Norfolk Berney Arms: How the country's quietest rail station bounced back

It used to be one of the country's best kept secrets - but not any more.

This time last year the remote Berney Arms platform, hidden deep in the Norfolk Broads, was the least-used railway station in the country with just 42 passengers visiting the request stop on the Norwich to Great Yarmouth line.

But the publicity surrounding that announcement led to a huge surge in visitors over the past year - with passenger figures now reaching a dizzying 348 in the past 12 months.

Still not many, admittedly, but at almost one a day, it represents an eightfold increase - the biggest increase in the country.

Another familiar station for travellers from the East - Stratford on the main Norwich to London is now listed as the busiest in the country with 14 million people passing through in the year to March.

It's the first time in 17 years that another London station - Waterloo - has not topped the list.

Six stations had no passengers in 2020/21, mainly due to services being suspended because of the Covid crisis.

They were: Abererch, Gwynedd; Beasdale, Highland; Llanbedr, Gwynedd; Sampford Courtenay, Devon; Stanlow and Thornton, Cheshire; and Sugar Loaf, Powys.

Across the country passenger numbers were down by 78% because of the pandemic.