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Greater Manchester residents frequently complain about train services, but now the region has a different kind of train news: it’s home to two of the least-used stations in Great Britain. The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) recently published data revealing station usage across the country between April 2024 and March 2025, highlighting the most and least-used stations in Great Britain based on the number of entries and exits.
Greater Manchester is home to two of the least-used train stations
Coming in first place as Great Britain’s least used station was Elton and Orston in Nottinghamshire, with just 68 recorded entries and exits. It was also the least used station in the period from April 2021 to March 2022.
Shippea Hill in Cambridgeshire (76) and Ince and Elton in Cheshire (98) also feature among the quietest stations. However, Denton in Greater Manchester – last year’s least used station – is now fourth, after the number of entries and exits nearly doubled compared to the previous year. And in fifth place for another year, with 102 combined entries and exits, was Greater Manchester’s Reddish South.
Conveniently located near the city and the Peak District, the East Manchester suburb of Denton boasts local gems like Ornella’s Kitchen. While one might expect its station to be as busy as others near the city centre, the Office of Road and Rail (ORR) data revealed that it logged a mere 100 combined entries and exits throughout the entire year (April 2024–March 2025), up from 54.
However, all is not lost for Denton station as Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) recently announced that plans to use the underused rail line to connect more people to the Metrolink network via a tram-train route are being considered. Services would run on both tram and train tracks, going beyond Stockport town centre along the Denton rail line, linking the area to Tameside and Manchester Airport.
The top five least-used train stations in Great Britain
- Elton and Orston, Nottinghamshire: 68
- Shippea Hill, Cambridgeshire: 76
- Ince and Elton, Cheshire: 98
- Denton, Greater Manchester: 100
- Reddish South, Greater Manchester: 102
Credit: Network Rail
The top 10 most used stations in Great Britain outside London
Of course, the data by ORR showed that London stations had the top 10 busiest train station spots, with London Liverpool Street dominating once again at a whopping 98 million entries and exits, and outside of London, Birmingham New Street and our very own Manchester Piccadilly took the top two spots, with 36.6 million and 27.4 million users respectively.
Find the full data and other findings on the ORR website.