Statistics Rail Services

Journeys and trends

In table 7.1, passenger journeys on ScotRail services decreased by 1.4% to 96.4 million in the 2019-20 financial year, an increase of 26% since 2008-09.

Journeys stage and distances

In table 7.4, 102 million passenger journeys to/from/within Scotland and England in 2018-19, 90% were solely within Scotland. London, the North West and North East of England were the main origins/destinations of cross-border passenger journeys with around 2-3 million journeys each.

Station

Table 7.7, in 2019-20, Glasgow Central was the busiest national rail station in Scotland, with 32 million passenger journeys. Edinburgh Waverley was used by 23 million passengers, Glasgow Queen Street by 17 million, Paisley Gilmour Street by 4 million, Haymarket by 3.0 million, Partick by 2.9 million, Aberdeen and Stirling by 2.5 million, Charing Cross by 2.2 million, Exhibition Centre Glasgow by 2.0 million and Dundee by 1.9 million. Including those already listed, there were 77 stations for which more than half a million passenger journeys each were recorded in the national ticketing system.

Punctuality and service

Table 7.9, in 2019-20, 88.4% of ScotRail services, 77.1% of London North Eastern Railway, 82.8% of Cross Country, 78.2% of Avanti West Coast and 80.6% of Caledonian Sleeper trains arrived on time. For all GB long-distance operators it was 81.4% and for all GB regional operators it was 84.1%.

Table 7.10, in 2019-20, 94.8% of ScotRail trains arrived within 10 minutes of the scheduled arrival time, 1.6% arrived 20 or more minutes late, and 2.0% were cancelled.

In 2019, 87% of ScotRail passengers were either satisfied or said good when asked their opinion of their overall journey. The equivalent figure was 89% for non-ScotRail passengers whose journeys started in Scotland and 82% for all GB regional operators and 85% for all GB long-distance operators. The table shows ScotRail passengers’ ratings of 13 aspects of service: in 2019, there were 6 for which at least 75% of those surveyed were satisfied, or said good and 5 above 80%.
The Scottish Household Survey also collects data from Scottish households on satisfaction with rail services. In 2019, around 74-89% were satisfied with train services offered, their timeliness, cleanliness and frequency and ability to find out about tickets and routes. There were noticeable differences in those who felt safe on the train during the day and in the evening (day: 95%, evening: 76%). ‘Fares are good value’ had the lowest agreement rate for trains with 48% of respondents doing so. The question will be asked in alternate years from 2019.