ORR estimates of station usage 2024/25

[BogiePicker]

From a very quick skim through Sheffield, Doncaster, York and Newcastle have all recorded what seem to be their highest ever numbers.

Leeds, Liverpool Lime Street, Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria still have considerable ground to make up to reach past highs. Curious.

Same with Birmingham New Street.

For Leeds, numbers for the feeder stations are still substantially down on pre-Covid

Recovery for stations in the Bradford area has been pretty sluggish.

2019/2020 -> 2024/2025
Interchange 2.6m -> 2.4
FS 1.9 -> 1.45
Keighley 1.57 -> 1.4
Shipley 1.6 -> 1.1
Guiseley and Bingley also about 0.1m down.

Interestingly, some of these stations were stagnant or even declining in numbers before Covid; Bradford Interchange was a maximum of 3m.

This will definitely have been replicated in the Birmingham area, which by numbers is by far a West Midlands hub.

 

[cjw714]

..

Although how much is that down to both split tickets (considering it's no longer a niche concept with Trainline selling them) and short farers by those from Cranbrook - Honiton gambling on the guard not being able to get to them due to the SDO stations.

As well as growth from all the housing in that area.

The rise in usage of all the stations in and around Exeter is very impressive. It's partly a reflection of population growth but also shows what a little bit of investment in new stations can do. The need for a half-hourly service between Honiton and Exeter has been endlessly discussed and these numbers only help make the case for someone to find the money for the necessary track re-doubling. However, there is also a case for an all-day half-hourly service to Marsh Barton and St Thomas, though that won't be easy to fit in with main line services.

 

[splashoutradio]

I've had change to play with the station usage data, and combine it with the LTP schedule data for May24. Some of the data is definitely buggy, so needs some cleansing before the 'passengers per service' stats can be fully relied upon, but RailwayData now includes usage stats from 1997 up to yesterdays release.

I hope that pre-covid years don't disappear from summary sites like RailwayData and even Wikipedia as more releases come online, as the pre-covid comparison remains valuable.

Don't worry - there are no plans to remove historical data. Much to the frustration of our server supplier (who are getting a little grumpy of the amount of data on there), the plan is to keep building and adding to the site when new data becomes available, so hopefully, it'll be a comprehensive and historical record to look back on.

I remember struggling to download it last year; railalefan.co.uk has the 100 most common flows from each station and railwaydata.co.uk has all of them, but I don't know how long it will be for 2024-25 data to be added.

Hopefully it won't be too long before the 2024-25 Origin Destination Matrix data is released. I'm keeping my eyes on the official channels, so that as soon it comes out, it can be processed and add it to the website.

 

[Stephen42]

Do the reduced ones include off peak tickets? Because 68k anytime and 2 million off peak and advance might be right?

Yes, child/railcard doesn't impact the classification at all. The below is the ticket types listed in the methodology report accompanying the release:

Ticket Types:
– Full: all walk-up undiscounted single or return tickets, whether or not issued with a status discount (child, railcard, etc)
– Reduced: all walk-up discounted single or return tickets, whether or not issued with a status discount (child, railcard, etc). All advance-purchase tickets are also included in the category – Seasons: all multi-use tickets.

I'd take full to mean anytime without time restrictions. TfW pay as you go doesn't have time restrictions so may count as full for the purposes of this release. As that often undercuts the reduced fare more people may pay lower "full" fares than reduced ones which could explain Cardiff Queen Street.

 

[70014IronDuke]

I noticed that the most popular destination from Carlisle is... Newcastle!

Newcastle is a very popular destination in the entire north of England (and southern Scotland), including most of the stations on the Cumbrian Coast line. It may not be number 1 (that maybe eg Whitehaven, Workington, Carlisle or Barrow) but it's up there in the top 5 or 10, and that must mean the farebox take has to be a substantial proportion for each of those stations, given the exta distance travelled.
Similarly the S&C.

As for growth, I notice some good soul(s) have already updated the Wiki pages for stations on the S&C and north Cambrian. (Many thanks if reading this.)

If my memory serves me correctly, every station bar non on the S&C has seen growth typically around 10%, including Settlet 10% and Appleby 12%. Hellifield rose 45% (!) and Gargrave 16%, now both with more than 40k exits/entrances per annum. (I suppose some number could be incorrect, based on distribution of rover ticket?)

Bentham doing well too, up nearly 15% also topping 40k.

The north Cambrian is even more impressive, although some of the tiny halts are stagnant. Portmadog is now at 100,000 - up 19k or 22% yoy. Is this more concentrated summer tourism, or has year-round traffic grown, one wonders? Sunday services have been improved, of course, all year round. Must have helped.

Very good news for these secondary lines.

 

[yorksrob]

I noticed that the most popular destination from Carlisle is... Newcastle!

Not that surprising, given what a good night out it is !

Newcastle is a very popular destination in the entire north of England (and southern Scotland), including most of the stations on the Cumbrian Coast line. It may not be number 1 (that maybe eg Whitehaven, Workington, Carlisle or Barrow) but it's up there in the top 5 or 10, and that must mean the farebox take has to be a substantial proportion for each of those stations, given the exta distance travelled.
Similarly the S&C.

As for growth, I notice some good soul(s) have already updated the Wiki pages for stations on the S&C and north Cambrian. (Many thanks if reading this.)

If my memory serves me correctly, every station bar non on the S&C has seen growth typically around 10%, including Settlet 10% and Appleby 12%. Hellifield rose 45% (!) and Gargrave 16%, now both with more than 40k exits/entrances per annum. (I suppose some number could be incorrect, based on distribution of rover ticket?)

Bentham doing well too, up nearly 15% also topping 40k.

The north Cambrian is even more impressive, although some of the tiny halts are stagnant. Portmadog is now at 100,000 - up 19k or 22% yoy. Is this more concentrated summer tourism, or has year-round traffic grown, one wonders? Sunday services have been improved, of course, all year round. Must have helped.

Very good news for these secondary lines.

Excellent news indeed to see the S&C and the regional railway more broadly doing well (typed while going over Settle Junction).

 

[trundlewagon]

Noticed numbers for Lapworth and Hatton have taken a dive - I take it the long-standing Gold Card (?) fiddle is no longer possible and that's why?

 

[Stephen42]

Noticed numbers for Lapworth and Hatton have taken a dive - I take it the long-standing Gold Card (?) fiddle is no longer possible and that's why?

It's a methodology change in the usage estimates for this year rather than a ticketing change. The number of tickets purchased is broadly similar based on the entry/exits removed.

Hatton & Lapworth Adjustment
3.50 In the MOIRA2.2 base matrix, journeys between Hatton and Lapworth stations were observed to be higher than expected for two smaller stations on a section of the network that typically experiences low passenger volumes.
3.51 Advice from Chiltern Railways was that annual season tickets on this flow were not being directly used for passenger travel and therefore should be removed from the dataset.
3.52 To address this issue, a new methodological adjustment was introduced in 2024/25, comparing LENNON data with the base matrix to identify and remove journeys for this flow and ticket type combination. As a result, c. 0.14m total entries and exits were removed across the two stations.

 

[70014IronDuke]

Excellent news indeed to see the S&C and the regional railway more broadly doing well (typed while going over Settle Junction).

Glancing at one of your other favourite regionals is not quite so excellent.

OK, the good news is Whitby is up 7%, or10k to 153,500 - I think this is a record since ORR figures began, and Gromont is up 3,000, some 25% - but the rest of the line, at least to Nunthorpe, is rather patchy. Some stagnant, some up, some down. Sleights was up 4 - that is passengers yoy, not per cent

The Middlesbro' suburban stations are doing ok - James Cook up c 8400, or 16%.

EDIT ps - thanks for updating Wiki pages, if you what done it are reading this.

 

[yorksrob]

Glancing at one of your other favourite regionals is not quite so excellent.

OK, the good news is Whitby is up 7%, or10k to 153,500 - I think this is a record since ORR figures began, and Gromont is up 3,000, some 25% - but the rest of the line, at least to Nunthorpe, is rather patchy. Some stagnant, some up, some down. Sleights was up 4 - that is passengers yoy, not per cent

The Middlesbro' suburban stations are doing ok - James Cook up c 8400, or 16%.

EDIT ps - thanks for updating Wiki pages, if you what done it are reading this.

I see Whitby up 7% as excellent news, particularly given the moth-eaten service passengers put up with.

I expect the intermediate stations could see considerable growth with a good service.

Fortunately N Yorks council have claimed the Potash mine funding, so improvements should be forthcoming.

 

[30907]

I see Whitby up 7% as excellent news, particularly given the moth-eaten service passengers put up with.

I expect the intermediate stations could see considerable growth with a good service.

It will be interesting to see the effect of the retimed and reinstated "Middlesbrough Commuter."

 

[Geeves]

On the Manchester Victoria front there is no question that the 2 car trains, lack of Sunday services and general engineering works are almost certainly suppressing demand. I suspect in a decade the passengers numbers will be double. Even TPE with it's 5 car 802s are full all day everyday.

As for Carlisle to Newcastle, 1h30 gets you to a major city with everything you need and it's much better now the 142s are gone!

 

[Russel]

Perhaps the full introduction of the 197s has helped boost passenger numbers on the north Wales coast and Conwy Valley lines?

I've been using the Conwy Valley a few times a year for years, and although only an infrequent user, I've noticed myself that the 197s seem to have had a very positive effect on the line.

 

[Krokodil]

I've been using the Conwy Valley a few times a year for years, and although only an infrequent user, I've noticed myself that the 197s seem to have had a very positive effect on the line.

197010 didn't have a very positive effect when it broke down today. 150s never had "computer says no" moments. 150s could also get up the hill in autumn most times without Network Rail having to send out a road-railer.

 

[mmh]

Conwy however has grown dramatically since the pandemic and I don't think that I've ever seen a ticket split there, that's got to be down to increased tourist traffic. The establishment of a regular service rather than the patchy one which exists at present should act as a catalyst for further growth from May. Likewise Llandudno (branch terminus so splitting is impossible) has grown significantly.

No reason for splitting at Llandudno, but I've bought many tickets in the past from/to Llandudno knowing I'm likely to use either Deganwy or Llandudno Junction instead, but as the fare was the same, why not in case I decide I do want to on the day? Countless examples of stations with the same fare all over.

 

[Russel]

No reason for splitting at Llandudno, but I've bought many tickets in the past from/to Llandudno knowing I'm likely to use either Deganwy or Llandudno Junction instead, but as the fare was the same, why not in case I decide I do want to on the day? Countless examples of stations with the same fare all over.

Same, I usually start a day in North Wales at Llandudno Jn and end in Llandudno it's self, but I'll usually book an advance return to Llandudno because for the sake of a few pence, I can't be bothered to make two separate bookings.

 

[MatthewHutton]

No reason for splitting at Llandudno, but I've bought many tickets in the past from/to Llandudno knowing I'm likely to use either Deganwy or Llandudno Junction instead, but as the fare was the same, why not in case I decide I do want to on the day? Countless examples of stations with the same fare all over.

Ooh I think I did this and got out at Llandudno junction. Did it because it was the same price, but just in case going into the centre made sense.

 

[Krokodil]

No reason for splitting at Llandudno, but I've bought many tickets in the past from/to Llandudno knowing I'm likely to use either Deganwy or Llandudno Junction instead, but as the fare was the same, why not in case I decide I do want to on the day? Countless examples of stations with the same fare all over.

That doesn't increase the overall count though, like splitting does (every split makes the journey count twice)

 

[Bigbru]

St Albans is the only one of these that is a tourist destination. Easy day out from London. I’ve done it!

Watford Junction also gets a steady flow of tourists to the Harry Potter studios all day, every day.

 

[AlanL]

I remember struggling to download it last year; railalefan.co.uk has the 100 most common flows from each station and railwaydata.co.uk has all of them, but I don't know how long it will be for 2024-25 data to be added.

Thanks so much for the links - it will be interesting to see the flows from individual stations.

 

[70014IronDuke]

I see Whitby up 7% as excellent news, particularly given the moth-eaten service passengers put up with.

Well, yes, true. But I assume most of the extra traffic has come from north of Nunthorpe, give the very mixed performance of most intermediate stations.

The HoWL has also done quite well, notably at the southern end.

All the stations between Llanelli and Craven Arms, bar four of the tiniest halts (including Sugar Loaf) have seen increases, typically of 10%, but some around 50%. True, most of these were in the 1,000 - 2,000 range in 23-24, so with a low base, but encouraging, especially considering the cut-back from five to four through trains per day affected almost half the period under review.

Ammanford jumped from 16,000 to 23,700 (rounded) - up 47.5%. That makes it one of the most-used stations on the line (it might even be second, behind Llandrindod, can't remember now.)

I'm sure it's still a basket case, but can't help thinking the southern end needs one or two extra trains a day to Llandovery in order to tap into the potential better.
We'll have to wait two years to find what the full impact of the restoration of five through trains per day will have. This starts next Sunday, I believe.

 

[noddingdonkey]

Same with Birmingham New Street.

For Leeds, numbers for the feeder stations are still substantially down on pre-Covid

Recovery for stations in the Bradford area has been pretty sluggish.

2019/2020 -> 2024/2025
Interchange 2.6m -> 2.4
FS 1.9 -> 1.45
Keighley 1.57 -> 1.4
Shipley 1.6 -> 1.1
Guiseley and Bingley also about 0.1m down.

Interestingly, some of these stations were stagnant or even declining in numbers before Covid; Bradford Interchange was a maximum of 3m.

That's not massively surprising is it? The railway doesn't exist in isolation, and given the threadbare bus timetables in many areas (decide for yourself whether that's pre-franchise asset stripping or just short-sighted incompetence in reacting to lower passenger numbers) making access to a station or onward travel more difficult, plus the whole Bradford Interchange bus station farce during this period, it's no surprise that where people have the choice to work from home, they do so.

 

[Broseley man]

That's not massively surprising is it? The railway doesn't exist in isolation, and given the threadbare bus timetables in many areas (decide for yourself whether that's pre-franchise asset stripping or just short-sighted incompetence in reacting to lower passenger numbers) making access to a station or onward travel more difficult, plus the whole Bradford Interchange bus station farce during this period, it's no surprise that where people have the choice to work from home, they do so.

Question: As a rule of thumb will it be true that where a station has the highest passenger figures in the 2024/5 column across the time series back to 1997 this is the most busy that station has ever been?

 

[Krokodil]

Question: As a rule of thumb will it be true that where a station has the highest passenger figures in the 2024/5 column across the time series back to 1997 this is the most busy that station has ever been?

In most cases, yes. However there will be other stations which had much greater significance in the past, for example where they were once a junction for a branch that has now closed or where they served industries that no longer function. I'd bet that Stanlow & Thornton was much busier pre-1997 for example.

 

[splashoutradio]

Question: As a rule of thumb will it be true that where a station has the highest passenger figures in the 2024/5 column across the time series back to 1997 this is the most busy that station has ever been?

Handily, in the latest ORR figures, they've released a dataset containing all years from 1997 to the 2024/25.
As has been mentioned by Krokodil, it doesn't show which stations are the busiest ever, but gives an estimation of how busy stations have been.

Here are the top 30 stations, in terms of entries and exits for the 1997-2025 period.

Station name	1997/98-2024/25
London Waterloo	2,067,549,387
London Victoria	1,703,008,308
London Liverpool Street	1,500,115,174
London Bridge	1,487,682,283
London Paddington	896,358,541
London Euston	889,165,379
London Kings Cross	820,509,432
Birmingham New Street	701,578,125
Glasgow Central	667,890,393
London Charing Cross	645,367,294
Stratford (London)	605,697,996
Manchester Piccadilly	566,164,012
Leeds	562,213,433
Clapham Junction	544,735,171
London St Pancras International	511,222,266
East Croydon	495,190,940
Edinburgh	456,933,040
London Fenchurch Street	413,981,647
Wimbledon	389,096,411
London Cannon Street	380,045,263
Reading	366,866,064
Gatwick Airport	357,920,587
Brighton	356,591,964
Vauxhall	335,344,806
Highbury and Islington	329,591,917
Liverpool Lime Street	321,709,228
Glasgow Queen Street	304,491,650
London Marylebone	290,815,882
Liverpool Central	272,235,002
Cardiff Central	262,080,645

 

[InTheEastMids]

Question: As a rule of thumb will it be true that where a station has the highest passenger figures in the 2024/5 column across the time series back to 1997 this is the most busy that station has ever been?

In most cases, yes. However there will be other stations which had much greater significance in the past, for example where they were once a junction for a branch that has now closed or where they served industries that no longer function. I'd bet that Stanlow & Thornton was much busier pre-1997 for example.

Handily, in the latest ORR figures, they've released a dataset containing all years from 1997 to the 2024/25.

Yes, what you can do is download Table 1415 and a very simple bit of Excel is to set up additional columns showing 24/25 performance as a percentage of previous years
Replacing all [z] with 0 will handily give a #DIV/0! error where the station wasn't open (146 stations), and a 0 where the station now has no users (66 stations, including Stanlow).

For individual stations, you do need to watch out for methodology changes and occasionally weird/wacky values before asserting something. Luton Airport Parkway is not millions of times busier that it was 27 years ago!

What I did notice from the overall trends was something that we all already know. The really high growth stations, where usage has been transformed, are nearly all in London. That's because they needed transformational changes, and nearly all those programmes (HS1, London Overground, Thameslink Upgrade and Crossrail) were in London.

I noticed a number of the big regional interchanges clustered around 300% increase since 97/98 - e.g. New Street, Temple Meads, Sheffield and Leeds. Generally that growth has been achieved incrementally within the footprint of the post-Beeching railway - extra/extended platforms, longer trains, resignalling, closer headways. I guess the issue going forward is that this becomes harder to achieve as the slack in the post-Beeching railway has been mostly taken up.

Stepping back, it's worth comparing how our regional cities have performed economically. In general, they have fallen behind both London and and European comparator cities. If you think transport is a big part of city economic performance, then then having our regions continue to fall behind and live in relative poverty compared to London with this level of growth, is telling you something quite fundamental about how you calculate business cases for transport projects - the precious BCR may be a lot more effective at capturing Cs than Bs!

In which case we do need to crack on with transformational projects like LMR/NPR, Leeds Metro etc. I tell you what would make somebody look like a total clown - letting the powers to build transformational long-term infrastructure lapse because of relatively short-term financial difficulties!

 

[slowroad]

Yes, what you can do is download Table 1415 and a very simple bit of Excel is to set up additional columns showing 24/25 performance as a percentage of previous years
Replacing all [z] with 0 will handily give a #DIV/0! error where the station wasn't open (146 stations), and a 0 where the station now has no users (66 stations, including Stanlow).

For individual stations, you do need to watch out for methodology changes and occasionally weird/wacky values before asserting something. Luton Airport Parkway is not millions of times busier that it was 27 years ago!

What I did notice from the overall trends was something that we all already know. The really high growth stations, where usage has been transformed, are nearly all in London. That's because they needed transformational changes, and nearly all those programmes (HS1, London Overground, Thameslink Upgrade and Crossrail) were in London.

I noticed a number of the big regional interchanges clustered around 300% increase since 97/98 - e.g. New Street, Temple Meads, Sheffield and Leeds. Generally that growth has been achieved incrementally within the footprint of the post-Beeching railway - extra/extended platforms, longer trains, resignalling, closer headways. I guess the issue going forward is that this becomes harder to achieve as the slack in the post-Beeching railway has been mostly taken up.

Stepping back, it's worth comparing how our regional cities have performed economically. In general, they have fallen behind both London and and European comparator cities. If you think transport is a big part of city economic performance, then then having our regions continue to fall behind and live in relative poverty compared to London with this level of growth, is telling you something quite fundamental about how you calculate business cases for transport projects - the precious BCR may be a lot more effective at capturing Cs than Bs!

In which case we do need to crack on with transformational projects like LMR/NPR, Leeds Metro etc. I tell you what would make somebody look like a total clown - letting the powers to build transformational long-term infrastructure lapse because of relatively short-term financial difficulties!

This is fair enough, but even in European cities rail (including trams) typically accounts for a relatively small share of travel - walking and cars account for much more. And the urban form of Europe cities is usually quite different from UK, and more suited to public transport.

If metros etc were really transformative in the UK context, surely we would have seen Newcastle outperform after the system opened in the eighties, or, subsequently, Nottingham, or Sheffield……(Manchester may provide a more positive story.)

Notwithstanding this, in my opinion the UK has underinvested in all forms of transport infrastructure - the UK has lowest motorway density of any European country, despite our alleged pro-car mentality.

 

[Magdalia]

the precious BCR may be a lot more effective at capturing Cs than Bs!

BCR is a lot more effective at capturing coasts than benefits. That's mainly because of the time factor: most of the costs are in the short term, and BCR should only be used where most of the benefits are short term too. When BCR was developed it was never intended to be used for projects where the benefits were spread over decades, not a few years.

I noticed a number of the big regional interchanges clustered around 300% increase since 97/98 - e.g. New Street, Temple Meads, Sheffield and Leeds. Generally that growth has been achieved incrementally within the footprint of the post-Beeching railway - extra/extended platforms, longer trains, resignalling, closer headways. I guess the issue going forward is that this becomes harder to achieve as the slack in the post-Beeching railway has been mostly taken up.

On the other hand I don't see much wrong with this approach, and see more capacity gain still to be captured, particularly via longer trains. Better timetabling would help too, with more priority being given to moving large numbers of people short distances instead of moving small numbers of people long distances. A classic example is Manchester-Birmingham which should be 8 car EMUs not 4/5 car Voyagers. Franchising has ossified the timetable that was suitable for those usage numbers in 1997, the usage numbers now need a different timetable. Outside London, the railway still has work to do to make best use of the capacity that it already has.

 

[The exile]

On the other hand I don't see much wrong with this approach, and see more capacity gain still to be captured, particularly via longer trains. Better timetabling would help too, with more priority being given to moving large numbers of people short distances instead of moving small numbers of people long distances. A classic example is Manchester-Birmingham which should be 8 car EMUs not 4/5 car Voyagers. Franchising has ossified the timetable that was suitable for those usage numbers in 1997, the usage numbers now need a different timetable. Outside London, the railway still has work to do to make best use of the capacity that it already has.

Indeed, outside of London and the SE there are few areas where existing infrastructure capacity is being consistently used to the full - particularly in terms of train length. I am aware that the existing rolling stock capacity is being fully used (indeed "over" used) to a much greater extent - which is part of the problem.

 

[Markdvdman]

One poster sais TFW PAYG has no restricions. It has a 2.5 hour time limit break that and £10 baby!