ORR Rail station usage

[The Ham]

Is there a general rule where if a station usage is above a certain level then certain facilities have to be provided?

Yes any number of passengers above 0 require a platform! I think that it though.

 

[northwichcat]

Yes any number of passengers above 0 require a platform! I think that it though.

Although not the case in Germany where platforms are considered a nice to have!

 

[greatkingrat]

I just dont get these:

Newhaven Town 350,000
Newhaven Harbour: 40,000

No way for every 7-8 punters at Town does one get off at Harbour. It's more 40 to 1. Is it based on ticket sales, as for some reason folks seem to hold more tickets for harbour than go there?

Yes, I guess as tickets to Town and Harbour will be the same price from most origins, some people will buy a ticket to Harbour so they have the option to use it if they need to.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

I like to look at the underdogs, those who struggle on with little love and attention, other than from one local, his dog and some station baggers.

Over the past 11 surveys (2004/05 to 2014/15) there are 139 which have featured in the bottom 100.

On the basis that I will never bag them all, that is my list to get.

So, regarding this years bottom 100:
67 are always in that bottom 100 - poor little lambs.
29 move in and out of the bottom 100 but stay within the bottom 125 - must try harder.
43 move between the bottom 100 and beyond the bottom 125. What are you playing at, come on, be a bit more consistent.

This years station to go and sit on the thinking step (naughty corner to us oldies) is Butlins Penychain.

 

[evergreenadam]

Increases have continued on the Hounslow Loop. Well done to Chiswick for breaking the 1 million barrier , which leaves only Barnes Bridge below that figure (but it has some way to go still). Very surprised that Kew Bridge overtakes Hounslow to become second, and remains the busiest unstaffed station, with Isleworth, and Syon Lane, coming next in that list. Really looks silly that Chiswick comes below those three yet has a ticket office .

Over on the Greater London stations on the Great Western, Hanwell has dropped by almost 11,000!

There is substantial new residential development currently being built out around Kew Bridge, plus there is healthy contra-flow traffic during the peak hours due to proximity to large office buildings along the Great West Road. Usage will continue to climb as more residential developments receive planning permission and the new Brentford FC Stadium is built alongside the station.

 

[cjohnson]

Over on the Greater London stations on the Great Western, Hanwell has dropped by almost 11,000!

Possibly due to the Crossrail works, meaning there's no service to/from there after around 9.30pm.

 

[Requeststop]

Unsuccessfully been trying to download the reports; I was wondering as which request stops have the most passengers. Yes I do have a bee in my bonnet about them as I have always been annoyed that my home station was made one. Would any of them have a case for having request stop status being lifted?

 

[backontrack]

Conwy, probably.

 

[headshot119]

Conwy, probably.

It's really only a request stop by name, it's been a while since I've been through there and the train hasn't stopped.

41560 last year. A good 21000 up on the next busiest request stop along the North Wales Coast which was Llanfairpwll.

 

[SS4]

3% increase at new street despite the upgrade works being far from complete. Will be interesting to see what happens now the station is complete.

Also kudos to the ORR for providing an ODS format

 

[backontrack]

It's really only a request stop by name, it's been a while since I've been through there and the train hasn't stopped.

41560 last year. A good 21000 up on the next busiest request stop along the North Wales Coast which was Llanfairpwll.

What about Deganwy?

I know that in Scotland, the most used request stop is probably Corrour.

 

[po8crg]

I ran some numbers, and I reckon that the busiest platforms in the country are Charing Cross (about 7.5 million per platform per annum) and then Liverpool Central (about 5 million), then Waterloo just above Victoria. London Bridge is either up there around 5-6 million or down about 3 million, depending on how many platforms you actually count.

Busiest two-platform station is Farringdon. That will switch to City Thameslink soon, when Farringdon Crossrail opens. Anyone want to do bets on the first full year of Farringdon numbers (including interchanges) after Crossrail opens? At least 20,000,000, I'd say.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Although not the case in Germany where platforms are considered a nice to have!

To be fair, while it's a low-platform country with steps on trains (or more recently low-floor) DB have been through a very large programme of installing platforms (only 600mm ones, though) at most smaller stations.

 

[mirodo]

Unsuccessfully been trying to download the reports; I was wondering as which request stops have the most passengers. Yes I do have a bee in my bonnet about them as I have always been annoyed that my home station was made one. Would any of them have a case for having request stop status being lifted?

Assuming there are no omissions from the list of request stops on Wikipedia (there are some on there which no longer are), the only station with a higher usage than Conwy is Lympstone Commando.

 

[Philip Elliott]

3% increase at new street despite the upgrade works being far from complete. Will be interesting to see what happens now the station is complete.

Also kudos to the ORR for providing an ODS format

Am I imagining all the workmen still on site? It is now nearly done bar the platforms and navigation street bridge but it is 3 months after opening.

 

[davetheguard]

I've just had a look at the figures for the Cotswold Line, with all the main stations continuing to grow. Most spectacular is the continuing phenomenal growth at Hanborough; a small single platform unstaffed halt in the village of Long Hanborough. The last set of figures had it overtaking the staffed station of Kingham on the same line; now it's overtaken staffed Moreton in Marsh as well - and is within an ace of catching up with the largish town of Evesham.

A lot of the growth must be driven by the appalling traffic congestion round Oxford; and the train can get you there in just ten minutes. That said, it'll be interesting to see what happens now that Oxford Parkway is open; it may take some of the London traffic, and once the Chiltern route is open to Oxford itself, we could perhaps see a small decline at Hanborough?

Nevertheless, it's all good overall for use of rail in the area, and Great Western are looking at the possibility of opening a ticket office at Hanborough in future.

2014/15 figures with (2013/14) in brackets:

Hanborough 253,568 (201,284)
Charlbury 305,284 (287,778)
Kingham 180,536 (172,006)
Moreton in Marsh 237,198 (217,032)
Honeybourne 56,178 (51,400)
Evesham 247,724 (245,612)
Pershore 95,310 (87,956)

 

[70014IronDuke]

I've just had a look at the figures for the Cotswold Line, with all the main stations continuing to grow. Most spectacular is the continuing phenomenal growth at Hanborough;

Hanborough 253,568 (201,284)

For once, the word 'phenomenal' appears justified. that is 25%+ growth on a large base. Could there be any other reasons for the growth, eg more intensive RP measures catching/deterring previous fare evaders?

....
Nevertheless, it's all good overall for use of rail in the area, and Great Western are looking at the possibility of opening a ticket office at Hanborough in future.
...

Surprised that they haven't already. You are quite right about the line generally too - all those growth numbers are on top of large base figures - no 120% increases on 1,237 passengers the previous year.

 

[Parallel]

In my neck of the woods

Keynsham 412,602 (358,186)
Oldfield Park 312,946 (305,984)
Bath Spa 6,222,126 (5,990,276)
Freshford 44,414 (40,148)
Avoncliff 19,432 (19,394)
Bradford On Avon 534,946 (499,466)
Trowbridge 903,248 (849,928)
Westbury 529,358 (486,546)
Dilton Marsh (X) 19,514 (20,084)
Warminster 388,422 (370,416)
Frome 169,482 (157,584)
Melksham 51,858 (23,930)
Chippenham 1,895,980 (1,826,348)

Some fantastic growth for a few stations there. Keynsham is doing very well considering it only gets an hourly service most of the day. Trowbridge is in the similar reign as Exmouth in that it is likely to reach a million in a couple of years. Very strong growth at Bath, Westbury, Bradford On Avon, Chippenham and obviously Melksham. Interesting that Dilton Marsh has declined slightly, I know there were changes to the timetable for some trains to stop at this station early this year/end of last year. I wonder if this was the reason.

When scanning through, this managed to catch my eye:

Portsmouth Arms (X) 1,510 (844)

What could the reasons for the growth here be? I make that nearly an 80% increase. There is currently two services each way per day on weekdays (one morning service each way, and an evening return).

 

[WatcherZero]

Could be as simple as a couple of people bought season tickets.

 

[70014IronDuke]

In my neck of the woods

Keynsham 412,602 (358,186)
Oldfield Park 312,946 (305,984)
Bath Spa 6,222,126 (5,990,276)
Freshford 44,414 (40,148)
Avoncliff 19,432 (19,394)
Bradford On Avon 534,946 (499,466)
Trowbridge 903,248 (849,928)
Westbury 529,358 (486,546)
Dilton Marsh (X) 19,514 (20,084)
Warminster 388,422 (370,416)
Frome 169,482 (157,584)
Melksham 51,858 (23,930)
Chippenham 1,895,980 (1,826,348)

Some fantastic growth for a few stations there. Keynsham is doing very well considering it only gets an hourly service most of the day. Trowbridge is in the similar reign as Exmouth in that it is likely to reach a million in a couple of years. Very strong growth at Bath, Westbury, Bradford On Avon, Chippenham and obviously Melksham. Interesting that Dilton Marsh has declined slightly, I know there were changes to the timetable for some trains to stop at this station early this year/end of last year. I wonder if this was the reason.

When scanning through, this managed to catch my eye:

Portsmouth Arms (X) 1,510 (844)

What could the reasons for the growth here be? I make that nearly an 80% increase. There is currently two services each way per day on weekdays (one morning service each way, and an evening return).

re Keynsham - isn't this the last unstaffed station before Temple Meads? Just makes me wonder if fare evaders are claiming they joined a train there if so, and this boosts the statistics. Otherwise, I agree, very good figures generally, extraordinary for Keynsham.

Melksham - just shows what providing a half-decent service can do, coupled with a case-study in volunteer support to boost what is, in effect, almost a re-opening. If they could actually run a reliable hourly service, with a few more going beyond the Swindon - Westbury shuttle (my guess is that for most passengers this is not the final destination), it would be most interesting to see what numbers they could conjure out of Melksham.

re Portsmouth Arms - way off my territory, but if the minimal service happens to coincide with school hours, my money [although not much of it ] would be on two kids have started using the available services.

I'd have thought this was the typical explanation for large percentage changes for any station with fewer than 2,500 entries/exits.

 

[davetheguard]

For once, the word 'phenomenal' appears justified. that is 25%+ growth on a large base. Could there be any other reasons for the growth, eg more intensive RP measures catching/deterring previous fare evaders?



Surprised that they haven't already. You are quite right about the line generally too - all those growth numbers are on top of large base figures - no 120% increases on 1,237 passengers the previous year.

There's been a huge increase in the number of car park spaces available. And they're already looking at providing another car park on the other side of the line to the existing one.

 

[swt_passenger]

Melksham - just shows what providing a half-decent service can do, coupled with a case-study in volunteer support to boost what is, in effect, almost a re-opening. If they could actually run a reliable hourly service, with a few more going beyond the Swindon - Westbury shuttle (my guess is that for most passengers this is not the final destination), it would be most interesting to see what numbers they could conjure out of Melksham.

They could improve services on the Swindon - Melksham - Salisbury corridor now by withdrawing GW from Brighton, and ceasing to run those odd couple of random extra trains to Southampton, IMHO. The total time spent by units on those services over the course of the day would allow a vast improvement to services through Melksham, and if they provided a good connection with the SWT stopper at Salisbury it could provide a good opportunity for longer journeys.

In the future they could consider joining the services and running a Swindon - Southampton - (Romsey) hourly service. Whether it was run by SWT or GWR wouldn't really matter.

Re-introduce Brighton services by all means if/when there is more stock around generally, or more electrification.

 

[jimm]

I've just had a look at the figures for the Cotswold Line, with all the main stations continuing to grow. Most spectacular is the continuing phenomenal growth at Hanborough; a small single platform unstaffed halt in the village of Long Hanborough. The last set of figures had it overtaking the staffed station of Kingham on the same line; now it's overtaken staffed Moreton in Marsh as well - and is within an ace of catching up with the largish town of Evesham.

A lot of the growth must be driven by the appalling traffic congestion round Oxford; and the train can get you there in just ten minutes. That said, it'll be interesting to see what happens now that Oxford Parkway is open; it may take some of the London traffic, and once the Chiltern route is open to Oxford itself, we could perhaps see a small decline at Hanborough?

Nevertheless, it's all good overall for use of rail in the area, and Great Western are looking at the possibility of opening a ticket office at Hanborough in future.

2014/15 figures with (2013/14) in brackets:

Hanborough 253,568 (201,284)
Charlbury 305,284 (287,778)
Kingham 180,536 (172,006)
Moreton in Marsh 237,198 (217,032)
Honeybourne 56,178 (51,400)
Evesham 247,724 (245,612)
Pershore 95,310 (87,956)

Apparently there has been no discernible sign of transfer to Oxford Parkway in recent weeks - that may change if extra parking at Hanborough takes long to arrange but a modest extension to the original 190-space 'extension' - already overwhelmed after just two years - is in the works.

The car park plan for the other side of the line at Hanborough is tied up with a housing proposal and the district council planning officers have come down very heavily against the outline application, because it breaches all sorts of guidelines and is not an allocated site in the new Local Plan, so I wouldn't hold out too much hope in the short term. A more realistic idea may be a Chiltern-type metal deck over some of the existing parking.

A morning ticket-selling shift is all but guaranteed for implementation some time in 2016. Afternoon shifts at some of the staffed stations are also a possibility - only Moreton-in-Marsh has two shifts at present.

For once, the word 'phenomenal' appears justified. that is 25%+ growth on a large base. Could there be any other reasons for the growth, eg more intensive RP measures catching/deterring previous fare evaders?


Surprised that they haven't already. You are quite right about the line generally too - all those growth numbers are on top of large base figures - no 120% increases on 1,237 passengers the previous year.

The bulk of the passengers from Hanborough are going to stations that are gated and have been for some time in the shape of Oxford, Reading and Paddington, so not much chance to avoid paying. Didcot's more recent gates have probably covered the other key commuting destination as well now. Fundamentally the growth - and traffic has more than doubled at Hanborugh since 2010 - is down to more people using rail, aided and abetted by local circumstances on the roads around Oxford.

 

[Kite159]

They could improve services on the Swindon - Melksham - Salisbury corridor now by withdrawing GW from Brighton, and ceasing to run those odd couple of random extra trains to Southampton, IMHO. The total time spent by units on those services over the course of the day would allow a vast improvement to services through Melksham, and if they provided a good connection with the SWT stopper at Salisbury it could provide a good opportunity for longer journeys.

In the future they could consider joining the services and running a Swindon - Southampton - (Romsey) hourly service. Whether it was run by SWT or GWR wouldn't really matter.

Re-introduce Brighton services by all means if/when there is more stock around generally, or more electrification.

Or freeing up a couple units by cutting short the Cardiff - Portsmouth services at Southampton, with the Southampton - Portsmouth leg of the journey on a SWT 450, using the resources of 3rd rail. Agreed with the Brighton extensions, just seems a waste of a DMU when an EMU will do just fine (maybe a future use of the forum's favourite stock )

Try to extend the platform at Melksham so that a 2-car train can fit

 

[leytongabriel]

Methinks the Blackhorse Road figures for National Rail don't look right. Is this because people changing from the Victoria line who don't need to swipe the pink card readers aren't being counted?

 

[The Ham]

Or freeing up a couple units by cutting short the Cardiff - Portsmouth services at Southampton, with the Southampton - Portsmouth leg of the journey on a SWT 450, using the resources of 3rd rail. Agreed with the Brighton extensions, just seems a waste of a DMU when an EMU will do just fine (maybe a future use of the forum's favourite stock )

Try to extend the platform at Melksham so that a 2-car train can fit

An alternative is for the new GW franchise to order more AT300's given that the diesel running section could be getting shorter in CP6 if Salisbury to Southampton gets wired up (although this would still require diesel running between Southampton and Portsmouth if a third rail pickup isn't added).

I would suggest that it depends on what passenger loadings they get with the longer 16x's and how much they get in the way of other services between Cardiff and Bristol and if the 16x's are needed elsewhere and when & where should be wired up. Unfortunately by mid to late 2018 there may not have been much time for the 16x's to bed in, so IF AT300's were to be proposed it could be quite a risk.

 

[PR1Berske]

Stations registered as "Fylde" or "Blackpool" in order of percentage change year-on-year (or, to ensure I have 'belt and braces' on this, percentage change as calculated by Excel. Comprehensive education here, I can only go so far counting on fingers and toes.......)

(.....and including Poulton-le-Fylde, the town and station being within Wyre Borough, its omission would look rather odd...........)


*SLW Salwick (2,612 -12.76%)
*AFV Ansdell and Fairhaven (36,794 -12.00%)
*SQU Squires Gate (21,524 -7.67%)
*BPS Blackpool South (131,434 -3.90%)
*LAY Layton (74,116 -3.48%)
*LTM Lytham (87,662 -2,72%)
*SAS St Annes on Sea (131,166 -0.83%)
*KKM Kirkham and Wesham (245,806 +1.46%)
*PFY Poulton-le-Fylde (509,612 +5.76%)
*BPN Blackpool North (1,757,542 +6.35%)
*BPB Blackpool Pleasure Beach (109,172 +20.02%)
*MOS Moss Side (2,838 +21,91%)

 

[backontrack]

Hmm. Moss Side's gain is surprising.

 

[HMS Ark Royal]

What was Ardwick's figures for the year?

 

[backontrack]

What was Ardwick's figures for the year?

542, a decrease of 26 from last year. This follows a decline of 48 from the year before.