How many passengers travelled from each Northamptonshire railway station during the past year?

Our railway stations here in Northamptonshire noticed a passenger boost last year – but most have failed to recover to pre-pandemic levels.

A predicted slump in overall passenger numbers following the rise in home-working looks to have set in, with the stations across Northamptonshire seeing a collective 4.86 million passengers travelling to and from stations in across Northamptonshire during 2022/23.

The previous year there were 4.05 million journeys to and from our stations. But at a peak in 2017/8, there were 5.99 million passengers moving in and out of the county’s stations.

Two stations – Corby and Kettering – have more passengers now than in pre-pandemic years, with Corby up a quarter on the previous year.

The government Office of Rail and Road estimates, compiled by the Office for National Statistics, show those who passed through stations between April 1, 2022 and the end of March 2023.

Across the wider country, London Liverpool Street replaced London Waterloo as the most used railway station in Great Britain. The opening of the Elizabeth line was a principal contributing factor in the almost 80.4 million entries and exits to Liverpool Street, an increase of about 50 million.

The least-used station that was open throughout the whole year was Denton in Greater Manchester with 34 recorded entries and exits.

Here’s how each of our stations fared.

Northampton

A total of 2,407,228 passengers moved through Northampton railway station last year. The station was the busiest in the county. Most passengers, a total of 1,119,894, were travelling to and from London Euston.

About 340,916 passengers paid the full fare. An estimated 1,771,788 rail users were travelling on reduced fare tickets and 294,524 of them were season ticket holders.

But the town has failed to see a return to the passenger numbers of pre-pandemic years. In 2018/19 passenger numbers peaked at 3,331,000. This year’s numbers are similar to those seen in 2010/11.

Corby

Corby reorded a huge boost in passenger numbers during the past year and was one of the country’s biggest success stories in terms of rail travel. The flourishing town recorded 402,244 passengers travelling to and from the railway station during 2022/3. That’s double the number that used the station a decade ago and a quarter more than used the station in the year leading up to the pandemic.

Of those passengers, 207,806 travelled to and from London St Pancras.

It’s thought the boost could have been because of a spike in the number of house completions and Corby being marketed as an attractive and low-cost place to live for people fleeing the capital for a slower pace of life.

But passengers have also reported struggling to find places to park their cars when travelling from the station, with no planned increase to car parking at the facility.

Of those using the station; 60,470 paid full fare; 305,026 took advantage of cut-price fares and 36,748 travelled on season tickets.

Back in 2009/10 when the station first opened, there were 115,000 passengers.

Wellingborough

About 738,900 passengers passed through Wellingborough’s station last year, with 437,574 of them travelling to and from London St Pancras.

The station struggled to recover from its pre-pandemic high of 1,015,834 passengers in 2017/18.

Wellingborough has, like Corby, seen a spike in its population but has not seen a commensurate boost in rail passengers.

Of the station’s total passengers last year, 94,756 were on full-price tickets and 476,412 travelled on cut-price fares. There were 167,732 journeys made using season tickets.

Kettering

Kettering was once a flourishing railway town and in 1857, when the town’s station opened, there was a public holiday to celebrate. Although the station is no longer the town’s focal point, it is still an important interchange for people coming to and from Kettering.

Passenger numbers have already recovered since the pandemic. In 2022/3 there were 1,007,900 journeys made from the station, which was a slight dip on the previous year when 1,113,000 people travelled to and from Kettering.

Numbers are similar to those from 2007/8.

Of those who travelled to and from Kettering last year, 460,738 went to and from London St Pancras.

Long Buckby

The popular commuter station which sits just four miles from Daventry and is a pull for those fleeing London life for countryside living, recorded 250,046 journeys in 2022/23 – well down on pre-pandemic numbers. About 68,514 of those journeys were to and from London Euston.

About 50,262 were travelling on full-price tickets and 171,142 were on discounted fares. There were 28,642 journeys made on season tickets.

Back in 2018/9 at its peak, the station saw 393,560 journeys.

King’s Sutton

The small station near Banbury has not recovered well since the pandemic. In 2019/20 there were 82,796 journeys from the station. But in 2022/23 just 54,582 passengers travelled to and from the station.

Most of those, about 20,000, were travelling to nearby Banbury.

About 20,304 were travelling on full price tickets; 27,988 got discounted fares and 6,290 journeys were made on season tickets.

Other stations

The busiest station in the East Midlands was Nottingham, with 6.7m passengers in 2022/23. Leicester had 4.86m passengers. Nearby Market Harborough had 763,000 passengers – more than Wellingborough and Corby.

Oakham, a small market town in Rutland, had 173,176 passengers.

London St Pancras, which is the destination for hundreds of thousands of passengers from our area each year, recorded 33.3 million journeys.