Ghost trains and rollercoasters – a cautious return to rail
THE year began with talk of post-pandemic recovery, but not for long. Passenger numbers dipped again between January and March as the virus continued to limit travel. Even the recovery between April and June was modest: The 182 million journeys made during that period compared favourably with the 35 million journeys made in April-June 2020, but fell far short of the 437 million journeys made in April-June 2019.
The figures for the financial year 2020/21 made sobering reading. Even those operators near the top of the league, such as c2c, London Overground and Merseyrail, recorded less than a third of their 2019/20 passenger carryings. Many saw an even bigger drop. ScotRail, for example, reached only 15% of its 2019/20 carryings, while both Chiltern Railways and CrossCountry fared little better with scores between 16% and 17%.
The open access operators Grand Central, Hull Trains and Heathrow Express were a special case. Receiving no Government support other than through the furlough scheme, Grand Central and Hull Trains each suspended their operations for
