Railways: Passengers

(asked on 30th November 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the forecast of passenger demand growth used in the preparation of the Integrated Rail Plan for (1) local, and (2) long, distance services; and what account have they taken of the changes in demand caused by COVID-19.


Answered by
Baroness Vere of Norbiton Portrait
Baroness Vere of Norbiton
Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
This question was answered on 14th December 2021

The Government’s key assumption is that rail demand will continue to grow but passenger demand over the period between now and 2050 is inevitably uncertain. However, the Government agrees with the NIC that the pandemic is unlikely to put an end to the need to travel between our towns and cities over the longer term. Our adaptive approach towards the core network enables us to respond to any future uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the investments being considered here are long term, and typically take a decade or more to deliver.

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