Termini that are much quieter than a nearby station

[Y Ddraig Coch]

Holyhead, literal ghost town these days.

 

[Taunton]

Surprisingly, Waterloo and Clapham Junction in the morning headed outwards. You can be in a sparsely-filled carriage leaving Waterloo, and after the crowds on Clapham Junction platform all seats are taken. On the local lines Vauxhall likewise adds substantially to the load from the terminus.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Holyhead, literal ghost town these days.

Holyhead still has to be busier than the likes of nearby Valley, Rhosneigr, Ty Croes, Bodorgan and/or Llanfairpwll, surely?

 

[Y Ddraig Coch]

Holyhead still has to be busier than the likes of nearby Valley, Rhosneigr, Ty Croes, Bodorgan and/or Llanfairpwll, surely?

But not Bangor

 

[Jaydubya]

Also in Essex Southminster is around 2.5 times quieter than the previous station Burnham on Crouch

 

[Mcr Warrior]

But not Bangor

Bangor is the best part of 25 miles away. Not exactly 'nearby'.

 

[johntea]

Morecambe 0.175 million / Lancaster 2.184 million

 

[saismee]

Colchester Town

I thought Colchester Town was much busier than Colchester (north).

Ipswich terminating services get quite light at the end. Most people are using it for an intermediate stop, and most of the ones who stay on to Ipswich either:
A) missed their train
B) saw Ipswich at Liverpool Street and didn't realise it was a stopper
C) haven't paid their fare

It would probably be a bit busier if it actually connected with a local service, but it misses Lowestoft by 7 mins, misses Cambridge by 4 mins, and Felixstowe/Peterborough don't go for another 24 mins (which all have connections to intercity services).

 

[Parallel]

I believe Fishguard and Goodwick is now busier than Fishguard Harbour.

I also think Barry is probably busier than Barry Island if you take passengers from a whole year.

 

[Y Ddraig Coch]

Bangor is the best part of 25 miles away. Not exactly 'nearby'.

The next stop on many services though.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

The next stop on many services though.

Thread title is "Termini that are much quieter than a nearby station". Wouldn't really count Bangor as nearby to Holyhead.

 

[j37401]

There are probably loads like Llandudno Junction where the station is on a mainline with various services rather than at the end of a branch. Similar to Hooton on the Merseyrail being busier than Ellesmere Port. But then Chester is busier.

 

[Mikey C]

Rainham (Kent) the terminus for the Thameslink trains in North Kent is definitely quieter than Gillingham and Chatham.

Indeed why do the Thameslink trains terminate in Rainham, when the previous Southeastern services to Charing Cross always terminated in Gillingham?

 

[flitwickbeds]

Would Kentish Town count? Much quieter than St Pancras, albeit KT is only a service termini, and is not at the end of a line.

 

[William3000]

Grimsby Town v Cleethorpes?
Historically Harwich International v Harwich Town

I thought Colchester Town was much busier than Colchester (north).

Ipswich terminating services get quite light at the end. Most people are using it for an intermediate stop, and most of the ones who stay on to Ipswich either:
A) missed their train
B) saw Ipswich at Liverpool Street and didn't realise it was a stopper
C) haven't paid their fare

It would probably be a bit busier if it actually connected with a local service, but it misses Lowestoft by 7 mins, misses Cambridge by 4 mins, and Felixstowe/Peterborough don't go for another 24 mins (which all have connections to intercity services).

Colchester (North) is far busier than Colchester Town. It’s a 6 platform mainline station, whereas Colchester Town is a single platform station. It’s surprising Colchester Town survived the cuts in the 1960s but is now a relative busy and useful station but still nowhere as busy at Colchester

 

[DH1Commuter]

On a Sunday, Matlock Bath is rammed, Matlock less so.

 

[blimmo]

Felixstowe/Peterborough don't go for another 24 mins (which all have connections to intercity services).

You do get itineraries on the ipswich stoppers when coming from the Felixstowe branch on Sundays. You're certainly right that most people avoid them though since the fasts are usually much more convenient: in fact I avoid this journey on Sundays specifically because of this.

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Ipswich terminating services get quite light at the end.

I doubt Manningtree is going to be much busier on these though since the fast also stop there.

 

[thenorthern]

While Rugeley Trent Valley has more passengers than Rugeley Town overall I always find that there are a lot more get on the chase Line at Rugeley Town than at Rugeley Trent Valley. Same with Lichfield City compared with Lichfield Trent Valley.

Another example is Nelson gets more passengers than Colne.

On the Tyne and Wear Metro Monument gets more use than St James does.

 

[WAB]

That's not my experience. Wrexham Central is closer to the shops (and the centre)

Although General is often used to turn trains short if they're running late...

 

[godfreycomplex]

Neilston

 

[BeijingDave]

While Four Oaks is not an actual terminus, many trains terminate there. I expect Sutton Coldfield is busier.

 

[norbitonflyer]

The Shepperton line is an interesting one. The last four stations on the route have annual usage stats of 391,000, 56,000, 106,000, and 347,000 respectively, Sunbury therefore being slightly busier than Shepperton, but the previous station, Hampton, has 948,000 - more than the last four combined. A factor in this is probably that, until last month, Hampton was the last station on the line where contactless payment is possible, and is still the last station on the line where Oyster can be used.

Further back up the line, Norbiton has as many users (2.3 million) as the entire Shepperton branch (six stations, Fulwell to Shepperton) and Kingston has almost as many users (4.4million) as the combined total of all eight stations between the next station (Hampton Wick) and Shepperton.

However, it would seem that someone very important must live at Shepperton, as standard procedure to recover from late running is to run the train non-stop to/from Shepperton, skipping all the busy stations, instead of turning short at Fulwell.

 

[Ian Hardy]

Rainham (Kent) the terminus for the Thameslink trains in North Kent is definitely quieter than Gillingham and Chatham.

Indeed why do the Thameslink trains terminate in Rainham, when the previous Southeastern services to Charing Cross always terminated in Gillingham?

Probably Medway Council or Medway MPs wanted a train service that stopped at all the Medway stations: Rainham, Gillingham, Chatham, Rochester & Strood, so a bay platform was built at Rainham to faciliate that.

Looking at the timetable the Thameslink services from London arrive at Gillingham at XX:09 and XX:39 but the services back towards London leave at XX:06 & XX:36 which if the Thameslink services terminated at Gillingham would mean that the UP services would only leave platform 1 3 minutes before the next DN service would be arriving at Gillingham. I would suggest that 3 minutes would be too tight and would create mayhem on the LCDR line through the Medway Towns if there were any delays. By extended the Thameslink services to Rainham, they get a 15 minute layover there.

Platform 1 at Gillingham which was used for the Charing Cross services is now used by the Victoria to Gillingham via Sole Street stopping services arriving at XX:52 and sit there for 23 minutes before returning to Victoria at XX:15, so it is only empty for 7 minutes so the Thameslink services wouldn't be able to terminate there as well.

Before May 2018, the stopping services via Sole Street terminated at Rochester at peak hours, but off peak they went all the way to Canterbury East. The CX services arrived at Gillingham at XX:03 & XX:33 and departed at XX:24 & XX:54, so they had a 21 minute layover at Gillingham.

 

[cornishjohn]

Chathill (Morpeth being much busier)

Not sure Chathill is "nearby" to Morpeth (30 miles...), with four intermediate stations.

 

[plugwash]

It's curious that Rose Hill isn't busier as it's bang in the middle of Marple. Whereas Marple is in quaint little Marple Bridge, a far quieter area. I guess force of habit due to its more frequent service and Sheffield service?

Also the trains from marple get to manchester 10 minuites quicker than those from rose hill. Afaict part of that is that Marple is Closer to Romily than rose hill is and part is that the Marple trains take a more direct route from Romily to Manchester.

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Alderley edge (where 1TPH from manchester terminates) is much quieter than Wilmslow.

 

[Pnerick81]

I would guess that colne is less busy than Nelson and Burnley central. But with Burnley Manchester Road having faster services to the west . Do more people use Manchester Road than central .

 

[rower40]

Sheffield to Doncaster stopping services extended on to Adwick? Not that I've ever been on any of these. It would seem that this extension is simply so that the train isn't using up valuable platform capacity at Doncaster while turning round.

 

[Bletchleyite]

TPE to Saltburn is probably an example - Middlesbrough is going to be much busier.

 

[Stephen1001]

Until recently, Ryde Pier Head was a good example of this - passenger numbers were far below Ryde Esplanade, and in the early part of the 21st century it was often beaten into third in the town by Ryde St Johns Road. Numbers on Island Line have fallen quite significantly in general in recent years and Pier Head has held up better than most, to the point that the gap was almost non-existent in the most recent figures.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

TPE to Saltburn is probably an example - Middlesbrough is going to be much busier.

Think most run to Redcar Central just now, but your comparison otherwise remains valid.