Leeds station remained the busiest station across Yorkshire and the north east with more than 31 million passenger entries and exits in the last year, figures published today by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) reveal.
Sheffield (10,094,758), York (10,089,306), Newcastle (8,815,096) and Huddersfield (4,769, 384) stations made up the remainder of the top five most used stations across the region.
The least used stations was Hensall, in north Yorkshire, with only 170 entries and exits in recorded last year.
The numbers are revealed in the ORR’s estimate of station usage statistics, which officially records the annual total of passenger entries and exits.
Leeds ranked as the 13th busiest station across Great Britain and saw passenger numbers increase by 182,000.
Waterloo station topped the chart for the sixteenth consecutive year despite the decrease in numbers. The decline in usage across Great Britain can be partly attributed to the dramatic fall in passenger numbers towards the end March of this year following the impact of COVID-19.
Britain’s least used station was Berney Arms in Norfolk which recorded 42 entries and exits during the year. Last year’s least used stations Denton and Stanlow & Thornton increased from 46 to 92 and 82 respectively. There were six stations across Great Britain with fewer than 100 entries and exits.
Around Great Britain, Glasgow Central (32.5 million) remained the busiest station in Scotland but saw 331,886 fewer passengers, followed by Edinburgh Waverley (23.1 million). In Wales, Cardiff Central recorded 12.7 million entries and exits, a decrease of 2.0% compared to last year.
Jay Symonds, ORR senior statistical analyst, said:
“Despite the dramatic decline in passenger numbers towards the end of March due to Covid-19, Leeds remains the busiest station across Yorkshire and the north east.
“Nationally, Waterloo remains top but we saw a change in the least used station with Berney Arms taking the spot from Denton and Stanlow & Thornton.
“With numbers staying at historically low levels during 2020, there is no doubt that next year’s figures will look a lot different.”
