The growth in rail passenger journeys in Britain has slowed, with 2016-17 showing the smallest increase in seven years according to the sector's regulator.
Latest statistics from the Office of Rail and Road found the number of rail passenger journeys in Great Britain increased by 0.4% compared to 2015-16.
The slow down in growth was largely attributed to a decrease in the number of passenger journeys in London and the South East resulting from a reduction in season ticket journeys and the decrease in passenger journeys for GTR (Govia Thameslink Railway), which runs the Southern service.
The number of journeys increased for all regions, except for Wales with the highest growth recorded for journeys to/from Scotland at an increase of 7.6%.
Journeys within regions decreased by 0.4%. Passenger journeys in London and the South East - which together account for more than 60% of all journeys within regions - decreased by 2.1% and 5.3% respectively.
There were 1,470 million passenger journeys made in Great Britain in 2016-17.
While London had the highest number of total journeys of all the regions at 930.5 a decrease of 0.4%, the North East had the lowest at 15.6 million in 2016-17, an increase of 2.6%.
The highest annual growth was in the West Midlands, up 5.4%, reaching a total number of journeys of 91.5 million.
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