New research reveals numbers going through Falkirk's stations in 2020

Pressure group, Railfuture, said the impact of current travel restrictions is causing a “temporary blip” in the growth of railway usage.

Office of Road and Rail data shows an estimated 3.4 million passengers using Falkirk's five stations in 2019-20.

That's 21,616 fewer than the previous year, a fall of 0.6%.

The data also revealed the busiest, and quietest, stations in the area.

The busiest was Falkirk High with 896,000 entries and exits by passengers, followed by Larbert, 890,000 and Polmont, 745,000.

The least used station was Camelon with passenger usage at 163,000. It was followed by Falkirk Grahamston, 709,000.

Across Scotland, usage of railway stations decreased by 4.7 million to 189.3 million in 2019-20, while across Britain it fell 1.1% to 3 billion.

The ORR has put the national reduction in journeys down to a “dramatic drop” in passengers in March due to Covid-19 restrictions, with lockdown introduced on March 23.

But Railfuture, an independent organisation with 20,000 members, is hopeful the railway system will recover.

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Bruce Williamson, spokesman for the group, had reason to be optimistic in 2021.

He said: “I am very confident that the railways will bounce back when Covid-19 is over.

“We can’t ignore the fact the world has changed and people working from home may stay put – but I still feel for the most part, things will return to normal.

“Considering the underlying trend of increased rail usage over the past 30 years, we have to look at Covid-19 as a temporary blip.”

In Falkirk there were 21 passenger journeys for every person living in the area in 2019-20 compared to the national rate of 75.

Jay Symonds, ORR senior statistical analyst, said: “The dramatic drop in passenger numbers towards the end of March due to Covid-19 explains much of the drop in usage compared to last year.”

He added: “With numbers staying at historically low levels during 2020, there is no doubt that next year will look a lot different.”