeys within Scotland during 2001-02, and 2.5 million cross-border journeys originating in Scotland. Total passenger revenue from journeys originating in Scotland was £194.6 million for 2001-02. (Table 8.1)

2.3 The number of cross-border passenger journeys originating outwith Scotland in 2001-02 was 2.8 million, the same as in 2000-01. Cross-border passenger journeys originating outwith Scotland had been increasing since 1994-95, when they were around 2.2 million, to 2.9 million in 1999-2000. However, they fell slightly the following year, due to the problems referred to above. Passenger revenue for cross-border passenger journeys originating outwith Scotland was £71.6 million in 2001-02. (Table 8.2)

2.4 In 2001-02, there were 60.7 million passenger journeys on ScotRail services, 2.4 million (4%) fewer than in the previous year, due to the problems referred to above. This fall followed increases in the previous six years, from 49.2 million in 1994-95 to 63.2 million in 2000-01. (Table 8.3)

2.5 The total number of passenger journeys on services which were supported by the Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive rose and fell between 1991-92 and 1995-96, remaining between 34 and 38 million per year. However, they have since increased to 43.1 million in 2000-01, the same as the previous year, but an increase of 8.25 million (24%) since 1991-92. The number of passenger-miles travelled on such services rose by 1% to 437 million in 2000-01. Passenger receipts increased to £ 50.0 million, an increase of 5% in cash terms and 2% in real terms. (Table 8.3)

2.6 In 2000-01, there was a total of 20.1 million passenger journeys on ScotRail services other than those supported by SPTE. (Table 8.3)

2.7 In 2000-01 5.82 million tonnes of freight was lifted in Scotland, 7% less than the previous year, and only about three-fifths of the amount in 1990-91. Of all freight lifted in Scotland, almost half (47%) was delivered elsewhere within the UK and about an eighth (13%) 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). Since 1996-97 the amount of freight lifted in Scotland with a destination in Scotland had been falling, from 3.27 million tonnes in 1996-97 to 1.93 million tonnes in 1999-2000, a fall of 1.3 million tonnes (41%). However, there was an increase in 2000-01 to 2.36 million tonnes, an increase of 22% from the previous year. In 2000-01, coal and other minerals accounted for 3.86 million tonnes (66%) of the freight lifted in Scotland. Dividing the number of tonne-kilometres by the number of tonnes gives an average length of haul of 125 kilometres for traffic remaining in Scotland, 394 kilometres for traffic to other parts of the UK, and 713 kilometres for traffic destined for outwith the UK. (Table 8.4)

2.8 A total of 1.2 million tonnes of freight lifted elsewhere in the UK was delivered in Scotland in 2000-01, along with 3.1 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 12%, from 5.93 million tonnes in 1999-00 to 6.65 million tonnes in 2000-01. (Table 8.5)

2.9 The total route length of the railway network in Scotland has remained at around 2,700 kilometres throughout the past ten years, and the total track length is about 5,500 kilometres. (Table 8.6)

2.10 The number of passenger stations has increased from 315 in 1990-91 to 335 in 2001-02. (Table 8.7)

2.11 The local authorities which had the largest numbers of stations located in their areas in 2001 were Glasgow (59) and Highland (57). Three mainland councils did not have any stations in their areas: Clackmannanshire, Midlothian and Scottish Borders. (Table 8.8)

2.12 On the Glasgow Underground, over the past ten years, the number of passenger journeys has remained between 13.5 million and 14.7 million. In 2000-01, it fell by 2% to 14.4 million. Passenger receipts were almost £10.5 million, 2% more in cash terms, but 1% less in real terms, than in the previous year. (Table 8.9)

2.13 In 2001-02 there were 108 train accidents, a decrease of 43 (28%) on the previous years total of 151. Many of the train accidents were due to vandalism, a national problem for the railways in Great Britain. The number of deaths as a result of railway accidents fell from 27 in 2000-01 to 20 in 2001-02. (Table 8.10)

2.14 Of the 20 fatalities on the railways in Scotland in 2001-02, 9 were trespassers, 6 were suicides, 3 were level crossing users and one was a passenger. About one-third of the deaths occurred within the area of the former Strathclyde region. (Table 8.11)

3. Notes and Definitions

Passenger journeys and associated receipts

3.1 The statistics are based on the sales of tickets. Therefore, a passenger who buys more than one ticket in the course of a journey will be counted more than once. For example, consider someone who travels from A to B, and then on to C. Suppose that he/she buys a single ticket for the journey from A to B, and a separate ticket to go from B to C. Such a person's trip would be counted as two separate passenger journeys, because two tickets were purchased. Similarly, if someone used a Zonecard to travel from a suburban station to a Glasgow terminus and then bought a single to (say) Aberdeen, it would be counted as two passenger journeys.

3.2 The passenger journey figures for post-British Rail years include a further element of double-counting, as a journey involving trains run by more than one operator is counted once for each operator. This contrasts with the results for earlier years, for which a through-ticketed journey was counted once, irrespective of any changes made.

3.3 Because the statistics are based on ticket sales, they do not include journeys made by people without tickets, journeys made by railway staff using special passes, and journeys made by blind people under a free concessionary travel scheme.

3.4 Journeys originating in Scotland, and cross-border journeys: the statistics are compiled on the basis of where the outward journey started. For example, a return ticket between (say) Edinburgh and London, for which the outward journey started in Edinburgh, is counted as two cross-border journeys originating in Scotland. Similarly, a London-Glasgow return ticket, for which the outward journey started in London, is counted as two cross-border journeys originating outwith Scotland. 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)" passenger journey and one "cross-border originating in Scotland" passenger journey.

3.5 Journeys made using season tickets, Zonecards, etc: the numbers of journeys made by holders of season tickets are estimated using the standard factors adopted for the production of National Rail passenger statistics. The number of rail journeys that are made using Zonecards is estimated using information from Strathclyde Passenger Transport's surveys of the journeys made by a sample of holders of different types of Zonecards.

3.6 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;
• Other non-season - e.g. special "promotional" fares, such as "two for the price of one" and combined rail plus "add-on" tickets (see below);
• Season tickets - includes Zonecards.

3.7 Revenue: this includes all ticket revenue and miscellaneous charges associated with passenger travel, such as car park charges. In the case of combined rail plus "add-on" tickets (e.g. for example, 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 are counted in these statistics.

3.8 Concessionary fares: the figures for revenue include payments made by passengers for concessionary fares, but not the additional payments made by local authorities and Strathclyde Passenger 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).

Freight traffic

3.9 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.

3.10 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

3.11 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

4. Sources

4.1 Tables 8.1 and 8.2: the statistics for 1991-92 and later years were supplied by the Association of Train Operating Companies. ATOC produced the numbers of passenger journeys, and the associated revenue, from information held in its CAPRI database, which records the number of tickets, and the associated revenue, for journeys between every pair of railway stations in Great Britain. ATOC also used estimates, which are sent to it by ScotRail, of the numbers of rail journeys made by holders of Strathclyde Passenger Transport's multi-modal Zonecard.

4.2 The figures for ScotRail passenger services in Table 8.3 were provided by the Strategic Rail Authority.

4.3 The SPT figures in Table 8.3, and the figures in Table 8.9, were compiled from information provided by Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive.

4.4 Tables 8.4 and 8.5: the figures for 1996-97 and later years were prepared from information supplied by the rail freight companies.

4.5 Tables 8.6, 8.7 and 8.8 were compiled from information supplied by Railtrack Scotland.

4.6 Table 8.10 and 8.11 were compiled by HM Railway Inspectorate of the Health and Safety Executive.

5. Further Information

5.1 For further information about the statistics provided by the Association of Train Operating Companies, contact Matthew Chivers, ATOC (tel: 0207 904 3168).

5.2 Rail statistics for Great Britain as a whole are available from the annual DfT publication "Transport Statistics Great Britain" and in the Strategic Rail Authority's quarterly "National Rail Trends" bulletin. Information about these, and about the figures for ScotRail passenger services, is available from Paul Gaught of the SRA (tel: 020 7654 6072).

5.3 For further information about services supported by Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive, contact Ron Hunter, SPTE (tel: 0141 333 3152).

5.4 For further information on railway accidents, contact Mr Paul Wilkinson, HM Railway Inspectorate (tel: 0207 717 6521) or e-mail paul.wilkinson@hse.gsi.gov.uk.

5.5 For further information on the statistics supplied by Railtrack Scotland, contact Mr David Boyce (tel: 0141 335 3350).

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