Manchester Piccadilly named third busiest railway station outside London
Manchester Piccadilly railway station has been named as the third busiest station outside of London in latest figures revealed by a rail regulator.
The statistics reveal there were 23.6 million passenger ‘entries and exits’ at Piccadilly in the year to last March. Only Leeds (24m) and Birmingham New Street (30.7m) were busier than Greater Manchester’s biggest railway station.
A station in Greater Manchester, however, has also been named the quietest in the country – with just 34 passengers all year.
The figures, revealed by the Office of Rail and Road, show how rail travel in London eclipses everywhere else in Britain. The ORR said its figures showed London Liverpool Street has now replaced London Waterloo as the most used railway station. The opening of the Elizabeth line was said to be a ‘principal contributing factor’ in the almost 80.4 million entries and exits to Liverpool Street between April 1 last year and the end of March, an increase of around 50 million passengers.
London Paddington was second and Victoria – ranked in second place a year ago – has dropped to the fifth busiest station in London.
Manchester Piccadilly (Image: Manchester Evening News)
Passengers numbers at London Euston, which serves Manchester Piccadilly on the West Coast Main Line, also dropped, according to the figures. With 31.3m entries and exits, it ranked the tenth busiest in Britain, down from seventh place a year ago.
Overall, the statistics show that Manchester Piccadilly is the thirteenth busiest station in the country, busier than Glasgow Central, Edinburgh Waverley and Liverpool Central, which recorded 11.4m passenger entries and exits.
The figures reveal that nationally, rail travel is said to be rising, despite a number of operators being brought under the control of the Government, strike action and cancelled services.
The ORR said its Estimates of Station Usage report says a total of 1,385 million passenger journeys were made during the latest reporting period, an increase of 40 per cent from the 990 million journeys made in the previous year – from April, 2021 to March, 2022.
The statistics, however, also capture the quietest stations in the country, with five open stations with 100 or fewer entries and exits in the latest year.
The least-used station open throughout the whole year was Denton[3] in Greater Manchester, with just 34 recorded entries and exits.
A passenger waits for a train at Denton station (Image: PA)
Serving Tameside[4] on the Stockport[5] to Stalybridge[6] line, just one train a week running one way only calls at the station on Friday mornings, nicknamed the ‘Denton Flyer’.
Reddish[7] South, meanwhile, recorded just 100 entries and exits over the year.
The least used station overall was Teesside Airport which had two entries and exits in the latest year, however the ORR said its once-a-week Sunday service was suspended in May 2022 after the platform was classified as unsafe.
Feras Alshaker, Director of Planning and Performance at the Office of Rail and Road, said: “Our official statistics show how the full opening of the Elizabeth line has changed the way people travel into and across the capital. Waterloo had been the busiest station in Britain for all but one of the previous 18 years.
“The busiest stations outside of London remain more stable with Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester leading the list.
“These statistics offer insight not only for the public but also for industry and planners, and we have continued to evolve them this year with the inclusion for the first time of data about journeys between stations.”
The top 10 most used stations in Great Britain:
- London Liverpool Street 80.4 million
- London Paddington 59.2m
- London Waterloo 57.8m
- London Bridge 47.7m
- London Victoria 45.6m
- Stratford (London) 44.1m
- Tottenham Court Road 34.9m
- London St Pancras International 33.3m
- Farringdon 31.5m
- London Euston 31.3m
The top 10 most used stations outside London:
- Birmingham New Street 30.7 million
- Leeds 24.0m
- Manchester Piccadilly 23.6m
- Glasgow Central 20.8m
- Edinburgh Waverley 18.2m
- Gatwick Airport 16.5m
- Brighton 14.1m
- Reading 12.4m
- Glasgow Queen Street 12.3m
- Liverpool Central 11.4m
References
- ^ The huge transformation of a Greater Manchester neighbourhood named among the ‘best up-and-coming places to live’ (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
- ^ “FREDO DROPS ALL DAY”: The brothers who ran an infamous south Manchester drug line from their house (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
- ^ Denton (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
- ^ Tameside (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
- ^ Stockport (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
- ^ Stalybridge (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
- ^ Reddish (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)