Earlier this week somewhat startling fact appeared before me which admittedly I’d heard about last year and forgotten – but one which shows just how incredibly popular the Elizabeth line station has become.
Looking into station usage figures for a future article (as you do) which were released last year – as I wanted to compare Abbey Wood station to previous levels – I again saw just how popular it is.
Looking at the numbers I arranged them in order of usage and amazingly Abbey Wood is now above city centre stations in Newcastle, Sheffield and Bristol Temple Meads for passengers to name but three.
Incredibly it also sees more passengers a year than Stansted airport.
Abbey Wood!
My sleepy home town most people in London have no clue about.
The zone 4 station is now busier than London Fenchurch Street as well as Nottingham, Oxford and Cambridge.
Stansted Airport sees fewer passengers than Abbey Wood
Woolwich
Woolwich is even more popular and above Liverpool Central and Cardiff in the rankings. Building just one station entrance with a limited number of escalators looks ever more a silly move.
It’s not too late to rectify as hundreds of homes above the eastern entrance are in for planning but it seems extremely unlikely.
What’s more impressive about Abbey Wood is this is happening despite many proposed development sites around the station going nowhere fast.
Peabody have completed just one plot of seven after 11 years in control at south Thamesmead.
That doesn’t include their other substantial site in Abbey Wood seconds from the railway station (Cross Quarter phase two) where no housing plans have ever emerged after 11 years.
A proposed tower nearby (not from Peabody) is yet to be decided while another site is long stalled on Eynsham Drive. Lyndean estate plans have also never been submitted and the former Post Office site development has stalled half way through with the concrete frame in situ.
Peabody also sat on the former Harrow Inn pub site for years doing nothing after gaining planning approval. There’s so many sites in the station’s vicinity that’ll one day bring thousands more homes around the station, but for now they aren’t and still the station is doing amazing numbers.
Popularity
The Elizabeth line is a major magnet for people from miles around yet it also again highlights just how baffling it was that Southeastern cut services from many areas of south east London and north Kent linking to the station for onward interchange.
Those cuts were forced through in 2022 by the Conservative government. Labour in opposition opposed.
Current Housing Minister opposed cuts in opposition
Now in power they’ve still not reversed many cuts and the forthcoming December timetable which will run until summer 2026 sees no increase in services between Abbey Wood and north Kent meaning it will be at least two years in power before improvements occur – if they do.
What’s more odd is the current government continually talk about new housing and transport links yet in north Kent some of the biggest growth in housing across the entire country can be seen near existing stations with few services connecting them to the Elizabeth line.
It’s not like this area is unknown to ministers given Matt Pennycook is the MP for Woolwich and Greenwich as well as Housing Minister. The Transport Secretary is Heidi Alexander who was once Deputy Mayor for Transport under Sadiq Khan.
A bit of joined up thinking wouldn’t go amiss. A government and ministers seeking new housing, new housing being built around an existing line connecting to the very popular Elizabeth line and yet no service improvements. That’s not sensible governance is it?