Research from UK rail operator First Great Western has found that time spent working on First Great Western services contributes an estimated £150million each year to businesses across South West England and London.
On average, British train travellers spend 33.5 minutes working on board every day, with one in ten spending over 45 minutes at work while on board.
The most common work-related tasks completed on trains are checking emails (36 per cent), sending emails (26 per cent), researching (14 per cent), editing documents (8 per cent) and sending files (7 per cent). Interestingly, 38 per cent of people say they can leave work early thanks to working on the train, highlighting the move towards greater work flexibility.
The survey found other activities completed on board are checking social media (60 per cent), reading the news (56 per cent), online shopping (22 per cent) and banking online (19 per cent).
The poll was commissioned to mark the launch of free Wi-Fi on board all of First Great Western’s High Speed Train fleet and Night Riviera Sleeper services.
In 2013, First Great Western pledged to increase Wi-Fi provision as part of its franchise and has since worked with Nomad Digital to rollout the service. Work to install the new services began last year.
Wi-Fi is currently available at a number of FGW stations through the public provider The Cloud.
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