Busiest station in Britain retains its title for 15th year in a row

Estimates published by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) have revealed that for the 15th consecutive year, Waterloo Station is the busiest station in Britain.

Despite the total numbers of users at Waterloo dipping, partly due to the three-week closure for upgrade work in August 2017, it still accommodated more than twice as many visitors as the top 10 tourist attractions in the UK combined.

Nine of the top 10 stations most used are London stations, with only Birmingham New Street breaking the capital’s dominance and remaining the sixth busiest station overall.

Glasgow Central retains its position as the busiest station in Scotland, ranking 11th in the list, with passengers using it 32.9 million times in 2018, and Cardiff Central was top in Wales with more than 12.9 million entries and exits, making it 33rd overall.

The station with the fewest entries and exits was British Steel Redcar, with only 40 entries and exits in the entire year. Barry Links in Scotland – 2017’s quietest station – more than doubled its entries and exits to 52, making it only the second least used station.

The three new stations which opened in 2017-18 (Cambridge North, Ilkeston and Low Moor), attracted more than 488,000, 252,000 and 133,000 entries and exits respectively.

Around the country, Newcastle was the busiest station in the North East with 8.8 million entries and exits, Manchester Piccadilly was number one in the North West, Cambridge was busiest in the East of England and Bristol Temple Meads came out top in the South West.