List of busiest railway stations in Great Britain (2021–22) explained

This is a list of the busiest railway stations in Great Britain on the National Rail network for the 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 financial year. The dataset records patterns of mobility during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, with significantly reduced levels of mobility compared with the 2019–20 data. Extended periods of significantly reduced commuting and long distance travel caused many major stations to drop in the ranking. During 2021–22 there were 990million passenger journeys on the network, compared to 388million in 2020–21 and 1,739 million in 2019–20.^[1] With pandemic restrictions eliminated during the year, passenger levels during 2021–22 were more than double those of the previous year. The busiest station was London Waterloo, replacing Stratford which was top of the ranking the previous year.

Methodology

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 2021–22. The data count entries and exits at any station. 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.^[2] Only tickets sold for National Rail services are included; some stations may also be served by underground metro or urban light rail networks. Stations serving solely the London Underground, light rail, special tours or heritage railways are therefore excluded. The London Overground, TfL Rail and Merseyrail are included in the data. Data for 2021–22 was published on 24 November 2022.

All stations

During 2021–22 there were 24 stations with more than 10million entries and exits, compared to five stations the previous year and 43 in 2019–20.

Rank	Railway station	Annual entries/exits(millions) 2021–22^[3]	Annual entries/exits(millions) 2020–21^[4]	Location	Main services	Number of platforms	Interchange systems	Image
1	London Waterloo	41.426	12.215	London		^[5]	London Underground
2	London Victoria	36.776	13.791	London			London Underground
3	London Bridge	33.309	13.764	London			London Underground
4	London Liverpool Street	32.165	11.212	London		^[6]	London Underground
5	Stratford	28.182	13.985	London		^[7]
6	London Paddington	23.870	6.392	London		^[8]	London Underground
7	London Euston	23.097	6.607	London			London Underground
8	Birmingham New Street	22.682	7.351	Birmingham			West Midlands Metro
9	London King's Cross	20.476	4.668	London	East Coast Main Line	^[9]	London Underground
10	Manchester Piccadilly	19.581	5.188	Manchester	West Coast Main Line		Manchester Metrolink
11	Leeds	19.263	5.854	Leeds
12	London St Pancras International	18.995	6.363	London
13	Highbury & Islington	17.816	8.661	London		^[10]	London Underground
14	Clapham Junction	17.397	8.371	London
15	London Charing Cross	15.733	5.373	London	South Eastern Main Line		London Underground
16	Glasgow Central	15.322	5.325	Glasgow	West Coast Main Line		Glasgow Subway^[11]
17	East Croydon	14.504	6.695	London	Brighton Main Line		Tramlink
18	Canada Water	13.645	5.576	London	London Overground		London Underground
19	Edinburgh Waverley	13.617	2.958	Edinburgh			Edinburgh Trams
20	Vauxhall	11.651	4.987	London	South West Main Line		London Underground
21	Barking	11.232	6.743	London			London Underground
22	Brighton	11.228	4.149	Brighton
23	Liverpool Central	10.747	3.606	Liverpool
24	Liverpool Lime Street	10.464	3.511	Liverpool
25	Wimbledon	9.952	4.433	London	South West Main Line	^[12]
26	Whitechapel	9.273	4.142	London	London Overground		London Underground
27	Reading	8.818	2.963	Reading	Great Western Main Line
28	Glasgow Queen Street	8.467	2.299	Glasgow	Glasgow to Edinburgh line		Glasgow Subway^[13]
29	York	8.091	1.836	York	East Coast Main Line	11
30	London Fenchurch Street	7.795	3.200	London	London, Tilbury and Southend line
31	London Marylebone	7.488	2.035	London	Chiltern Main Line		London Underground
32	Cardiff Central	7.463	1.975	Cardiff	South Wales Main Line	8
33	West Ham	7.450	4.012	London	London, Tilbury and Southend line	^[14]	London UndergroundDocklands Light Railway
34	Sheffield	7.205	1.907	Sheffield	Midland Main Line	9^[15]	Sheffield Supertram
35	Newcastle	7.040	8.815	Newcastle	East Coast Main Line	12	Tyne and Wear Metro
36	London Cannon Street	7.023	2.684	London	South Eastern Main Line		London Underground
37	Cambridge	6.952	2.301	Cambridge	West Anglia Main Line
38	Farringdon	6.865	2.643	London	Thameslink		London Underground
39	Bristol Temple Meads	6.628	2.033	Bristol
40	Richmond	6.423	2.699	London	London Overground		London Underground
41	Romford	6.287	3.133	London		5
42	Tottenham Hale	6.096	2.652	London	West Anglia Main Line	3	London Underground
43	London Blackfriars	5.982	2.100	London	Thameslink		London Underground
44	Gatwick Airport	5.919	1.686	Crawley	Brighton Main Line	7
45	Manchester Victoria	5.820	1.542	Manchester		6	Manchester Metrolink
46	Seven Sisters	5.400	2.359	London	London Overground	2	London Underground
47	Willesden Junction	5.357	2.796	London	London Overground	5	London Underground
48	Lewisham	5.248	2.555	London			Docklands Light Railway
49	Nottingham	5.202	1.417	Nottingham	Midland Main Line	7
50	Waterloo East	5.109	2.194	London			London Underground
51	Oxford	5.013	1.575	Oxford
52	Shepherd's Bush	5.009	2.272	London	London Overground		London Underground
53	Surbiton	4.987	1.945	London	South West Main Line
54	Shoreditch High Street	4.843	1.403	London	London Overground
55	Moorfields	4.808	1.613	Liverpool	Merseyrail
56	Ealing Broadway	4.768	2.066	London			London Underground
57	Ilford	4.754	2.536	London	TfL Rail	^[16]
58	Coventry	4.636	1.747	Coventry
59	Finsbury Park	4.599	2.014	London			London Underground
60	Bromley South	4.600	2.025	London

See also

• List of busiest railway stations in Great Britain (2022–23)
• List of busiest railway stations in Great Britain (2020–21)
• List of busiest railway stations in Great Britain (2019–20)
• List of busiest London Underground stations
• List of busiest railway stations in Europe
• List of busiest railway stations in North America
• List of busiest railway stations in West Yorkshire

External links

• Station usage - Main page

Notes and References

1. Web site: Office of Rail and Road . Estimates of station usage 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 . 24 November 2022 . 13 December 2022.
2. Web site: 2021-11-25. Station usage quality and methodology report. Office of Rail and Road data portal. Office of Rail and Road. 2022-01-13.
3. Web site: Estimates of station usage ORR Data Portal . 2022-11-25 . dataportal.orr.gov.uk.
4. Web site: Estimates of station usage. Office of Rail and Road data portal. Office of Rail and Road. 2022-01-13.
5. Platforms 25 and 26 are part of the London Underground
6. One platform was removed in preparation for the Elizabeth line
7. Excluding London Underground and Docklands Light Railway, 4 and 7 disused, 3A, 4A, 4B, and 10A exist
8. Excluding London Underground, platform 13 closed
9. Platform numbering starts at 0
10. Excluding London Underground
11. St Enoch station is close by
12. Excludes London Underground, 10a and 10b are Tramlink
13. Buchanan Street station is close by
14. Excluding London Underground and Docklands Light Railway
15. 9 train, 2 tram
16. 4 operational; 1 disused