Waterloo continues to top list of Britain’s busiest stations

According to figures released by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), London Waterloo remains Britain’s busiest station with almost 100 million journeys recorded in 2015/16.

London Waterloo station – artist impression (Credit: Network Rail)

London Waterloo has once again topped the list of Britain’s busiest stations with 99.1 million entries and exits recorded during 2015/16. London continues to dominate in the top ten busiest stations. However, Birmingham New Street is the exception, ranking as the country’s seventh busiest station. 

Moreover, figures also reveal a new entry in the top ten ranking with Clapham Junction replacing Charing Cross at number 10.

Overall increase of 5 percent compared to previous year

In Scotland, Glasgow Central remains the busiest station with passengers using the station 30 million times in 2015-16 with Edinburgh in second place at over 20 million. In Wales, the busiest station Cardiff Central saw nearly 13 million journeys.

(Source: ORR)

Approximately 2.9 billion entries and exits were recorded at all rail stations in Great Britain in 2015-16, an increase of 5 percent compared to the previous year. Furthermore, there were 222 million connections made.

Commenting on the figures, Becky Lumlock, route managing director at Network Rail, said: “The new figures released today by the ORR demonstrate the extraordinary growth in the number of people using the railway and underline the need for the national Railway Upgrade Plan and the £800 million investment in the Waterloo & South West Upgrade.”

The £800 million upgrade investment includes rebuilding the former Waterloo International Terminal in order to provide: five additional platforms at Waterloo; longer platforms for longer trains between Waterloo and Reading; new trains between Waterloo and Windsor; and longer trains on London Suburban services.