Welcome to the Midlands' 'ghost station' with just one daily train and a passenger every three days

-Credit: (Image: Nigel Thompson)
-Credit: (Image: Nigel Thompson)


It has just one train a day and passengers need to be up with the lark to catch it - so it's no surprise it is the least-used railway station in the Midlands. Polesworth only offers passengers journeys in one direction and, according to online booking services, its only train of the day departs at around 6.50am.

Given the unpromising circumstances it's no great shock to discover just 118 passengers used the station in the year to March - an average of fewer than one every three days and officially making it the Midlands' least-used. According to an online rail booking service, travellers hoping to hit the rails have just one journey choice - northbound to Tamworth.

That's because the footbridge between its two platforms was removed during modernisation of the West Coast Main Line in 2005 and not replaced. The station is based at the end of a leafy cul-de-sac but there are few passengers to disturb residents.

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Polesworth's sole service is known as a Parliamentary Train and fulfils a train company’s obligation under the Parliament Act of 1844 to have at least one service per day. If you miss that, you're stuck in the village that supposedly inspired Shakespeare. No staff, seating or CCTV are in sight at the empty station.

At the other end of the scale, London's Liverpool Street was the UK's busiest station with 94.5 million entries and exits. And Birmingham New Street was the busiest outside London with 33.3 million entries and exits.

Denton in Greater Manchester was the least used nationally with 54 entries and exits. The statistics are estimates based mainly on ticket sales.

Glasgow Central was the most used station in Scotland with 25.0 million entries and exits. The most used station in Wales was Cardiff Central with 11.5 million entries and exits.

On a regional level, the busiest West Midlands stations were New Street with 33.3 million, Coventry at 6.5 million, Birmingham Moor Street at 6.4 million, Wolverhampton at 4.8 million and Birmingham Snow Hill at 4.7 million.

The ten most used stations (entries and exits) in Great Britain are:

A staff member pictured directing passengers on a platform at Birmingham New Street Station
Passengers using Birmingham New Street Station from this Sunday (November 10) are being urged to allow more time as Network Rail issues departure warning

London Liverpool Street - 94.5 million

London Paddington - 66.9 million

Tottenham Court Road - 64.2 million

London Waterloo - 62.5 million

Stratford (London) - 56.6 million

London Victoria - 50.8 million

London Bridge - 50.0 million

Farringdon - 46.0 million

Bond Street - 38.3 million

London Euston - 36.2 million

There were six stations with 150 or fewer entries and exits in the last year:

Denton, Greater Manchester - 54

Shippea Hill, Cambridgeshire - 70

Ince and Elton, Cheshire - 86

Polesworth, Warwickshire - 118

Reddish South, Greater Manchester - 128

Coombe Junction Halt, Cornwall - 140