The tiny Essex railway station that hardly anyone uses that serves 150 weekly

The crown of quietest railway station in Essex remains with White Notley. Figures recently released by the Office for Rail and Road (ORR) found just 8,128 entries and exits were made at the station – averaging around 156 people a week.

Battlesbridge (19,086), Wrabness (20,006) and Althorne (21,908) all follow Black Notley as the quietest stations in our county. The White Notley station is on the London Liverpool Street to Braintree line and is served with a train in each direction every hour.

London Liverpool Street has overtaken Waterloo as Britain’s busiest train station. A total of 80.4 million entries and exits were made through the station’s turnstiles in the year up to March 2023, according to the latest data from the ORR.

That’s 2.5 times as many journeys compared to a year earlier, when 32.2 million journeys either started or ended there. Paddington had the next highest footfall with 59.2 million entries and exits in the year to March. That’s up from 23.9 million a year earlier.

Waterloo, which was the most used station a year ago, was third in the list with 57.8 million entries and exits. While the station has dropped down the rankings, it has still seen an increase in journeys, up from 41.4 million last year. London Bridge (47.7 million) and London Victoria (45.6 million) complete the top five.

The opening of the new Elizabeth Line in London has had a massive impact on the rankings. Newly opened stations on the line had 78.3 million entries and exits in the year to March 2023. Existing stations on the line’s route saw entries and exits increase by 126.7 million. That’s a combined total of 205.0 million.

Britain’s two busiest stations – Liverpool Street and Paddington – are both on the Elizabeth Line. They were ranked the country’s fourth and fifth busiest last year respectively. They experienced an extra 48.3 million and 35.3 million passengers, the largest increase of any station in the country.

Tottenham Court Road is a new entry on the list, straight in as the seventh busiest in the country, with 34.9 million passengers in the year to March. Bond Street is new in at 19th with 19.4 million passengers. Birmingham New Street was the most popular station outside of London. A total of 30.7 million entries and exits were made at the station.

References

1. ^{^} Police raid Chigwell and Harlow homes after illegal Sky TV packages ‘earned men more than £800,000’ (www.essexlive.news)
2. ^{^} Massive logistics centre passed for former Brentwood green belt (www.essexlive.news)