Britain’s Top 20 Busiest Train Stations Revealed | UK News
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Britain’s Top 20 Busiest Train Stations Revealed | UK News

A woman walking in a crowd of passengers at a busy railway station in the UK.
A London station retained its top position as the UK’s busiest station (Image: Shutterstock)

The busiest train stations in the UK have been named – and one station has retained its top spot with the most train journeys.

Love it or hate it, train travel remains popular judging by the number of passengers traveling through UK stations each year.

The festive the travel season is almost overand for many that will mean traveling through the busiest train station – London Liverpool Street on Elizabeth line.

The central London travel hub was named the busiest last year to the end of March.

Passengers on concourse of London Liverpool Street station.
London Liverpool Street is served by Greater Anglia, Stansted Express and Elizabeth Line, among others (Image: Mike Kemp/Getty Images)

We have listed the 20 busiest stations which recorded a whopping 836 million journeys between them.

Britain’s busiest train stations

The ten busiest stations are all in London, while five stations outside the capital made the top 20 list.

London Liverpool Street took the top stop with around 94.4 million arrivals and departures in 2023-24, data from the Office of Rail and Road shows.

The busy station is used by commuters and tourists alike due to its connections with the Stansted Express, London Underground and National Rail.

Passenger numbers on Liverpool Street have increased by 14.1 million from 80.4 million in 2022-23.

Top 20 busiest railway stations

  1. London Liverpool Street – 94 499 824
  2. London Paddington – 66 859 098
  3. Tottenham Court Road – 64 219 040
  4. London Waterloo – 62,525,274
  5. Stratford (London) – 56,570,866
  6. London Victoria – 50,829,676
  7. London Bridge – 50,045,010
  8. Farringdon – 46 049 862
  9. Bond Street – 38 307 986
  10. London Euston – 36,185,290
  11. London St Pancras International – 35,959,980
  12. Whitechapel – 35,246,924
  13. Birmingham New Street – 33 335 376
  14. Manchester Piccadilly – 25,776,162
  15. Glasgow Central – 24,964,246
  16. Leeds – 24,891,386
  17. London King’s Cross – 24,483,826
  18. Clapham Junction – 22,858,198
  19. Highbury and Islington – 21,827,580
  20. Edinburgh – 21,307,916

This is said to be due to the increased use of the Elizabeth line.

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London Paddington retained the second position, while Tottenham Court Road overtook London Waterloo as the third busiest.

People arriving at London Paddington train concourse which dates from 1854 during the Victorian era and was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel on June 30, 2024 in London, UK. Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground station, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus for services provided by the Great Western Railway and its successors since 1838. (Photo by Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images)
London Paddington recorded around 67 million entries and exits through its ticket gates (Image: Mike Kemp/Getty)

London Euston remained the tenth busiest station.

Outside London, the busiest stations were Birmingham New Street, Manchester Piccadilly, Glashow Central, Leeds and Edinburgh.

What about the least used station?

The quietest station is Denton in Greater Manchester.

It had just 54 arrivals and departures last year and is served by just two Northern trains per week – one to Stockport and one to Stalybridge on Saturday mornings.

It may seem odd to run these services, but getting permission to close a route is more difficult than arranging for a train to stop.

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