2018 was another successful year for the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway, Manx Electric Railway and Snaefell Mountain Railway with increased passenger numbers recorded throughout the year on all lines. Indeed, of those lines operated by Isle of Man Railways the only one to see a reduction in passenger numbers was surprisingly the Isle of Man Steam Railway which has helped to mean the overall increase is only at 0.4%.<\/p>\n
The biggest increase was seen on the Snaefell Mountain Railway \u2013 which considering 2017 had seen a reduced season on account of the suspension of the service following the runaway tram incident isn\u2019t exactly a surprise \u2013 with over 13,000 extra single journeys recorded bringing the total amount to 76,434.<\/p>\n
In its 125th anniversary year the Manx Electric Railway was up to 244,863 journeys (a 7% increase from 2017\u2019s figure of 227,826) whilst the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway continued its upward trend since Isle of Man Railway\u2019s took on the operation with 80,606 journeys \u2013 up by 6,652.<\/p>\n
Although not in the remit of this website the Isle of Man Steam Railway saw a 7% reduction from 121,422 to 113,197.<\/p>\n
In total there were 515,100 single journeys recorded on the island\u2019s heritage railways and tramways. This was 2,253 higher than 2017\u2019s figure of 512,847.<\/p>\n
As we arrive in 2019 it will be interesting to see whether these improved passenger loadings continue especially considering that the Horse Tramway will see limited operation \u2013 both length of season and length of journey \u2013 as a result of the Promenade redevelopment. Also 2018 was a special year for the Manx Electric Railway and it remains to be seen whether visitor numbers are maintained for the next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
2018 was another successful year for the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway, Manx Electric Railway and Snaefell Mountain Railway with increased passenger numbers recorded throughout the year on all lines. Indeed, of those lines operated by Isle of Man Railways the … Continue reading