The railway infrastructure owner conducted a survey showing that 73% of people primarily use cars to get around currently, and only 21% of respondents would consider using a train instead of a car to travel to work.

Rail patronage is still yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels but hit 70% of previous usage for the first time since the first lockdown last month. Meanwhile, on 1 November car journeys were at 92% of pre-Covid levels while heavy goods vehicle traffic reached 110%.

Despite reluctance among many respondents to consider commuting by train rather than by car, Network Rail’s survey showed greater enthusiasm for switching mode for leisure purposes.

Two thirds of those polled said they would consider going by rail instead of in the car for a day out with friends or family, and 55% would consider using the train to travel to a big music or sports event.

“Rail is the greenest form of public transport there is,” commented Network Rail’s north west and central region managing director Tim Shoveller. “We want to encourage as many people as possible to make the shift from car to train more regularly, particularly for long distance travel – not just for the planet, but for reliability, comfort and safety.”

Network Rail said incentives such as the introduction of flexible season tickets are helping to attract more people back to rail, but acknowledged that ‘people need further convincing to travel on trains rather than cars’.

(Photograph: Network Rail Air Operations)