Mixed messages in 2019-20 station usage statistics

The Government’s Office of Rail and Road (ORR) publishes annual data on rail passenger numbers.  Albeit some time after the end of the reporting year, the ORR published figures for 2019-20 on 1st December 2020.  The messages for Market Harborough are mixed: a continued trend of modest growth for most of the year, but a drastic fall in March 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic took hold.  To reflect this, the ORR has published two sets of figures for every station on the national network: one for the standard April - March reporting year, and one for March - February, to show the underlying trend before Covid.
Market Harborough's totals were as follows:

• April 2019 – March 2020: Total 898,058 (2018-19 Total 907,770) (Down 1.1%), making Market Harborough the 636th busiest station in Britain (out of 2,567).
• March 2019 – February 2020 Total 937,484 (Up 3.3% on the 907,770 for April 2018 - March 2019).  This pre-Covid growth is encouraging, as the period included the closures in May – June 2019 for the station rebuilding project.

However, passenger numbers have plummeted since the Covid lockdown and remain very low at the time of writing.  It is hoped that the pandemic and its associated restrictions will begin to recede soon and that traffic levels can start to recover.
The usage data for all stations and franchised or equivalent train operators can be found on the ORR website at:  https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/station-usage. 

Not many takers.  An empty carriage on the 10:31 Market Harborough to Nottingham train on 25th August 2020. 
Picture: Steve Jones