In the year ending March 2007, the passenger receipts of the UK market for rail travel amounted to £7.37bn, an increase of 11.4% compared with turnover of £6.61bn in the previous year. This was largely due to a 12.1% rise in the turnover of the national rail sector, although urban rail services also reported healthy growth (of 9%) over the same period, while Northern Ireland Railways' turnover increased by 21.5%.

The UK passenger rail sector is defined to include the services provided on the national rail system by the infrastructure provider, Network Rail, and the train operating companies (TOCs) under franchise, concession and open-access arrangements, as well as the services provided by Northern Ireland Railways. It also includes services offered by urban rail systems, including London Underground and other metro and light rail operators, and the international services provided by Eurostar and the Eurotunnel Passenger Shuttle. The activities of preserved railways — which are regarded more as tourist attractions than transport operations — are not covered in this Market Report. The UK rail travel market is also analysed in terms of journey purposes, including journeys to work and trips made for business, shopping, leisure or other reasons.

Since 2003, there has been a significant recovery in demand for rail travel. Economic growth and increasing road congestion have facilitated this development; however, the increase in passenger receipts is largely attributable to fare rises, which were considerably higher than the rate of increase in the retail price index (RPI). The urban rail sector is dominated by the largest UK urban railway operator, the London Underground, which, although it has a far higher annual turnover than any single TOC, has not been growing as rapidly as other operators. Across the sector as a whole, revenues have been growing at a faster rate than travel demand — measured by the number of journeys and passenger kilometres (pkms) travelled.

In terms of legislation and the activities of the regulatory authorities, the public sector has exerted a major influence on the financial performance of the rail travel industry and in the perception of the travelling public. In 2007, significant changes were made to the allocation of franchises to the TOCs, in line with the Government's aim to reduce the number of franchises and to create a closer match between these franchises and Network Rail's route structure. New franchises were created, including East Midlands Trains, London Midland, London Overground, National Express East Coast and CrossCountry, following the earlier steps towards the implementation of this policy that were taken in April 2006, with the creation of the Capital Connect and Greater Western franchises.

Despite some signs of a slowdown in the UK economy growth rate, the macro-economic environment is generally favourable to the continued growth of the UK rail passenger market. Travel on urban railways and international services is predicted to grow more slowly than travel on the national network, with capacity constraints limiting growth on the London Underground, and international services continuing to be affected by competition from short-haul sea ferry operators and low-cost airlines.

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