Waterloo station reclaims the crown for Britain’s busiest railway station | So Good News

The pandemic-induced wobble in which Waterloo station lost the title of UK’s busiest station to Stratford station has been reversed, although rail traffic is still down to pre-pandemic levels.

During the period April 2021 and March 2022 covered by the annual update from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), Waterloo station saw 41.4 million passenger arrivals and departures, but that is still well below the estimated 86.9 million passengers before the pandemic hit.

Waterloo Station

London Victoria retained its position as the second most used station with 36.8 million entries and exits, while London Bridge remained in third place with 33.3 million.

Stratford (London) dropped to fifth place with 28.2 million, although that is still more than double last year’s estimate of 14 million passengers. It is still far below pre-pandemic levels.

There are eight stations serving the capital in the top 10, joined by Birmingham New Street which remained in eighth place (22.7 million) and Manchester Piccadilly, which moved up from last year’s 18th to this year’s 10th (19.6 million) .

The ten busiest stations in the UK

Highbury and Islington, Clapham Junction, Barking and East Croydon, which are outside London Danger Zone 1, dropped out of the top 10.

Last year there were 24 stations in the UK with more than 10 million entries and exits. This compares with just five stations the year before and 43 stations two years ago.

In Scotland, Glasgow Central remained the most used station with 15.3 million entries and exits, up from 5.3 million last year but down from 32.5 million two years ago. Edinburgh was the second most used station with 13.6 million entries and exits and Glasgow Queen Street was the third most used station (8.5 million).

Across Wales, Cardiff Central remained the busiest station over the past year with 7.5 million entries and exits, up from 2 million last year but down from 12.7 million two years ago.

Newport was second (1.8 million) and Swansea moved up from fourth to third, with 1.5 million.

At the other end of the scale, the station at Heathrow Terminal 4 was the least used station in the UK, with a big fat zero customers – but that’s because it was closed. So of the stations open to passengers, Elton and Orston in Nottinghamshire was the least used open station in the past year, with 40 recorded arrivals and departures.

It will automatically lose that title next year as it will be very popular this year as people want to visit the least used station in the UK and that popularity will lose that title next year to one of the other least used stations in the UK. Great Britain.

It also has the advantage for train geeks of being very close to Nottingham city centre, making it much easier to get to than some of last year’s winners of the least used station title. If you were planning to visit, there is one train a day from Nottingham, leaving at 16:45 and then you have to catch the last 833 bus back.

It might be more fun to guess which of the other least used stations will take the title next year.

The ten quietest stations in the UK

Feras Alshaker, Director of Planning and Performance at the Office of Rail and Road said: “It is encouraging to see passengers returning to rail travel after what was a difficult period for the industry during the pandemic. There is still some way to go for the numbers for station use should return to pre-pandemic levels.”