Elizabeth Line means London Liverpool Street is now Britain's busiest railway station

Commuters at Liverpool Street train station, London, as Plan B measures are lifted in England. Face coverings will no longer be mandatory in any setting, and the NHS Covid Pass will no longer be compulsory for entry into nightclubs and other large venues. Picture date: Thursday January 27, 2022.
Commuters at Liverpool Street train station Credit: PA

London’s Liverpool Street station has replaced Waterloo as the busiest in Britain, new figures show. The number of entries and exits at Liverpool Street was 80.4 million in the year to the end of March, regulator the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) said. The year-on-year increase of around 50 million was attributed to the opening of the Elizabeth line railway, which serves the station. The Elizabeth line also caused Paddington to rise to second place with 59.2 million entries and exits. Waterloo fell to third place with 57.8 million entries and exits.

Howard Smith, Elizabeth line Director, said: “The Elizabeth line has been a transformational new railway for London, connecting east and west through ten modern stations, with around 4.3 million journeys being made each week and more than 270 million journeys since it opened last year. “Liverpool Street, Paddington, Farringdon, Tottenham Court Road and Stratford all being in the top ten busiest stations in the UK, and four of the ten most popular journeys being on the Elizabeth line, shows the popularity of the railway and how it has offered new journey options in London and beyond, as well as a new direct route to Heathrow Airport.”

The busiest stations outside London were Birmingham New Street (30.7 million), Leeds (24.0 million) and Manchester Piccadilly (23.6 million).

Glasgow Central was the most used station in Scotland (20.8 million) and Cardiff Central topped the list in Wales (10.2 million). ORR director of planning and performance Feras Alshaker said: “The full opening of the Elizabeth line has changed the way people travel into and across the capital. “Waterloo had been the busiest station in Britain for all but one of the previous 18 years.” The least used station that was open throughout the whole year was Denton, Greater Manchester, with 34 entries and exits. Only two entries and exits were recorded at Teesside Airport station, but its once-a-week Sunday service was suspended in May 2022 after the platform was classified as unsafe.

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