Press releases

Edinburgh sees biggest jump in station usage in Scotland

27 February 2014

Content archived on 29 March 2024

Archive date
02 July 2021
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Glasgow Central remains the most heavily used station in Scotland during 2012-13 with a growth of 2.2% compared to 2011-12. Despite a larger growth rate of 4.9%, Edinburgh remains 8.3 million entries and exits behind Glasgow Central.

The station usage data for Scotland for the period between April 2012 - March 2013 also shows that:

  • Aberdeen saw a sharp rise in usage by 167,608 entries and exits – a 5.3% jump compared to 2011-12.
  • Haymarket Station saw the largest decline in usage with a reduction in entries and exits by 41,428 – a 2% decrease.
  • Glasgow Queen Street continued to attract nearly the same number visitors with an increase of 80,040 entries and exits – a 0.5% rise on the year before.

Top 10 most used stations in Scotland based on estimated entries and exits for 2012/13

Station

2012-13 entries & exits

2011-12 entries & exits

% change

GB rank 2012-13

GB rank 2011-12

Glasgow Central

           27,185,020

           26,610,016

2.2

10

10

Edinburgh

           18,879,684

           17,992,340

4.9

20

20

Glasgow Queen Street

           16,452,000

           16,371,960

0.5

22

22

Paisley Gilmour Street

              3,745,156

              3,640,560

2.9

108

105

Aberdeen

              3,338,072

              3,170,464

5.3

132

130

Partick

              2,590,924

              2,494,230

3.9

188

189

Stirling

              2,238,146

              2,261,826

-1.0

228

215

Haymarket

              2,030,300

              2,071,728

-2.0

260

242

Charing Cross (Glasgow)

              2,026,602

              2,046,688

-1.0

262

246

Dundee

              1,690,486

              1,723,018

-1.9

305

295

To view the full estimates of station usage dataset and accompanying report, see https://orr.gov.uk/statistics/published-stats/station-usage-estimates 

ORR will host a live Twitter Q&A with a senior data analyst today (Thursday, 27 February) between 14:00 and 15:00. Send us your questions @railregulation on the methodology, improvements to the data quality or ORR's wider statistical work using #openrail

Notes to editors

  1. ORR is the independent safety and economic regulator for Great Britain's railways. Follow ORR on Twitter @railregulation.
  2. Estimates of station usage statistics record the number of passengers travelling to and from each station (entries and exits) in England, Scotland and Wales. Figures are based on ticket sales data recorded in rail industry systems.
  3. There are limitations to the dataset, as the figures are estimates and do not represent exact numbers. There have been a number of methodological improvements to the data in 2012-13 and details of these can be found in the report that accompanies the release.
  4. The figures are presented in alphabetical order according to station name but can be reordered by a variety of categories – e.g. number of passenger entries and exits, country or region, county or unitary authority. Guidance notes on how to filter the data are published alongside the Excel spreadsheet.

Table: Top 10 most used stations in England, Scotland and Wales based on estimated entries and exits for 2012/13

Station

2012-13 entries & exits

2011-12 entries & exits

% change

GB rank 2012-13

GB rank 2011-12

Waterloo

           95,936,542

           94,127,282

1.9

1

1

Victoria

           77,346,676

           76,163,428

1.6

2

2

Liverpool Street

           58,448,814

           57,105,400

2.4

3

3

London Bridge

           53,351,116

           52,603,158

1.4

4

4

Charing Cross

           38,607,238

           38,113,546

1.3

5

5

Euston

           38,299,206

           36,520,544

4.9

6

6

Paddington

           34,143,220

           33,709,272

1.3

7

7

Birmingham New Street

           32,090,346

           31,235,638

2.7

8

8

King's Cross

           28,454,460

           27,840,484

2.2

9

9

Glasgow Central

           27,185,020

           26,610,016

2.2

10

10