17.2.4 National Rail Travel Survey

The National Rail Travel Survey (NRTS) is a survey of passenger trips on the National Rail system. It was designed to fill a gap in our knowledge about who uses the rail network, where, when and for what purposes.

Sources:

All stations in Great Britain have been surveyed on weekdays outside school holiday periods during the period 2000-2005. Data is collected from passengers by self-completion questionnaire, and passenger counts are carried out at the same time to give details of the volume of people using each station. This enables the survey responses to be weighted up to represent all rail passengers. About 430,000 questionnaires were collected in total.

Data Availability:

The following information is available:

• Rail stations used;
• Time of travel;
• Access and egress modes;
• Origin and destination addresses;
• Trip purposes;
• Ticketing information; and
• Demographic information.

Format of the Data:

Data from the National Rail Travel Survey is available as a series of tables and graphs which can be broken down to a regional level.

Accessing Data:

The full results of the NRTS have not yet been published. Provisional output and results from can be accessed via the DfT web site at: http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/statistics/datatablespublications/railways/

Full access to the data set is available for the use of local government for rail planning details. Transport Scotland can provide access to the data.

Other users wishing to gain access to the database will be able to receive non-disclosive subsets of the database, in accordance with confidentiality. Transport Scotland should be contacted for access.

Data use:

The data can be useful for modelling of both multi-modal travel choices and assessing the impact of rail service options and infrastructure schemes across not only Scotland but the whole of Great Britain. It is an important data source for most analysis functions including franchise specification, the bidding process, Route Utilisation Strategies, model updates, scheme assessments, station catchment analysis and provides information required to undertake other policy analysis - for example in respect to social inclusion.

Cost:

Extracts and data from the National Rail Travel Survey obtained from the DfT web page are free. Customised tables, obtainable from Transport Scotland, are also free of charge.

Contacts:

Transport Scotland is the contact for National Rail Travel Survey data in Scotland. For all enquiries email info@transportscotland.gsi.gov.uk