The busiest and quietest train stations around Southampton and the New Forest over the last year have been revealed.

Data from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has given commuters an insight into just how many people entered and exited their train station between April 2023 and March 2024.

Around Southampton and the New Forest, it comes at no surprise that Southampton Central was the busiest station, with an estimated 5,795,080 using the platforms on Blechynden Terrace.

The data believes that 1,140,930 of those people used full price tickets and a massive 379,208 had season passes.

This was the busiest year at Southampton Central since 2019-20 and a 300,000 increase from 2022-23.

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In contrast, only an estimated 16,038 entered or exited Beaulieu Road, which was the 2,288th busiest station out of the 2,589 in the UK.

ORR believe that 13,308 of those used reduced price tickets.

Only 804 used their season pass to go to Beaulieu Road.

Winchester welcomed 4,210,456 – the 125th busiest in the UK – while Southampton Airport Parkway enticed 1,217,108.

ORR get this data by pulling the statistics from LENNON (Latest Earnings Networked Nationally Over Night), which is currently the rail industry’s central ticketing and revenue system.

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It allows ORR to see which tickets were sold and where they were used, meaning that they can pull estimations of station usage throughout the year.

A spokesperson for ORR said on their website: “These data sources and the methodology used provide the best approach possible given Great Britain does not have a fully gated rail network or robust count data for every station.

“It is important to take time to implement the detailed methodology, collect additional data and carry out a series of quality assurance checks to ensure the final data are as accurate as possible.”

Full list of estimated people entering and exiting at stations around Southampton and the New Forest

  • Ashurst New Forest – 101,806
  • Beaulieu Road – 16,038
  • Bitterne – 71,222
  • Botley – 135,316
  • Brockenhurst – 838,388
  • Bursledon – 58,546
  • Chandler’s Ford – 145,804
  • Eastleigh – 1,146,726 (447th in UK)
  • Hamble – 76,424
  • Hedge End – 362,630 (983rd in UK)
  • Hinton Admiral – 125,244
  • Lymington Pier – 90,722
  • Lymington Town – 230,566
  • Millbrook – 29,128
  • Mottisfont and Dunbridge – 24,978 (2194th in UK)
  • Netley – 74,046
  • New Milton – 517,988
  • Redbridge – 30,304
  • Romsey – 422,312
  • Shawford – 119,400
  • Sholing – 87,902 (1764th in UK)
  • Southampton Airport Parkway – 1,217,108 (418th in UK)
  • Southampton Central – 5,795,080 (84th in UK)
  • St Denys – 208,102
  • Swanwick – 504,370
  • Sway – 74,624
  • Totton – 202,736
  • Winchester – 4,210,456 (125st in UK)
  • Woolston – 103,844