Devon's busiest and quietest train stations revealed

Devon's busiest and quietest train stations have been revealed, with one rural stop seeing fewer than 200 passengers a year. Exeter St David's has overtaken Exeter Central to become the busiest railway station in the County.

There were a total of 2.62 million entries and exits through the Exeter St David's  turnstiles in the year up to March 2023, according to the latest information from the Office for Rail and Road. That's an increase of over 400,000 journeys compared to the previous year, and makes it the 173rd busiest station in Britain.

Exeter Central is the next busiest in the County, with a total of 2.61 million entries and exits. That’s up by 364,280 compared to last year, which wasn’t enough to hold off St David’s challenge to take the county’s top spot.

But while numbers are soaring in Exeter, it's a different picture in other parts of the county. Chapelton, on the Tarka Line in North Devon, had the fewest journeys in the County. Just 194 entries and exits were made at the station. It is one of the least busy in the country. Only 13 other stations in Britain had fewer passengers, and two of those were closed for most of the year.

Station: Entries and exits
Exeter St David's: 2,617,322
Exeter Central: 2,608,384

Exmouth: 898,376
Digby and Sowton: 890,980
Teignmouth: 691,384

Dawlish : 510,574

Axminster: 366,450

Honiton: 288,228
Exeter St Thomas: 264,396
Dawlish Warren: 233,060

Topsham: 227,632
Pinhoe: 166,352
Polsloe Bridge: 159,258
Newcourt: 145,908
Crediton : 133,176
St James Park (Exeter): 122,814
Starcross: 107,120
Cranbrook (Devon): 103,238

Lympstone Commando: 83,160
Lympstone Village: 83,042
Feniton: 52,048

Whimple: 39,808

Exton: 23,370

A total of 1.39 billion passenger journeys were made on the railways between April 2022 and March 2023. That’s a 40% increase compared to the previous year when there were 990.0 million journeys.