London Liverpool Street retains title of Britain’s busiest railway station

London Liverpool Street has retained its title of Britain’s busiest railway station as passenger numbers soared, new figures show.

The estimated number of entries and exits at Liverpool Street in the year to the end of March was 94.5 million, regulator the Office of Rail and Road said.

That is up 14.1 million from 80.4 million in 2022/23, which is largely due to increased usage of the Elizabeth line.

In second place, London Paddington maintained its position in the most recent year with 66.9 million entries and exits.

Tottenham Court Road, which is only served by Elizabeth line trains, rose from seventh spot to third place, with 64.2 million entries and exits.

The Elizabeth line stretches from Reading in Berkshire and Heathrow Airport in west London to Abbey Wood in south-east London and Shenfield in Essex.

It runs via tunnels built by the Crossrail project between Paddington in west London and Abbey Wood. The line opened in May 2022.

London Waterloo held the title of Britain’s busiest railway station for all but one of the 18 years up to and including 2021/22, but has now fallen to fourth place with 62.5 million entries and exits. It is only used for South Western Railway services.

The busiest stations in England outside London were Birmingham New Street (33.3 million entries and exists), Manchester Piccadilly (25.8 million) and Leeds (24.9 million).

Estimates of entries and exits are largely based on ticket sales.

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