Tests across four major railway stations and intercity train services have found no traces of coronavirus despite large numbers of commuters returning to public transport in recent months.
Swabs were taken of places that passengers regularly touch including railings, escalator handles, ticket machines and benches, at London Euston, Birmingham New Street, Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Piccadilly stations.
Hour-long air samples were also checked for airborne traces of the virus.
The first round of testing took place in January and the second in June, with tests repeated on trains running between stations. The samples, examined by Imperial College London, showed no contamination of Covid-19 on any surface or airborne particles.
The government dropped the legal requirement for commuters to wear masks on public transport when lockdown restrictions were lifted fully last month, though many travellers are choosing to wear them.
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Official figures from the Department for Transport show a steady rise of public transport use across the country in recent months, with train passengers reaching pre-pandemic levels.
Rob Mole, a senior programme manager for Network Rail’s response to the pandemic, said: “Station-cleaning teams and train staff have made it their mission to keep passengers safe during the pandemic and this is proof their dedicated approach works.
“We want all passengers to travel in confidence on the railway network and we will keep doing our part by rigorously cleaning trains and stations.
“We ask passengers to do their bit, too, by wearing face-coverings while travelling, out of respect for others, so we can all stop the spread of Covid-19.”
David Green, a senior research fellow at Imperial, said: “In the same way that a swab is used to take a Covid-19 test in the nose and throat and sent to the lab, we use a filter to collect any virus particles in the air and swabs to collect viruses on surfaces.
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“This approach provides a way of quantifying the amount of virus circulating in these public environments and the effect of mitigation strategies like cleaning and wearing face coverings.
“This is part of a wider programme of work with the public transport sector to understand where this virus is most prevalent so that we can return to pre-pandemic activities as safely as possible.”
