Some human behaviours have permanently changed since Covid –hybrid working, the Zoom boom, remote shopping. But one thing has quietly returned to near pre-pandemic levels: train travel.
This resurgence couldn’t be better timed; 2025 marked the 200th anniversary of the modern passenger railway. On 27 September 1825, the world’s first passenger train, hauled by George Stephenson’s Locomotion No.1, carried more than 400 people along the Stockton & Darlington Railway, launching a transport revolution that still shapes how we move today. (A useful pub quiz fact if nothing else!)
With the popularity of the passenger railway creating captive audiences in stations came an early form of out-of-home (OOH) advertising that we would recognise today. In the 1850s, station advertising largely took the form of leased wall space and printed notices – simple, static and functional. Two centuries on, the environment has evolved and stations now accommodate a range of formats, from classic posters through to innovative digital screens, such as Motion@Waterloo – JCDecaux’s 40-metre-wide digital installation in London’s Waterloo station.
The contrast is stark, but the underlying principle is the same: rail stations remain places where large numbers of people spend time, wait, and move through, making them a natural home for OOH advertising.
Quantity and quality
Fast-forward two centuries and rail is once again a central part of everyday life. In 2024-2025 there were 1.7 billion passenger journeys by train in Great Britain. While this is partly boosted by the inclusion of the Elizabeth Line since 2022, the recovery is still clear without it.
Passenger journeys (billion), Great Britain, annual data, April 1984 to March 2025, showing both including and excluding the Elizabeth Line
Source: Rail Trends 2025
The return of rail passengers brings renewed attention to one of OOH’s key environments. Route, the Joint Industry Currency for OOH audiences, currently measures around 11,500 frames across 775 train stations in Great Britain.
In Route data, rail stations are the fourth highest environment for generating impacts; around 1.3bn weekly impacts. Add in a further nearly 42m weekly impacts from train carriages, and rail becomes a significant contributor to total OOH delivery.
But it’s not just about scale. It’s about mindset too.
OOH in stations and on trains reaches people at very different moments in their day. Data from the National Travel Survey 2024 shows an almost 50:50 split between commuting and leisure travel (37% and 36% of rail journeys respectively).
Source: Rail Trends 2025
That means advertisers aren’t just speaking to people rushing to work; they’re also engaging audiences heading off for weekends away, nights out, family visits or holidays. It’s a mix of routine and anticipation and that combination makes rail environments a versatile opportunity for advertisers.
As someone who loves a train journey, I can see the appeal. A coffee, a book, people-watching … trains and stations are full of stories. Where are they going? What are their plans? The Route data can’t tell us that part, but it does tell us something equally insightful: who they are and where they come from.
Rail OOH reaches far beyond the station itself
Most rail journeys are regional – 71% take place within regions – but nearly three in ten (29%) journeys cross regional boundaries (Source: Rail Trends 2025). That movement creates something particularly powerful for OOH: reach that extends well beyond a single city.
Route data shows that advertising in stations doesn’t just reach people in those locations; it reaches people who pass through them, and who may live many miles away.
Take Manchester Piccadilly as an example, this map shows where people live who see any of the 139 Route-measured frames in Manchester Piccadilly train station. The darker the colour, the higher the share of reach from that area. Unsurprisingly, the audience for the frames are most likely to live in Manchester or neighbouring Stockport. However, the catchment area for these frames extends South to Birmingham, North to Blackpool and even as far afield as London, reflecting the fast train connections between these major cities.
The same is true in reverse. Advertising in London Euston reaches audiences living as far North as Liverpool!
Source: Route Research Q4 2025
In other words, station OOH doesn’t just deliver in those localities. It naturally delivers regional and national reach, shaped by the rail network itself. And regionality is just one of the audience criteria covered by Route data, which also includes age, sex, social grade and more.
Looking ahead: investment and opportunity
With Government plans for major rail improvements in northern England, passenger numbers could rise further still in years to come, alongside faster and better connections between towns and cities. If that happens, the catchment areas of rail-based OOH will only continue to expand.
Explore rail (and more) in the latest Route release
If you’d like to explore rail stations, train carriages and other OOH environments in more detail, you can view Route data from the latest release (Q4 2025) via our dashboard here.
