Lancashire’s busiest and quietest railway stations have been revealed in fresh data, as passenger numbers across the east of the county showed a significant rise.
The annual data, published by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) covering April 2024 to March 2025, details entries and exits at every station across Great Britain.
It shows strong numbers in much of East Lancashire, although some smaller local stops continue to attract only modest numbers.
Rail operator Northern said it was pleased to see higher numbers of passengers using the railways and said it has recently recorded its busiest month since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Blackburn remains comfortably the busiest station in East Lancashire with 1,297,980 entries and exits over the year.
That represents an increase of more than 53,000 on 2023/24, underlining its role as the area’s main rail hub and a key link to Manchester Victoria.
Darwen is again the second busiest in Blackburn with Darwen at 345,590 passengers, also rising on last year, with a jump of more than 43,000.
Across the wider East Lancashire patch, Burnley Manchester Road continues to be Burnley’s leading station, while Accrington holds its place at the top in Hyndburn.
In Pendle, the busiest station remains Nelson, and in the Ribble Valley, it is Clitheroe.
At the other end of the scale, Pleasington is the least-used station in East Lancashire, with only 9,764 passengers passing through in 2024/25, although that figure is still higher than the previous year.
Other lightly used East Lancashire stops include Hapton, Huncoat, and Church & Oswaldtwistle.
Looking at year-on-year patterns, several stations in East Lancashire have seen notable growth.
Blackburn, Darwen, Burnley Manchester Road, and Clitheroe all recorded increases on 2023/24.
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A smaller number saw falls, such as Mill Hill and Cherry Tree, although the decreases were relatively minor.
There were no stations in East Lancashire with dramatic declines, suggesting usage across the patch has broadly stabilised after a recovery period following the pandemic.
Across the whole of Lancashire, Preston remains the county’s busiest station overall, and one of the largest outside the major cities, with more than 5,300,000 entries and exits.
At the opposite extreme, the least-used station in all of Lancashire is Hoscar on the Manchester to Southport line, recording just 802 entries and exits for the year.
In the North West, Manchester Piccadilly, Liverpool Central, Liverpool Lime Street, Manchester Victoria, and Moorfields (Liverpool) make up the five busiest stations, with Preston ranking eighth in this list.
The least-used station in Britain is Elton and Orston in Nottinghamshire, with only 68 recorded entries and exits.
The country’s busiest station – as has been the case for several years – is London Liverpool Street, which recorded just over 98 million entries and exits.
Across Britain, the five least-used stations all recorded fewer than 150 annual entries and exits, several of these being rural halts, only having a handful of trains a week.
A spokesperson for Northern said: “We’re really pleased to see that demand for our services is rising and we recently recorded our busiest month since the pandemic.
“More people are choosing to travel by train for days out with friends and family, and we’re welcoming back a growing number of commuters as thousands return to the office.
“We have also been working hard to cut cancellations and improve reliability this year, to give customers the confidence to travel with us regularly.
“There are green shoots of progress, but we know more work needs to be done before we can deliver lasting improvements for our customers.”
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