News

Busiest train station in Barnet revealed

Mill Hill Broadway station was the busiest in the area, with 1.6 million entries and exits reports Andrew Dowdeswell, Data Reporter

Mill Hill Broadway station, platform with sign and seating area, in semi-dark
Mill Hill Broadway station

The busiest train station in Barnet has been revealed.

Office for Rail and Road data looks at the number of people entering and exiting every train station across Great Britain.

Its figures show Mill Hill Broadway station was the busiest in the area, with 1.6 million entries and exits recorded in the year to March.

This was followed by New Barnet in second on 1.1 million.

In third was Hendon with 884,000, while 821,000 entries and exits saw Cricklewood finish in fourth, and Oakleigh Park rounded out the top five on 734,000.

Elsewhere in Britain

Liverpool Street in London overtook Waterloo as the most-used station in Great Britain, which the ORR attributed to the opening of London’s latest train service, the Elizabeth Line.

Waterloo had been the busiest station in the country in all but one of the previous 18 years, but it even dropped to third in the year to March behind Paddington, also on the Elizabeth Line.

The busiest stations outside London were Birmingham New Street, Leeds and Manchester Piccadilly.

Glasgow Central was the most used station in Scotland, and Cardiff Central topped the list in Wales.

The least used station that was open throughout the whole year was Denton in Greater Manchester, with 34 entries and exits.

Teesside Airport station in Darlington recorded two entries and exits, but its once-a-week Sunday service was suspended in May 2022 after the platform was judged to be unsafe.

In total, there were 2.5 billion entries and exits across Great Britain in 2022-23, a significant increase from 1.8 billion the year before, but still below the 3 billion entries and exits in 2019-20, before the coronavirus pandemic.

What they said

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.”

Transport for London’s Elizabeth line director Howard Smith said: “The Elizabeth line has been a transformational new railway for London, connecting east and west through 10 modern stations, with around 4.3 million journeys being made each week and more than 270 million journeys since it opened last year.”


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