Cardiff Central railway station has experienced a loss of more than ten million passengers since the pandemic having fallen to the lowest level since Victorian times, shows new research from the Office for Rail and Road (ORR).
As with train stations across the Wales and the UK for the 12 months to the end of March this year (2020-21) passenger numbers declined sharply through the loss of train service capacity - which have only recently started to rebuild. Figures for 2022-23 are expected to be far higher, but still below pre-pandemic levels.
While Cardiff Central remained the busiest station in Wales, it had just under two million entries and exits, down from 12.7 million in 2019 -20 - representing a 84% decrease and the lowest level since at least 1872. The station opened in 1850.
Newport had just half a million visits (543,356). compared to 2.7 million in 2019-20.
Cardiff Queen Street had 472,914, down from 2.6 million, Swansea 468,824, down from just over two million and Bridgend 321,576, compared to 1.5 million.
Neath had 184,756, compared to 808,174. In North Wales Rhyl was down from 504,244 to 151,816 and Wrexham 501,800 to 128,238.
Nearly 200 railway stations across Britain had fewer than 1,000 entries and exits, with six recording no entries or exits during the last year as a result of services being temporarily suspended at the majority of these stations due to the pandemic.
Four of these were in Wales – Abererch (Gwynedd), Llanbedr (Gwynedd), and Sugar Loaf (Powys), which all had no entries and exits in 2020-21. These stations typically have very low passenger usage.
ORR’s stats reveal Stratford railway station in London as the most used station in Britain, recording nearly 14 million entries and exits in 2020-21.
It is the first time in 17 years that London Waterloo is not the most used station. The London station saw the biggest decrease in passenger usage, with 12.21 million entries and exits compared to the 86.9 million in 2019-20.
In Scotland, Glasgow Central remained the most used station with 5.3 million entries and exits, down from 32.5 million in 2019-20. Edinburgh (2.9 million), Glasgow Queen Street (2.3 million), Paisley Gilmour Street (982,530) and new entrant Partick (634,162) were also in the top five most used.
Last year’s least used station was Berney Arms (Norfolk, England) with 42 entries and exits. In 2020-21, the number of entries and exits at this station increased to 348, which was the biggest percentage increase of any station compared with the previous year.
Feras Alshaker, director of planning and performance at the ORR, said: “Throughout 2020-21 the railways remained an essential service for those people who needed to travel during a year which was impacted by the pandemic.
“Cardiff Central has consistently appeared as one of the most used stations outside of London and it is clear it remained a key destination for many passengers through the pandemic.
“This year we have seen many railway stations with very few passenger entries and exits. However, we know that recent figures show leisure journeys are nearly back to pre-pandemic levels, while there has been a slower increase in commuter journeys.”
