Birmingham New Street Station declared busiest outside London - but our top 50 lists reveal some in our region are virtually deserted

Birmingham’s New Street Station has retained its position as Britain’s busiest outside London.

New figures reveal it stayed in 13th place in the rankings, but that its numbers have increased significantly compared to last year.

It saw more than 36.6 million people pass through in 2024-5, more than three million up on the previous year.

The figures reflect the mass return to the railways following a slump that came during the Covid lockdowns and the subsequent change in work and social patterns.

The statistics show that New Street has almost 10 million more passengers than Manchester Piccadilly and almost 11 million more than Glasgow Central, both stations that are linked to it via the West Coast mainline.

In contrast, some rural stations in our region made into the top 50 least u