News

• Train ticket sales to seaside destinations for bank holiday weekend surpass pre-pandemic levels
• Extra train travellers will boost recovering seaside towns as research shows, on average, leisure passengers spend £116 per trip on shopping, eating out, hotels and other activities
• Train operators providing alerts about busy services, along with effective ventilation and continuing increased cleaning

• Rail industry campaign will raise awareness about what constitutes sexual harassment, encouraging reporting and helping to make sure there is no unsafe space on the railway
• Research shows people don’t realise that behaviours like wolf whistling, leering/staring or deliberately invading personal space are forms of sexual harassment

• Rail industry launches first major national marketing campaign since pandemic to encourage people back to trains 
• Latest figures show leisure journeys recovering quickly – but revenue still half of pre-pandemic levels 
• Campaign will help boost local businesses, with research showing leisure travellers by train spend £107 per trip on average 

• New research shows how train travel will be vital this summer to help local businesses hit hardest by the pandemic
• Research shows people travelling by train for days out and holidays spend on average £107 per trip on shopping, eating out, hotels and other activities
• Retail, hospitality and leisure businesses are concerned about traffic congestion, difficulty receiving deliveries and worse parking if rail passengers switch to cars

The Department for Transport is today (Wednesday 28th of July) unveiling a range of initiatives to remove barriers and improve confidence for disabled people as they return to trains, buses, and taxis after the pandemic. 

• New research reveals that on average Brits skipped four days of annual leave last year due to the pandemic – amounting to over 124 million missed days as a nation, according to new research by the rail industry  
• Approximately half (47%) of working adults in the UK have worked additional hours during the pandemic 
• This work/life balance creep has left Britain at a tipping point, says psychologist Dr. Sarah Vohra, with two in five (40%) of those that have worked longer hours stating they’re experiencing feelings of burn out
• Ahead of restrictions lifting next week, rail advocate and British adventurer Ben Fogle is supporting the rail industry’s ‘Life is back on track campaign’, by highlighting the importance of taking a day off to rediscover Britain by train and offering people the chance to win a year of free rail travel  

In response to the government's publication of the Transport Decarbonisation Plan to decarbonise all modes of domestic transport by 2050, Andy Bagnall, Director General of the Rail Delivery Group, said:

Statement following an announcement by the Prime Minister that restrictions will be eased from Monday 19 July.

• Rail Delivery Group (RDG), on behalf of its freight operator members, is calling on government to introduce policies that will improve infrastructure and connectivity resulting in increased use of rail freight
•  Freight companies say a modal shift from roads to rail will grow the economic and environmental benefits across the UK
• Rail freight already delivers £2.45 billion of economic benefits to the UK and removes the need for 7 million lorry journeys a year

Comment following the Prime Minister's press conference in which he set out plans for the final step of the government's roadmap in England.