Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 11 January 2021 to Question 133116 on Railways: Coronavirus, what assessment he has made of the effect on the number of passengers who travelled by train on Saturday 19 December 2020 of the Government's announcement of Tier 4 on that day.

The Department worked closely with train operators to put in place robust contingency plans in anticipation of an increased number of passengers travelling during the Christmas period, including alternative travel arrangements, passenger communications, regular demand monitoring and plans to protect key services in the event of staff absence.

In the majority of cases, train services did not breach social distancing capacity on Saturday 19 December 2020, as passengers had been advised to reserve tickets in advance and follow the Government’s safer travel guidance. There was crowding for a limited period at a small number of stations in central London in the evening prior to the Tier 4 restrictions coming into force at midnight that night. Station staff were available throughout to help manage passenger movements.

Overall demand over the Christmas period was reduced substantially from anticipated levels following the announcements over changes to tiering and Christmas bubble arrangements. The public were kept informed of travel news through coordinated information from train operating companies, Network Rail and independent train ticket retailers. Overall footfall on 19 December 2020 was 30 per cent of the equivalent day in 2019, and 3 percentage points lower than the same day the previous week.