Coventry station is one of fastest growing in country

COVENTRY railway station is the fastest growing outside of London and saw passenger numbers shoot up by a massive 700,000 over the last year, it has been revealed.

The station saw almost seven million passengers travel to or from it between 2015 and 2016.

In all 6,921,432 million passengers travelled through the station during the year, up from around 6.252 million in 2014/15.

That equates to 18,962 passengers a day.

The latest figures meant Coventry was the second busiest station in the West Midlands after Birmingham New Street, which saw annual passenger numbers of 39,077,018 and 271,639 passengers each day on average.

Virgin Trains says it has seen a 30 per cent increase in passenger numbers between Coventry and Birmingham.

Despite the surge in passengers, capacity is not a pressing issue in Coventry, though a £31m masterplan which is already under way is set to not only transform the station but the area around it.

Due to be completed by 2019, it includes a new station building, a multi-storey car park and a new platform, which will enable the service to the Ricoh Arena railway station to be enhanced at busy times.

The masterplan is partly driven by the fact Coventry has the fastest-growing train station, in terms of passenger numbers, outside of London.

Coventry pipped Birmingham Moor Street station to second spot in the region. It also saw more than 400,000 interchanges - people changing train - over the course of the year. The year saw a programme of upgrades completed at Coventry, including a revamped ticket hall featuring new ticket machines and ticket barriers, with further improvements in the pipeline.

Moor Street, Birmingham’s second busiest station, saw 6,874,222 passengers travel through it.

The fourth busiest station in the West Midlands was Birmingham International in Solihull, which recorded passenger numbers of 5,772,848, while Wolverhampton took fifth spot with a total of 4,746,338.

Meanwhile two stations in Warwickshire were the least busy in the region – and the country.

Polesworth in north Warwickshire saw 908 entries and exits while Bearley in south Warwickshire had 1,062. Birmingham New Street was also the busiest station in the country outside London and the seventh busiest in the country.