It’s official: 9 of the UK’s busiest train routes are in London

With its many different lines and (usually) frequent services, London’s transport network is the envy of the rest of the UK. The capital is certainly spoiled for choice when it comes to trains, but there’s good reason for that: it’s a big, busy place and it needs lots of transport options. And a new ranking of the UK’s busiest train lines confirms what we all likely already know, that London rail services are among the busiest in the entire country.

The Department for Transport (DfT) has released new stats revealing which 10 train lines in England and Wales were busiest in autumn 2023, and nine of them were London services. Yep, all but one. 

Turns out the most crowded of them all is the 7.33am train from Bedford to Three Bridges. The DfT worked out which trains were busiest based on their ‘maximum load factor’, which means the passenger load in standard carriages divided by the carriages’ total capacity. 

Thameslink, which operates the service, said that these particular trains are designed to be ‘people-movers’ which prioritise standing room over seats in order to allow more passengers onboard. An estimated 835 people take the particular journey between Bedford and Three Bridges, which also stops at the likes of Luton airport, Gatwick airport and St Pancras. 

There is some repetition on the list, because it breaks down not only the busiest routes, but how specific services at different times of the day compare. The same Thameslink route claimed two more spots on the list, with earlier trains on this line named the sixth and 10th busiest respectively. This is the DfT’s complete list of busiest trains in the UK.

The 10 busiest train routes in the UK

1. 7.33am Bedford to Three Bridges
2. 7.46am Prince’s Risborough to London Marylebone
3. 2.57pm Gloucester to Maesteg (the only Welsh – and non-London – service on the list)
4. 6.10am Portsmouth Harbour to London Waterloo
5. 5.46pm London Euston to Crewe
6. 7.03am Bedford to Three Bridges
7. 6.30pm London Waterloo to Portsmouth Harbour
8. 7.14am Alton to London Waterloo
9. 6.14am Stourbridge Junction to London Marylebone
10. 7.30am Bedford to Three Bridges

If you’re desperate to look at the cold hard numbers yourself, here’s the DfT’s statistics page. And here are London’s busiest tube stations.

London train news on Time Out

Millions of Londoners use the city’s rail network every day – so, naturally, we at Time Out keep on top of all the latest news about London’s trains. Recently on Time Out’s news feed, here’s a first look at Paddington station’s brand-new step-free entrance, Victoria station’s majestic Edwardian Arcade has been restored to its former glory and Eurostar trains could soon start stopping at Stratford International in east London.

Did you see that this part of London is officially one of Time Out’s Coolest Neighbourhoods in the World for 2024?

Get the latest and greatest from the Big Smoke – from news and reviews to events and trends. Just follow our Time Out London WhatsApp channel.

Stay in the loop: sign up to our free Time Out London newsletter for the best of the city, straight to your inbox.