UK's busiest and quietest railway stations revealed - with one seeing only 68 passengers in a year
The UK’s least-used station has been revealed - and sees less than two passengers a week.
Data for the busiest and quietest stations has been released, by the regulator, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR).
At the popular end, London Liverpool Street retained its title of the UK’s busiest railway station. The estimated number of entries and exits at Liverpool Street in the year to the end of March was 98m, the ORR said. That is up 3.7% from 94.5m a year earlier.
London Waterloo was the second busiest station in 2024/25, with 70.4 million entries and exits. It was ranked number four during the previous 12 months. The station was the busiest in the UK for all but one of the 18 years up to and including 2021/22, but lost its title when the Elizabeth line opened.
London Paddington (69.9m entries and exits) and Tottenham Court Road (68.1m entries and exits) were ranked third and fourth respectively.
They are both served by the Elizabeth line, which stretches from Reading in Berkshire and Heathrow Airport in west London to Abbey Wood in south-east London and Shenfield in Essex.
London Bridge secured fifth place, with 54.7 million entries and exits.
The busiest stations in England outside London were Birmingham New Street (36.6m entries and exists), Manchester Piccadilly (27.4m) and Leeds (27.3m).
The leader in Scotland was Glasgow Central (25.3m), while Cardiff Central (12.5m) took top spot in Wales.
A total of 1.73 billion passenger journeys were made in the year to the end of March, up 7% from 1.61 billion in the previous year, the ORR said.
Elton and Orston in Nottinghamshire was the least-used station in 2023/24 with 68 entries and exits. It is served by one East Midlands Railway train per day in each direction between Mondays and Saturdays. One runs to Nottingham, while the other takes passengers towards Skegness.
No trains call at the station on Sundays. The station is unstaffed and has no seating area or toilet.
Railway stations are often kept open despite being rarely used because it is easier to arrange for a train to stop infrequently than obtain permission for closure.
Estimates of entries and exits are largely based on ticket sales.