More than one billion riders boarded British intercity and commuter trains in the year ended Sept.30, 2003, the highest annual number since 1961, said the Association of Train Operating Companies - ATOC - U.K - Brief Article

Railway Age, Feb, 2004

More than one billion riders boarded British intercity and commuter trains in the year ended Sept.30, 2003,the highest annual number since 1961, said the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC). As reported by International Railway Journal, Railway Age's sister magazine, ATOC also said that passenger-kilometers totaled 40.1 billion during the October-September '03 period, the highest since 1947; and during the last seven years, ridership on the network increased more than 30% and passenger-kilometers were up nearly 40% since '94-95.

/R/ said the increase "is attributed to a mixture of greater prosperity, increased road congestion, and more frequent train services."