How busy have your trains been?

[Bikeman78]

I did the following itinerary over two days last week, and these are my observations:
Day 1
06:22 Newcastle - Edinburgh. 5 car 801, fewer than 20 passengers on the entire train, all of whom apart from myself were in standard class. Pre pandemic this service carried enough passengers from Dunbar to fill standard class on a 9 car HST.
09:28 Edinburgh - Montrose. 4 car HST, roughly 75% of seats in standard class taken, didn't see first class.
12:21 Montrose - Dundee. 3 car 170, roughly 75% of seats in standard class taken, didn't see first class.
13:34 Dundee - Leuchars. 3 car 170, roughly 50% of seats in standard class taken, didn't see first class.
(slightly off topic, I did a bus return from Leuchars to St Andrews during this gap, and had both buses to myself)
15:20 Leuchars - Edinburgh. 4 car HST, roughly 90% of seats in standard class taken, didn't see first class.

Worth pointing out that first class is out of use on the HSTs. On 170s anyone can sit in there. Most people don't know this so it's a good place to go on a busy train.

 

[30907]

3 short return trips around Shipley this week - all lightly loaded but 1618 ex Keighley towards Bradford slightly busier with some groups of young people.

 

[Bald Rick]

So reducing services to save money is fine in theory, but could be counter-productive.

It’s not to save money, it’s because there are so many train crew off work due to leave / sickness / self isolation.

Meanwhile, I’ve been out and about this week. Some very busy off peak services in the West Midlands. Thameslink Bedford - London still only about a third of normal peak loadings, and that’s with a quarter of the normal peak service.

 

[Ianno87]

Did Cambridge to Walton-on-Naze and back yesterday.

Cambridge-Ipswich pretty quiet both ways. Reasonable load on arrival at Stowmarket and Ipswich. Loads of people got off an East Suffolk arrival, many connecting onwards towards London.

All Norwich-Liverpool Street trains very well loaded, at least 60% of seats taken.

Walton/Clacton branches looked fairly normal for an off-peak in that part of the world, "steady" trade, if on the quiet side.

Boarding at Colchester on the way back towards Ipswich, felt very "evening peak" with the passengers waiting on the platform.


And today did Cambridge-Stevenage and back. I'd say a "typical" off-peak loading (30-40% or so). LNER at Stevenage very busy.

 

[yorkie]

I took 7 trains today. The busiest was a York to Blackpool service, which for the section I was on was crush loaded in the front two coaches and busy in the rear coach.

The least busy was a Crewe to London Birmingham via Alsager and we were the only people in our coach for the first stop, but I'm sure it will have got much busier later in the journey!

Today seemed a lot more normal for many reasons, including high train load factors, which was good to see.

 

[Watershed]

The least busy was a Crewe to London via Alsager and we were the only people in our coach for the first stop, but I'm sure it will have got much busier later in the journey!

It was actually a Crewe-Birmingham service, which explains why!

The Crewe-London WMT semifasts were quite decently loaded by contrast.

 

[Jamesrob637]

I'm changing from the 06:29 Stoke-Blackpool to the 08:02 Hazel Grove-Blackpool from Monday as I have slightly reduced my working hours.

The Stoke to Blackpool was lightly-loaded all the way from Tuesday 15th of June (first full day in the temp job) until today. May have marginally picked up during the seven weeks, but only marginally at best. Let's see how the Hazel Grove to Blackpool will be from Monday. Both are booked 6-car and, in fairness, are extremely rarely short-formed.

 

[Cletus]

Currently on the 1045 Norwich to Sheringham.
The 1st genuinely, no seats left, full train I’ve been on.

 

[squizzler]

That's great news and illustrates how the step change in East Anglian rail quality precipitated by the Class 755s have pulled in the business.

 

[yorkie]

That's great news and illustrates how the step change in East Anglian rail quality precipitated by the Class 755s have pulled in the business.

Many lines which are popular with leisure passengers are very busy at the moment and I think that's because people want to get out and about and go places and get back to normal. It's good to see.

 

[Killingworth]

Currently on the 1045 Norwich to Sheringham.
The 1st genuinely, no seats left, full train I’ve been on.

Having sampled a 755 to Sheringham only yesterday I'd confirm it was a superbly smooth ride. We were very impressed with the step free platform access, in marked contrast with Northern's new builds of similar age. It would certainly make us more likely to use rail travel if we were occasional travellers.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Went St Albans to Didcot today via KX to catch up with a mate. The fact that there was a steam event at DID was consequential.

Not seen London or the Tube so busy for ages.

GTR full and a little standing , Victoria and Bakerloo lines exceedingly busy. IET out of Padd full on a 10 down and a 9 back.

The heartening thing was the unbelievable mix of people - all sorts from all ages etc , plus dogs , buggies and so on. Masses of case carrying travellers. Heartening to see the trains being so well used.

 

[alex397]

The Margate-London St Pancras High Speed service is certainly a lot busier now which is good to see. But certainly not to former levels, especially with the London commuters. Travelling back on a weekday around 4-6pm used to be chaotic, often having to stand (not even room to sit on the floor) pre-Covid, but I’ve always had two seats to myself on recent journeys during these times of day.

I’ve noticed a lot more day trippers arriving at Canterbury West, especially at weekends.

Off-peak travelling around eastern Kent, well that was pretty dead even pre-Covid, so I haven’t seen much difference there.

 

[Iskra]

I’ve done (/doing) Meadowhall-Barnstaple return today via Worcester Parkway and most trains have been fairly quiet with the exception of XC voyagers around Bristol that have been ridiculously wedged due to engineering works.

 

[PHILIPE]

Usual reports from TFW Twitter today of trains from Swansea and up the Marches and along the North Wales Coast of trains bursting at the seams with passengers sitting on the floor in the vestibules with no air and people not wearing masks. TFW give their usual cut and paste reply which advises passengers to use TFWs Capacity Checker Gimmick tool. TFW say there are new trains on the way giving the impression there will be increased capacity with the jam tomorrow. They don't say that the new trains will not provide increased capacity but will in effect be a case of new trains replacing older ones

 

[yorksrob]

Delightfully busy - like the good old days.

But not so crowded I haven't been able to get my window seat

 

[The Ham]

First time on a train since January and things look reasonable, although still down from "normal"

I was heading from Cornwall to Reading on Tuesday afternoon/evening and whilst I would have expected it to be nearly every seat full/a few standing (it being during the school holidays, but I don't have lots of experience of midweek travel so could be wrong) it was still fairly busy with many pairs of seats full and tables with 3/4 and almost no pairs of seats not used at all.

On that basis is likely that the worse case scenarios of 40% down is unlikely and something more like 10% to 20% down could be what we see next year.

 

[Kite159]

Some busy Southern services yesterday, although didn't help that they were single 313s with a mostly bay seated layout, seems some people are still preferring to stand than sit opposite someone.

Couple busy coaches on pairs of 375s on the Hastings line but the next coach would be lightly loaded, likewise on an Eastbourne service.

 

[Iskra]

I’ve done (/doing) Meadowhall-Barnstaple return today via Worcester Parkway and most trains have been fairly quiet with the exception of XC voyagers around Bristol that have been ridiculously wedged due to engineering works.

Further to this; the most 'normally loaded' trains were the late Northern vomit comets off Sheffield. As much as I'm not a fan of groups of drunk people when sober, it was nice to see things getting back to normal

 

[yorksrob]

Further to this; the most 'normally loaded' trains were the late Northern vomit comets off Sheffield. As much as I'm not a fan of groups of drunk people when sober, it was nice to see things getting back to normal

I always find the late night vom com out of Sheffield to be a lot more refined than the ones out of Leeds !

 

[Bald Rick]

On that basis is likely that the worse case scenarios of 40% down is unlikely and something more like 10% to 20% down could be what we see next year.

One train does not a trend make. Passenger numbers are currently at around 50% of pre covid, and revenue is lower than that.

As has been said elsewhere, the big missing numbers are London commuters. Head to Waterloo, or London Bridge at 0800 one morning to get a feel of passenger numbers in that sector.

 

[Jamesrob637]

One train does not a trend make. Passenger numbers are currently at around 50% of pre covid, and revenue is lower than that.

As has been said elsewhere, the big missing numbers are London commuters. Head to Waterloo, or London Bridge at 0800 one morning to get a feel of passenger numbers in that sector.

Or even Birmingham New Street/Manchester Piccadilly.

 

[Watershed]

Back nearer to pre-Covid loadings on one the 'up' services on Avanti this morning. All (standard) pairs/tables in use, and quite a few standees after Rugby.

 

[The Ham]

One train does not a trend make. Passenger numbers are currently at around 50% of pre covid, and revenue is lower than that.

As has been said elsewhere, the big missing numbers are London commuters. Head to Waterloo, or London Bridge at 0800 one morning to get a feel of passenger numbers in that sector.

Indeed.

And as I've highlighted before there's still loads of business which are still mostly WFH, many of those services are reliant on such staff returning to work at all.

 

[greyman42]

All the services departing York for London this afternoon, appear to be near enough full. It is just as well that they are back to a full Sunday timetable.

 

[Failed Unit]

One train does not a trend make. Passenger numbers are currently at around 50% of pre covid, and revenue is lower than that.

As has been said elsewhere, the big missing numbers are London commuters. Head to Waterloo, or London Bridge at 0800 one morning to get a feel of passenger numbers in that sector.

I would be interesting to see how this is split. The missing commuters will certainly be hitting revenue. However yesterday my train into London from WGC seemed very normal. The regional services seem to be recovering better. But go to WGC (probably most of the southeast) in the rush hours you have long trains with spare seats that previously you would be playing squashed tomatoes on. A 2 car EMR sprinter back to normal is not going to balance an empty 12 car 700 (for which we have a lot of)

 

[Watershed]

I would be interesting to see how this is split. The missing commuters will certainly be hitting revenue. However yesterday my train into London from WGC seemed very normal. The regional services seem to be recovering better. But go to WGC (probably most of the southeast) in the rush hours you have long trains with spare seats that previously you would be playing squashed tomatoes on. A 2 car EMR sprinter back to normal is not going to balance an empty 12 car 700 (for which we have a lot of)

Having lots of leisure passengers can be more of a problem than a boon, inasmuch as you might well expend more on O/T, inserting additional services to accommodate demand, than you gather in extra revenue. Particularly on routes like Welwyn to London, where a Super Off-Peak Day Return (sold on the weekend) is half the price of an Anytime Day Return.

 

[Bald Rick]

I would be interesting to see how this is split.

It is!

 

[Kite159]

SWR not that busy [in my coach] both ways (6 coaches into London, 9 coaches out)
GA Norwich was busy near the rear but I was sat in the 3rd coach and it was lightly loaded. 321s from Chelmsford were busy but emptied out at Colchester [heard a comment from the member of staff at Clacton that he counted 52 passengers off].

745 from Colchester to Stratford was busy, had to ask someone if I could sit down on the seat opposite, but there were seats available next to others. [I saw a Norwich bound 745 at Colchester, standard looked empty near the front but first class looked busy] Although that train might have been more busy due to the previous service getting cancelled [it was one of the Sunday afternoon extras]

 

[Bikeman78]

Usual reports from TFW Twitter today of trains from Swansea and up the Marches and along the North Wales Coast of trains bursting at the seams with passengers sitting on the floor in the vestibules with no air and people not wearing masks. TFW give their usual cut and paste reply which advises passengers to use TFWs Capacity Checker Gimmick tool. TFW say there are new trains on the way giving the impression there will be increased capacity with the jam tomorrow. They don't say that the new trains will not provide increased capacity but will in effect be a case of new trains replacing older ones

Saturday was rammed on the coast. Quite a few four cars out. 1D11 was a six car west of Chester.