Britain’s least used railway station was revealed as Berney Arms in Norfolk, which served only 42 passengers last year.
The station, a call-to-order stopover made up of one short platform, name plate and small wooden shelter, is located 30 minutes along a monorail from Norwich to Great Yarmouth and is named after a local pub that closed several years ago. It is located in sheltered marshes near the River Yari and at some distance from the nearest major road, and is usually only accessible on foot.
Berney Arms ranked last on railroad regulator passenger charts after losing 90% of its previous sponsorship due to a 10-month engineering business shutdown of the 2019-20 fiscal year. She returned to work in February, weeks before the Covid-19 pandemic led to advice to avoid public transportation.
The less-used combined stations in the previous year, Denton in Greater Manchester and Stanlow and Thornton in Cheshire, saw a surge in passenger numbers, with 92 and 82 respectively – a previous doubling figure for 2018-2019 of 46. The stations are believed to have relinquished the title in part due to visits Enthusiasts looking for them, according to the Bureau of Railways and Roads.
ORR said a total of six stations had fewer than 100 passengers over the year. Many could compete to join a club of under 100 in the next year due to the effects of the pandemic, which is Reducing the total number of UK rail passengers By more than 90% in the spring and letting them hover at around 30% of pre-Covid levels.
“With the numbers remaining at historically low levels throughout 2020, there is no doubt that next year’s numbers will look much different,” said Jay Symonds, chief statistical analyst at ORR.
At the other end of the scale, London Waterloo Station remained the busiest railroad in Britain, for the 16th year in a row, with nearly 87 million entries and exits – down 8% due to strikes in 2019 as well as the early impact of the coronavirus. Birmingham was the busiest station outside London, with 46.5 million passengers, followed by Glasgow Central with 32.5 million.
