Article by Andrew Minnis, National Assembly for Wales Research Service
The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) published usage estimates for rail stations across England, Scotland and Wales for the period April 2012 to March 2013 on 27 February 2014.
The estimates, which are based on ticket sales data recorded in rail industry systems, can be accessed here. Instructions on how to filter the data are included.
The top ten Welsh stations are all in south Wales. Some key figures include:
- Cardiff Central Station is the most heavily used station in Wales with over 11.6 million passenger entries and exits – an increase of 130,146 (or 1.1%) compared to 2011-12;
- Cardiff Queen Street is second most heavily used station. It saw a slight rise in users of 6,318 (up 0.3% on the previous year);
- Cardiff Bay Station saw an increase of 75,744 entries and exits – a 9.5% increase;
- Trefforest saw a fall of 77,380, a decrease of 8.5%;
- In north Wales, the most heavily used stations are Bangor, which saw a 0.5% increase to 680,102 entries and exits, and Wrexham, which decreased by 1.2% to 615,306.
Table: Top ten most used stations in Wales based on estimated entries and exits for 2012/13
(Source: ORR)
