New data from regulator the Office of Rail and Road shows there were 2.6 million recorded passenger entries and exits across the 17 stations in Northumberland in the year to March – up 2% on 2020, when there were 2.5 million entries and exits.
Nationally, the total number of passenger entries and exits reached 2.9 billion – just shy of the 3 billion pre-pandemic peak in 2019-20. It is the closest the number of journeys on the nation's rail system has come to recovering to pre-pandemic levels.
London Liverpool Street retained its title of Britain’s busiest station as passenger numbers using it soared.
The estimated number of entries and exits in the year to March was 94.5 million – up 14.1 million on 2022-23, which is largely due to increased usage of the Elizabeth Line.
London Paddington maintained its position at number two with 66.9 million entries and exits.
The busiest stations in England outside London were Birmingham New Street (33.3 million entries and exits), Manchester Piccadilly (25.8 million), and Leeds (24.9 million).
Glasgow Central (25 million) had the most journeys in Scotland, while Cardiff Central (11.5 million) took top spot in Wales.
Newcastle was the busiest in the North East with 9.1 million.
Silviya Barrett from the Campaign for Better Transport said: "It’s extremely encouraging to see that station usage is almost back to its pre-pandemic level, and that more people are choosing to travel sustainably by train.
"Attracting passengers back onto the railways should be a vital part of the government’s plans to tackle the climate crisis, and we hope to see further expansion of the rail network as we have this past year with the opening of seven new stations."
Here are the Northumberland stations in reverse ranking order...
1. Acklington
Acklington takes 17th and final position with just 550 passenger entries and exits recorded although this is an increase from 434 the previous year. Photo: Jane Coltman
