The Office of Rail and Road have released station usage figures including annual total passenger entries and exits for 2,570 stations across the country for the period April 2021 to March 2022.

London Waterloo station has now regained the top spot as the most used station, however, the number of passenger entries and exits recorded equates to less than half when compared to figures from April 2019 to March 2020.

London Waterloo held the position of the most used station but last year (April 2020 to March 2021) saw Stratford station (London) take the top spot. This year’s results have found the station back in the lead with a massive 41.4 million passenger entries and exits recorded but does fall short of the 86.9 million recorded during the April 2019 to March 2020 period.

Coming in second place is London Victoria station which has held its place with results of 36.8 million entries and exits. Third place saw London Bridge station with 33.3 million entries and exits. Last year’s leader, Stratford station has seen a drop in position down to 5th with 28.2 million.

Eight of the most used stations are in London with Birmingham New Street taking 8th place with 22.7 million and Manchester Piccadilly which has achieved 10th place with 19.6 million, an impressive climb from its position of 18th last year.

The top ten most used stations are as follows:

• 1st – London Waterloo 41,426,042
• 2nd – London Victoria 36,776,338
• 3rd – London Bridge 33,309,348
• 4th – London Liverpool Street 32,165,310
• 5th – Stratford (London) 28,182,238
• 6th – London Paddington 23,870,510
• 7th – London Euston 23,097,606
• 8th – Birmingham New Street 22,682,526
• 9th – London Kings Cross 20,476,492
• 10th – Manchester Piccadilly 19,581,442

Dropping out of the top 10 for the April 2021 to March 2022 period are Highbury and Islington, Clapham Junction, Barking, and East Croydon.

The April 2021 to March 2022 period has seen 24 stations across Great Britain hold figures of over 10 million entries and exits. April 2020 to March 2021 saw only five stations and the period prior to this saw 43 stations achieve more than 10 million entries and exits.

For Scotland, Glasgow Central claimed the top spot as the most used station with 15.3 million entries and exits recorded which is an increase of 10 million when compared to the period previous, however, this amount is down from 32.5 million recorded two years ago.

The second most used station for Scotland was Edinburgh with 13.6 million entries and exits. Third place has seen Glasgow Queen Street with 8.5 million.

Wales saw Cardiff Central hold on to the top spot for the busiest station with the April 2021 to March 2022 seeing 7.5 million entries, which is an increase of 5.5 million when compared to the April 2020 to March 2021 period, however, this is down by 12.7 million if compared to two years previous.

Newport took the second spot for Wales’ busiest station with Swansea climbing from fourth to third with 1.5 million entries and exits recorded.

The least used open station for the April 2021 to March 2022 period was Elton and Orston in Nottinghamshire with just 40 entries and exits recorded, the station was in second place for the lowest used station for two years previous when it saw 68 entries and exits.

The figures revealed that six open stations with less than 100 entries and exits for the April 2021 to March 2022 period are:

• 1st – Elton and Orston, Nottinghamshire (40 entries and exits)
• 2nd – Teesside Airport, Darlington (42)
• 3rd – Stanlow and Thornton, Cheshire (44)
• 4th – Denton, Greater Manchester (50)
• 5th – *Kirton Lindsey, North Lincolnshire (68)
• 6th – Sugar Loaf, Powys (76)

*The weekly service from Kirton Lindsey was suspended from the 1st of April to the 22nd of May 2021 and once again from the 1st of January 2022 to the 31st of March 2022.

Feras Alshaker, Director of Planning and Performance at the Office of Rail and Road said: “It is heartening to see passengers return to travelling by rail following what was a difficult period for the industry during the pandemic. There’s still some way to go in order for station usage figures to return to pre-pandemic levels.

“Once again it is important to thank all those in the rail industry, who continue to work hard to help people travel safely and with confidence.”