Fewer passengers using Britain’s busiest stations

The three busiest stations in the UK all experienced a decrease in passenger numbers in 2017-18, according to figures released by the Office of Rail and Road on December 11.

London Waterloo declined from 99.4 million passengers to 94.3 million, London Victoria in second place fell from 75.8 million to 74.9 million, and London Liverpool Street dropped from 67.3 million to 66.9 million.

All three terminals have been affected by engineering works on the routes that serve them, as well as industrial action at Waterloo and Victoria.

ORR said the figures, which are estimated, still represented more than twice as many visitors as the UK’s top ten tourist attractions combined.

The station with the biggest growth was Sugar Loaf in Wales. It was the least-used station in Wales in 2016-17, with 228 passengers. However, that rose by 709.6% to 1,846 passengers, which ORR attributes to attracting visitors due to its notoriety.

• For the FULL story, read RAIL 868, published on December 19, and available digitally on Android, iPad and Kindle from December 15.