STATION ESTATE IMPROVES

THEO STEEL reflects on the rising number of passengers using stations and the efforts being made to accommodate them

There are 2,553 stations listed by the Office of Rail and Road in the 2015-16 stations usage statistics, plus Manchester United Football Ground and the Heathrow Airport stations, which are not among those numbered. The busiest is London Waterloo at 99.1 million entries and exits; Waterloo has been top of the UK list by a wide margin for many years. By contrast, the least-used station in the UK this year is Shippea Hill, on the Norwich to Ely line, with its one train a week in each direction!

Waterloo comes in at about number 100 on a worldwide list; 82 of the busiest 100 stations are in Japan, but the list does not include India. Shinjuku station in Tokyo has an annual throughput of over 3.5 billion and Paris Gare du Nord about 180 million (Underground and Paris Metro figures are not included).

Table 1 shows the distribution of UK stations by usage.

Want to read more?

This is a premium article and requires an active subscription.

Existing subscriber? Sign in now

I have a subscription but need to register on site…

You will need your print Customer ID ready to set up an account, you'll find this on your welcome email and cover sheet delivered with each print magazine.

Register now

No subscription?

Pick one of our introductory offers