Leicester tops ‘least railway stations per population’ poll

Leicester has the fewest number of railway stations per population, reveals new research by the Press Association.

The city has just one station serving almost 350,000 people.

Hull is in second place with a single station serving nearly 260,000 people, while Oldham is third with one for 230,000 residents.

At the peak of the railway boom in the late 19th century, Leicester boasted four mainline stations. This number fell to just one in the 1960s.

Campaign for Better Transport’s Leicestershire chairman, Terry Kirby, said public transport in the area “could be a lot better”.

He continued: “We’ve struggled for 20 to 30 years. Leicester station is busy. There are only four platforms.

“Cardiff is a similar sized city but it has more than a dozen stations.”

The Welsh capital has 20 stations, which works out as one per 17,858 people.

Calls to reopen the Ivanhoe line, which runs from Leicester to Burton-upon-Trent, have been ongoing for two decades.

But Mr Kirby said transport campaigners had been “banging heads against a brick wall” because of opposition due to the cost of the scheme, estimated in 2008 to be almost £50 million.

The City of London was found to top the list of the highest concentration of stations per population , with one for every 1,460 residents.

Outside of London, the built-up area with the most stations per population is Scarborough, where one station serves 7,707 people.

Here is the top 10 places in Britain with the fewest number of railway stations per population:

1. Leicester: one station per 342,627 people

2. Hull: one per 258,995

3. Oldham: one per 230,823

4. Northampton: one per 222,462

5. Swindon: one per 217,160

6. Peterborough: one per 193,980

7. Oxford: one per 159,574

8. Nottingham: one per 159,451

9. Preston: one per 141,302

10. Norwich: one per 138,872