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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 changes in this edition are:
2. Main Points
2.1 The total number of passenger journeys originating in Scotland was 67.5 million in 1999-2000, 2.9 million (4%) more than in the previous year, and about 30% more than 10 years earlier. Following a rise and then a fall in the early 1990's, passenger numbers have increased in every year since 1994-95. There were 64.9 million passenger journeys within Scotland during 1999-2000, and 2.6 million cross-border journeys originating in Scotland. Total passenger revenue from journeys originating in Scotland was £188.4 million for 1999-2000. (Table 8.1)
2.2 The number of cross-border passenger journeys originating outwith Scotland was 2.9 million, 0.2 million (7%) higher than 1998-99. Cross-border passenger journeys originating outwith Scotland have been increasing since 1994-95, when they were around 2.2 million. Passenger revenue in 1999-2000 was £70.3 million. (Table 8.2)
2.3 The total number of passenger journeys on services which were supported by the Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive rose and fell between 1989-90 and 1995-96, remaining between 34 and 38 million per year. However, they have since increased to 43.1 million in 1999-2000, 1.3 million (3%) more than in the previous year. The number of passenger-miles travelled on such services rose by 6% to 432 million in 1999-2000. Passenger receipts increased to £ 48.7 million, an increase of 6% in cash terms and 4% in real terms. (Table 8.3)
2.4 In 1999-00, 6.24 million tonnes of freight was lifted in Scotland, 3% more than the previous year. Of all freight lifted in Scotland, more than half (56%) 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 has 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%). In 1999-2000, coal and other minerals accounted for 4.05 million tonnes (65%) of the freight lifted in Scotland. Dividing the number of tonne-kilometres by the number of tonnes gives an average length of haul of 81 kilometres for traffic remaining in Scotland, 420 kilometres for traffic to other parts of the UK, and 718 kilometres for traffic destined for outwith the UK. (Table 8.4)
2.5 A total of 1.3 million tonnes of freight lifted elsewhere in the UK was delivered in Scotland in 1999-2000, along with 2.7 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 slightly (2%) (Table 8.5)
2.6 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)
2.7 The number of passenger stations has increased from 315 in 1990-91 to 334 in 2000-01. (Table 8.7)
2.8 The local authorities which had the largest numbers of stations located in their areas in 2000 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)
2.9 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 1999-2000, it fell by 1% to 14.4 million. Passenger receipts were almost £10 million, 8% more in cash terms, and 6% more in real terms, than in the previous year. (Table 8.9)
2.10 In 2000/2001 there were 157 train accidents, an increase of 18 (13%) on the previous years total of 139. 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 rose from 25 in 1999-2000 to 27 in 2000-01. (Table 8.10)
2.11 Of the 27 fatalities on the railways in Scotland in 2000-01, 13 were trespassers, 12 were suicides, 1 was a level crossing user and one was a passenger. About two-thirds 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:
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 (British Rail provided the figures for 1989-90 and 1990-91). 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 Tables 8.3 and 8.9 were compiled from information provided by Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive.
4.3 Tables 8.4 and 8.5: the figures for 1996-97 and later years were prepared from information supplied by the rail freight companies.
4.4 Tables 8.6, 8.7 and 8.8 were compiled from information supplied by Railtrack Scotland.
4.5 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 DTLR publication "Transport Statistics Great Britain" and in the Strategic Rail Authority's quarterly "National Rail Trends" bulletin.
5.3 For further information about services supported by Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive, contact John Clark, 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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