Where are the busiest train stations in Manchester?

Undated file photo of a person buying a train ticket. English rail fares will rise by up to 8% in 2024 if the Government uses the same formula as this year, new figures show. The Department for Transport (DfT) aligned this year's cap on train fare increases with Britain's average earnings growth for July 2022, which was 5.9%. Figures published by the Office for National Statistics on Tuesday show the same measure for July 2023 was 8%. Issue date: Tuesday September 12, 2023.

We looked at the latest government figures to reveal the busiest train stations in Manchester last year.

Office for Rail and Road data looks at the number of people entering and exiting every train station in the country, including the 15 stations for which data was collected in Manchester.

Its figures show 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.

But what about in Manchester? Here were the most used stations in the year to March.

The Top Five Stations

1. Manchester Piccadilly

With 23.6 million entries and exits into the station in 2022-23, Manchester Piccadilly station topped the charts as the busiest train station in Manchester.

2. Manchester Victoria

This was followed by Manchester Victoria station, which saw people enter and exit 7 million times last year.

3. Manchester Oxford Road

In third was Manchester Oxford Road – 4.7 million entries and exits were recorded there.

4. Manchester Airport

Just behind on 3.9 million entries and exits was Manchester Airport.

5. Deansgate

And rounding out the top five was Deansgate, with 968,000 entries and exits.

Elsewhere in Britain

Birmingham New Street and Leeds joined Manchester Piccadilly as the busiest stations outside London.

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

Michael Solomon Wiliams, campaigns manager of the Campaign for Better Transport, said: "It’s encouraging to see that station usage is on the rise, but to continue this upward trend and surpass pre-pandemic numbers, rail needs to be better value and more reliable.

"Instead of implementing another record-high increase, the Government should freeze rail fares as it has fuel duty and make green public transport cheaper".