The line graph illustrates the number of passanger railway journeys mede in Great Britain from 1950 to 2004/05, covering the national rail network and the London Underground, followed by Light rail & metro systems, which started to appear in the early 1960.
From 1955-1970, the national rail network intially soared and hit peak of approximately 1.1 billion passenger journeys in 1957. After that, the figure showed a steady decline, falling to roughly 850 million by 1970. Similarly, the London Underground experienced a gradual fall, decreasing from nearly 700 million to around 650 million journeys. In the early 1960s, light rail and metro systems appeared for the first time, although passenger numbers remained very low at under 50 million.
Between 1970 and 1983, the national rail network fluctuated considerably before hitting the lowest point of approximately 650 million passenger journeys in the early 1980s. Similarly, the London Underground also fluctuated and hit the bottom at around 500 million journeys in 1983. In contrast, light rail and metro systems remained relatively stable at low levels before showing a slight increase after 1980.
After 1983, all three railway systems recovered considerably. The national rail network rose steadily and eventually soared to over 1.1 billion passenger journeys by 2004/05. Similarly, the London Underground experienced a sharp increase after hitting a low point in the early 1980s, climbing to almost 1 billion journeys at the end of the period. Meanwhile, light rail and metro systems showed a gradual but steady increase, rising from under 50 million to around 150 million passenger journeys by 2004/05.