Which lines have seen the biggest improvements in passenger numbers and service since BR?

Rescars · 15 Jun 2026

The Tattenham Corner branch is significantly busier these days, even though Covid put paid to direct Victoria workings during the rush hour. Modern air conditioned luxury a far cry indeed from BR's sparsley used hourly service of 2 car EPBs.

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Chrius56000 · 15 Jun 2026

Drem–North Berwick – threatened with closure by B.R. in the 1968–1970 period along with all the local stations Edinburgh to Drem inclusive, only just managed to stay open with 4 trains a day, now fully electrified with a Class 385 operated hourly (plus peak–time extras) through service to Edinburgh carrying just over half–a–million passengers a year!

Trainman40083 · 18 Jun 2026

thenorthern said:
As others have said the West Coast Main line, let's not forget until 2008 there was only a 2 hourly service from Euston to Glasgow Central as one train per two hours terminated at Lancaster.

Even the local stations such as Atherstone, Stone and Rugeley Trent Valley now have a much better service than they ever did under British Rail. Although Norton Bridge, Polesworth, Wedgwood and Barleston have lost out. Also while in the first 11 years there were major upgrades to the West Coast Main Line improvements have not really happened much since 2008.

The separation of First North Western and Arriva trains Northern into TransPennine Express and Northern has somewhat lead to improvements with faster and more frequent trains and a TOC that is able to concentrate on express trains from Manchester and a TOC local trains across the north. Although the first franchises awarded in 2004 were badly drawn out in my opinion, as it didn't make sense to have some of the services on the Furness Line and Blackpool Branch line as part of TPE but not others.

I seem to recall at the time, it was said that Branson and his Pendolino fleet had tripled the number of passengers on the WCML , despite it being a building site for many years during the upgrade. Virgin commited to the service, Railtrack wishes they hadn't committed to the infrastructure.

delt1c · 19 Jun 2026

Chrius56000 said:
Drem–North Berwick – threatened with closure by B.R. in the 1968–1970 period along with all the local stations Edinburgh to Drem inclusive, only just managed to stay open with 4 trains a day, now fully electrified with a Class 385 operated hourly (plus peak–time extras) through service to Edinburgh carrying just over half–a–million passengers a year!

Always wondered if the North Berwick service could be joined with the Bathgate / Airdrie service to give a direct service to Glasgow

The exile · 19 Jun 2026

delt1c said:
Always wondered if the North Berwick service could be joined with the Bathgate / Airdrie service to give a direct service to Glasgow

And transfer delays from East Lothian to West Dunbartonshire on a daily basis?! How much demand for travel from Longniddry to Garrowhill?

yorksrob · 19 Jun 2026

The Marshlink seems to have grown a bit since the 80's and 90's when me and my Dad would sometimes have a thumper carriage to ourselves.

I still prefer the varied selection of 205's and 207's that used to turn up before the line got its dedicated fleet of gangwayed units.

Taunton · 19 Jun 2026

yorksrob said:
The Marshlink seems to have grown a bit since the 80's and 90's when me and my Dad would sometimes have a thumper carriage to ourselves.

I still prefer the varied selection of 205's and 207's that used to turn up before the line got its dedicated fleet of gangwayed units.

Reading-based 116 dmus on occasion, too. I think they were properly scheduled at one time, integrated with Reading to Tonbridge services that came on to Ashford to refuel.

It's interesting to consider the reasons for rail usage increases. Someone above mentioned North Berwick, and I recall from Edinburgh in the 1970s that the Saturday afternoon bus was every 15 minutes, half the rail fare, and at busy shopping times like before Christmas duplicate double deckers still had to be run. All those aspects are long gone. Inter-urban bus patronage seems to have taken a real dive.

Further education has changed very much, you either went to a "proper" national university or went to the local college in the town - or got a job and worked up. Now very many are heading each day for their nearby city every day. It's a significant new peak (but then I remember peaks on Saturday at lunchtime, when offices worked just in the morning).

yorksrob · 19 Jun 2026

Taunton said:
Reading-based 116 dmus on occasion, too. I think they were properly scheduled at one time, integrated with Reading to Tonbridge services that came on to Ashford to refuel.

Never got one of those (probably before my time) but I expect I wouldn't have been impressed, compared to the 205's/207's (and the Hastings gauge that was knocking around at the time).

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Jun 2026 ==

Taunton said:
It's interesting to consider the reasons for rail usage increases.

I expect the MacArthur Park retail outlet at Ashford generates some traffic (just remember not to leave your cake outdoors !).

The exile · 19 Jun 2026

Taunton said:
It's interesting to consider the reasons for rail usage increases. Someone above mentioned North Berwick, and I recall from Edinburgh in the 1970s that the Saturday afternoon bus was every 15 minutes, half the rail fare, and at busy shopping times like before Christmas duplicate double deckers still had to be run. All those aspects are long gone. Inter-urban bus patronage seems to have taken a real dive.

Quite apart from the massive increase in traffic congestion, one change is something the bus operators have inflicted on themselves. Prior to deregulation, Eastern Scottish buses were very much limited stop within the city boundary, something which, IIRC, quickly went by the board on deregulation.

wilbers · 19 Jun 2026

deltic said:
Where does this 1m passengers using Settle-Carlise come from?

Passengers set to make 1 million journeys on scenic railway in 150th anniversary year | Northern News

Passengers are expected to make more than 1 million journeys along one of the most scenic railway lines in Europe this year.

media.northernrailway.co.uk

Northern recorded 995,000 passenger journeys on the line which links Leeds, Settle and Carlisle in 2025 – the highest annual total since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Given they are predicting a rise from 2025 to 2026 it looks very safe to assume this years numbers will be 1M+.

Which lines have seen the biggest improvements in passenger numbers and service since BR?

Rescars

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Chrius56000

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Trainman40083

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delt1c

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The exile

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yorksrob

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Taunton

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yorksrob

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The exile

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wilbers

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Passengers set to make 1 million journeys on scenic railway in 150th anniversary year | Northern News