These were the busiest Yorkshire railway stations in the run-up to the pandemic

Leeds was the busiest railway station across Yorkshire and the North East with more than 31 million people coming or going in the year leading up to the pandemic, new figures have revealed.
Leeds was the busiest railway station across Yorkshire and the North East with more than 31 million people coming or going in the year leading up to the pandemic, new figures have revealed.Leeds was the busiest railway station across Yorkshire and the North East with more than 31 million people coming or going in the year leading up to the pandemic, new figures have revealed.
Leeds was the busiest railway station across Yorkshire and the North East with more than 31 million people coming or going in the year leading up to the pandemic, new figures have revealed.

Figures published today by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) reveal that Leeds ranked as the 13th busiest station across Great Britain and saw passenger numbers increase by 182,000 between April 1, 2019, and March 31, 2020.

Sheffield (10,094,758), York (10,089,306), Newcastle (8,815,096) and Huddersfield (4,769, 384) stations made up the remainder of the top five most used stations across the region.

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The least used station in the region was Hensall, in North Yorkshire, with only 170 entries and exits recorded last year.

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The numbers are revealed in the ORR’s estimate of station usage statistics, which officially records the annual total of passenger entries and exits. Waterloo station topped the chart for the sixteenth consecutive year despite a decrease in numbers.

The decline in usage across Great Britain can be partly attributed to the dramatic fall in passenger numbers towards the end March of this year following the impact of COVID-19.

Britain’s least used station was Berney Arms in Norfolk which recorded 42 entries and exits during the year.

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Jay Symonds, ORR senior statistical analyst, said: “Despite the dramatic decline in passenger numbers towards the end of March due to Covid-19, Leeds remains the busiest station across Yorkshire and the North East.

“Nationally, Waterloo remains top but we saw a change in the least used station with Berney Arms taking the spot from Denton and Stanlow & Thornton.

“With numbers staying at historically low levels during 2020, there is no doubt that next year’s figures will look a lot different.”

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