Find out which railway station was the busiest in the region last year

Official figures released for the year ending in March.

Author: Jonathan RichardsPublished 1st Dec 2020
Last updated 1st Dec 2020

Official stats from the Office of Rail and Road have revealed the busiest railway stations in the region.

Based on entrances and exits Reading is the third most popular station in the south-east with 16.7 million passengers last year.

Gatwick Airport's railway station was number 1 with more than 21 million passengers. Brighton with 17.3 million passengers came second.

Region's other main stations:

  • Andover 1.1 million
  • Basingstoke 5.7 million
  • Bracknell 2.1 million
  • Maidenhead 4.6 million
  • Newbury 1.8 million
  • Wokingham 2.3 million

Waterloo is Britain's busiest station with nearly 87 million passengers, while Paddington is London's 5th busiest station with 44.8 million passengers.

Jay Symonds, ORR senior statistical analyst, said:

“Despite the dramatic decline in passenger numbers towards the end of March due to Covid-19, Gatwick remains busiest station in south east England.

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

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

Britain’s least used station was Berney Arms in Norfolk which recorded 42 entries and exits during the year. The least used station in the south-east was Finstock in West Oxfordshire, with 1,542 entries and exits recorded last year.

There were six stations across Great Britain with fewer than 100 entries and exits.