Latest figures from GWR show the number of passengers using the line from Swindon to Westbury rose by 3.6% percent year on year in September.
This is against a background of industrial action which blighted the service last year and the reliability problems which continue to plague the trains now. Ticket sales show just over 18,000 journeys were made in the month. Although up on last year, the line has still to get back to the levels seen before the pandemic with a 16% shortfall – the biggest deficit in GWR’s Severn & Solent region. By contrast the Severn Beach line and services from Bristol to South Wales are both carrying over a fifth more than they did pre 2020.