This is a list of the busiest railway stations in Great Britain on the National Rail network for the 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020 financial year. The dataset for the year was the last to show typical patterns of mobility prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, with many major stations falling down the ranking the following year. During 2019–20 there were 1,739 million passenger journeys on the network.[1] London Waterloo was the busiest station during the year, marking 16 years at the top of the ranking.
The figures are collected by the Office of Rail and Road, and are estimates based on ticket usage data use of an Origin Destination Matrix, a comprehensive matrix of rail flows between stations throughout Great Britain in the financial year of 2019–20. The data count entries and exits at any station. Only tickets sold for National Rail services are included. As such, London Underground, special tours, local light rail and heritage railway tickets are excluded. Note that the data covers mainland Great Britain and surrounding small islands (such as the Isle of Wight), not the United Kingdom, and so exclude tickets within Northern Ireland and Eurostar. There are various further limits to the data due to the variety of ticketing options available on rail services within the UK; these are outlined in full in the report on the data. Data for 2019–20 was published on 1 December 2020.[2]
Only stations with annual entries and exits above 10 million passengers are shown.
Rank | Railway station | Annual entries/exits (millions) 2019-20 | Annual interchanges (millions) 2019-20 | Location | Main services | Number of platforms | Interchange systems | Image | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | London Waterloo | 86.904 | 6.310 | London | South West Main Line West of England Main Line | [3] | London Underground | ||
2 | London Victoria | 73.559 | 5.756 | London | Brighton Main Line Chatham Main Line | London Underground | |||
3 | London Liverpool Street | 65.985 | 4.351 | London | Great Eastern Main Line West Anglia Main Line | London Underground, London Overground, TfL Rail | |||
4 | London Bridge | 63.095 | 10.678 | London | South Eastern Main Line Brighton Main Line Thameslink | London Underground | |||
5 | Birmingham New Street | 46.511 | 6.994 | Birmingham | West Coast Main Line Cross Country Route | ||||
6 | London Paddington | 44.87 | 2.98 | London | Great Western Main Line South Wales Main Line Reading to Plymouth Line | [4] | London Underground, TfL Rail | ||
7 | London Euston | 44.777 | 4.357 | London | West Coast Main Line | London Underground, London Overground | |||
8 | Stratford | 41.912 | 4.882 | London | Great Eastern Main Line Lea Valley Lines | [5] | London Underground, Docklands Light Railway, London Overground, TfL Rail | ||
9 | 36.040 | 4.777 | London | Midland Main Line Thameslink Eurostar South Eastern High Speed | London Underground | ||||
10 | London King's Cross | 32.532 | 2.412 | London | East Coast Main Line | [6] | London Underground | ||
11 | Glasgow Central | 32.465 | - | Glasgow | West Coast Main Line | Glasgow Subway | |||
12 | Manchester Piccadilly | 32.199 | - | Manchester | West Coast Main Line | Manchester Metrolink | |||
13 | Leeds | 31.021 | - | Leeds | East Coast Main Line Midland Main Line Cross Country Route | ||||
14 | Highbury and Islington | 29.399 | 3.397 | London | North London Line East London LineNorthern City Line | London Underground, London Overground | |||
15 | London Charing Cross | 28.344 | 0.833 | London | South Eastern Main Line | London Underground | |||
16 | Clapham Junction | 28.892 | 26.903 | London | South West Main Line West of England Main Line Brighton Main Line | London Overground | |||
17 | East Croydon | 25.006 | 5.463 | London | Brighton Main Line | Croydon Tramlink | |||
18 | Edinburgh Waverley | 23.088 | 1.792 | Edinburgh | East Coast Main Line | Edinburgh Trams | |||
19 | Canada Water | 24.997 | <0.001 | London | East London Line | London Underground | |||
20 | Gatwick Airport | 21.051 | 1.527 | Gatwick Airport | Brighton Main Line Gatwick Express | ||||
21 | Vauxhall | 19.997 | - | London | South West Main Line | London Underground | |||
22 | London Cannon Street | 18.513 | - | London | South Eastern Main Line | London Underground | |||
23 | London Fenchurch Street | 17.717 | - | London | London, Tilbury & Southend Line | ||||
24 | Brighton | 17.356 | 1.660 | Brighton | Brighton Main Line West Coastway Line | East Coastway Line | |||
25 | Wimbledon | 17.282 | 1.076 | London | South West Main Line | [7] | London Underground, Croydon Tramlink | ||
26 | Reading | 16.753 | - | Reading | Great Western Main Line | ||||
27 | Glasgow Queen Street | 16.686 | - | Glasgow | Glasgow to Edinburgh | Glasgow Subway | |||
28 | Farringdon | 16.497 | 0.399 | London | Thameslink | London Underground | |||
29 | Liverpool Central | 16.455 | 0.649 | Liverpool | Merseyrail services (Wirral and Northern lines) | ||||
30 | Liverpool Lime Street | 16.022 | 1.190 | Liverpool | West Coast Main Line Liverpool to Manchester Lines | ||||
31 | London Marylebone | 15.796 | 0.853 | London | Chiltern Main Line | London Underground | |||
32 | Barking | 13.831 | 0.627 | London | London, Tilbury and Southend line | London Underground | |||
33 | Whitechapel | 13.831 | 0.627 | London | London Overground | London Underground | |||
34 | Blackfriars | 12.993 | 2.932 | London | Thameslink | London Underground | |||
35 | Cardiff Central | 12.671 | 2.033 | Cardiff | South Wales Main Line | ||||
36 | Bristol Temple Meads | 11.619 | 1.632 | Bristol | South Wales Main Line Cross Country Route Wessex Main Line | ||||
37 | Cambridge | 11.600 | 0.627 | Cambridge | West Anglia Main Line | ||||
38 | Richmond | 11.003 | 1.539 | London | London Overground | London Underground | |||
39 | West Ham | 10.181 | - | London | London, Tilbury and Southend line | London Underground | |||
40 | Sheffield | 10.095 | 1.050 | Sheffield | Cross Country Route Midland Main Line | Sheffield Supertram | |||
41 | York | 10.085 | 0.775 | York | Cross Country Route East Coast Main Line | ||||
42 | Waterloo East | 10.075 | 0.863 | London | South Eastern Main Line North Kent Line | London Underground (close by) | |||
43 | Lewisham | 10.005 | 2.564 | London | Mid-Kent Line | Docklands Light Railway |