The government has been urged to introduce a long-term rail strategy as new research suggests the number of UK rail passengers could double by 2050.

On behalf of the Railway Industry Association (RIA), consultancy firm Steer found that rail passenger volumes could grow between 37% and 97% by 2050 compared to the pre-pandemic peak. This equates to between 1.6% and 3.0% average growth per annum.

Furthermore, Steer said it was confident that rail demand in the UK will grow beyond today’s network “under any scenario”, regardless of government policy. Rail services and operators will need to accommodate to meet the increased demand.

Almost 1.76 billion rail journeys were taken in 2018/19, which was a record high, despite a minor fall in growth the previous year. However, the pandemic saw passenger numbers plummet to levels not seen on the network since the Victorian era.

In the years since 2020, the numbers of people using the railways has increased considerably, although it’s not up to 2019...