Glasgow Central remains Scotland's busiest railway station

Glasgow Central remained the busiest station in Scotland with 15.3 million entries and exits between April 2021 and March, earlier this year.

This is up from 5.3 million last year (April 2020 to March 2021), but still considerably short of the 32.5 million during April 2019 to March 2020.

Edinburgh was the second most used station with 13.6 million entries and exits and Glasgow Queen Street was the third most used station (8.5 million).

Following the same order as last year, Paisley Gilmour Street (2.1 million) and Partick (1.7 million) completed the top five most used rail stations in the country.

The numbers are revealed in the Office of Rail and Road’s (ORR) estimates of station usage statistics for April 2021 to March 2022, which include the annual total of passenger entries and exits at each of the 2,570 stations in Great Britain.

Scotscalder station in northern Scotland recorded the least number of passenger entries and exits with 116.

ORR’s statistics show London’s railway stations were the most used, with London Waterloo regaining its top spot with 41.4 million passenger entries and exits between April 2021 and March 2022.

Again, a number that is some way short of the estimate of 86.9 million from two years ago.

London Victoria retained its position as the second most used station with 36.8 million, while London Bridge stayed in third spot with 33.3 million entries and exits.

London Stratford dropped down to fifth with 28.2 million, although that is more than double last year’s estimate.

There are eight stations that serve the capital in the top 10, and are joined by Birmingham New Street which remained in eighth place (22.7 million) and Manchester Piccadilly, which moved up from last year’s 18th to this year’s 10th (19.6 million).

Feras Alshaker, Director of Planning and Performance at the Office of Rail and Road said: “It is heartening to see passengers return to travelling by rail following what was a difficult period for the industry during the pandemic.

"There’s still some way to go in order for station usage figures to return to pre-pandemic levels.

“Once again it is important to thank all those in the rail industry, who continue to work hard to help people travel safely and with confidence.”

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.