It’s rail quiet at station with only three passengers a day

A MIDLAND rail station has been named as one of the least used in the country – while Birmingham New Street ranks seventh busiest.

Just 908 ‘entries and exits’ over 12 months were recorded at Polesworth, Tamworth, in 2015/16, which has only one train a day.

The Orchard Close station operates in only one direction (northbound) – the southbound platform is inaccessible.

The figures were released by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR).

Website rail.co.uk explains the strange situation: “Polesworth station, just north of Tamworth on the West Coast Main Line (WCML), has one train a day, the 6.35am from Northampton to Crewe which calls there at 7.23am. If any passenger wants to get there from the north, they have to travel to Rugby or Northampton to catch the daily early morning service because no southbound trains call there.”

While Polesworth may come bottom of the West Midlands ranking, it has a long way to go to beat Shippea Hill, Cambridgeshire, which recorded just 12 entries and exits.

London’s Waterloo Station proved the most popular, with an eye-watering 99,148,388 entries and exits. Victoria, Liverpool Street, Euston and London Bridge completed the top five London stations.

Birmingham New Street was the highest-ranked station outside of London, with 39,077,018, beating off competition from Glasgow Central, Leeds, Manchester Piccadilly and Edinburgh.

There were 5,825,477 inter- changes – travellers changing service – recorded at New Street, the fourth highest figure.

Bearley railway station, in south Warwickshire, was the second least used station in the West Midlands, catering for 1,062 entries and exits.

Broome came third with 1,564, while Hopton Heath and Bermuda Park completed the bottom five, with 1,754 entries and exits and 2,384 entries and exits respectively.

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