Direct services with low passenger numbers

[enginedin]

The thread about unusual routes made me wonder if there are (open data) ways of working out direct routes which have very low (or zero?) passenger numbers - even in regular routes. e.g. I wonder how many tickets are sold for Uphall to Dalreoch, despite being a very regular service - they're both stations that happen to be on a route which is useful for both Glasgow and Edinburgh commuters.

There must be lots of contenders I'd have thought?

 

[A S Leib]

Nobody has been recorded as having made a journey from Buckenham to Haddiscoe despite it being one of the very limited number of stations with trains from Buckenham.

I'm currently limited to railalefan's database of the 100 most common destinations from each station and looking manually, which isn't an approach which would work for lots of direct flows which I'd suspect have zero passengers (e.g. smaller stations on either side of the Thameslink core, or e.g. somewhere in Cornwall or the Esk Valley to somewhere in Northumberland).

 

[Mcr Warrior]

@enginedin. It's an interesting question. For your info, we had a similar thread a few years ago. See link below...

Least popular journeys made between two stations served by a direct train? Based on tickets sold?

I bought a day return from Malvern Link to Kingham on a direct train yesterday. The booking clerk commented that they didn't sell many of those. This got me thinking, which might be the least popular journeys between two stations served by a direct train? I mean tickets sold specifically between...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[Kite159]

Barry Links to Golf Street?

 

[A S Leib]

Polesworth has direct services to five stations, of which two have no reported passengers from it.

Tamworth: 71 per year
Stafford: 8
Crewe: 1
Lichfield Trent Valley: 0
Rugeley Trent Valley: 0

Less surprising than pairs of more-used stations with no passengers between them though.

Barry Links to Golf Street?

5 per year in each direction.

 

[Kite159]

Polesworth has direct services to five stations, of which two have no reported passengers from it.

Tamworth: 71 per year
Stafford: 8
Crewe: 1
Lichfield Trent Valley: 0
Rugeley Trent Valley: 0

Less surprising than pairs of more-used stations with no passengers between them though.


5 in each direction.

More than I was expecting, although probably down to station bashers wanting a little boost to the usage figures.

 

[splashoutradio]

The thread about unusual routes made me wonder if there are (open data) ways of working out direct routes which have very low (or zero?) passenger numbers - even in regular routes.

Not sure if this is what you're after, but the Origin Destination Matrix (ODM) is published yearly by the ORR, and shows passenger numbers between every station on the national rail network.

If it is of use, I've just added (in the past 15 mins) the latest version (2023-24) of the ODM to the passenger flows section of the RailwayData website.

 

[A S Leib]

smaller stations on either side of the Thameslink core, or e.g. somewhere in Cornwall or the Esk Valley to somewhere in Northumberland)

Thanks to @splashoutradio's site, I've found that Camborne has passengers to Alnmouth, Berwick and Dunbar but not Morpeth (but there's no direct Camborne to Morpeth services as far as I can remember) and that Elstree & Borehamwood has passengers who've made journeys to every station on the Sutton loop, which I thought would have been some pairs with direct services and no passengers.

Newer stations – East Linton, Reston, Tottenham Court Road, Brent Cross West and Barking Riverside, at least – aren't showing up on the database for me.

Railalefan.co.uk's site doesnt show tied stations alphabetically, and Reston has a lot of stations tied on one journey to them, but Chester-le-Street, Northallerton, Dewsbury, Huddersfield, Stalybridge, Newton-le-Willows, Lea Green and Liverpool Lime Street aren't shown as having any passengers from Reston on the one direct train (19:03 from Edinburgh) whilst Hemel Hempstead and Daisy Hill have had at least one person travelling from Reston. My guess would be enthusiasts travelling back from Reston after the station opened.

 

[_toommm_]

Barry Links to Golf Street?

The sale of First Class tickets must have soared in 2019.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

...I've found that Camborne has passengers to Alnmouth, Berwick and Dunbar but not Morpeth (but there's no direct Camborne to Morpeth services as far as I can remember)...

Is there (was there) any direct Camborne to Dunbar service?

 

[The exile]

St Andrews Road to Dilton Marsh?

 

[A S Leib]

Is there (was there) any direct Camborne to Dunbar service?

That bit can be disregarded. I didn't look at RTT carefully enough and Camborne's only CrossCountry service at the moment is an evening Penzance to Plymouth one.

Edit: no, that's wrong, but no. Camborne's Edinburgh services are Alnmouth and Berwick.

 

[dk1]

Nobody has been recorded as having made a journey from Buckenham to Haddiscoe despite it being one of the very limited number of stations with trains from Buckenham.

I'm currently limited to railalefan's database of the 100 most common destinations from each station and looking manually, which isn't an approach which would work for lots of direct flows which I'd suspect have zero passengers (e.g. smaller stations on either side of the Thameslink core, or e.g. somewhere in Cornwall or the Esk Valley to somewhere in Northumberland).

We get a few Berney Arms to Buckenham journeys and vice versa.

 

[Trainguy34]

Chestfield & Swalecliffe (CSW) to Sturry (STU) probably gets very few considering that it's an hour's journey twice a day and it's much easier to get a bus.

 

[telstarbox]

Niche!

 

[liamf656]

I can't imagine many people travelling between Wymondham and Langley Mill on 1L17 or 1R84! @LowLevel may be able to answer that for me

 

[fishwomp]

The thread about unusual routes made me wonder if there are (open data) ways of working out direct routes which have very low (or zero?) passenger numbers - even in regular routes. e.g. I wonder how many tickets are sold for Uphall to Dalreoch, despite being a very regular service - they're both stations that happen to be on a route which is useful for both Glasgow and Edinburgh commuters.

There must be lots of contenders I'd have thought?

Not sure why it's an interesting question though. A service from A to Z via every letter of the alphabet may have A and Z as the main point of employment. and B through Y are just villages and sources of workers or leisure travel.

There are others where the A and Z are main points of employment but there are no tickets sold from A to Z. I'm thinking of the Kingston loop - Waterloo to Waterloo - and other circular routes that I've forgotten but a think do exist. Of course, a return ticket is a ticket from Waterloo to Waterloo (the old conversation... Passenger: "A return please", Ticket counter: "Where to?", Passenger: "Here, obviously")

 

[dk1]

Lowestoft to Harwich International and vv must be a contender for a very flow.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Not sure if this is what you're after, but the Origin Destination Matrix (ODM) is published yearly by the ORR, and shows passenger numbers between every station on the national rail network.

If it is of use, I've just added (in the past 15 mins) the latest version (2023-24) of the ODM to the passenger flows section of the RailwayData website.

FYI Okehampton is not appearing in the origin station list - old look-up table perhaps?

 

[BPN2022]

Squires Gate to Salwick?

 

[duffield]

I can't imagine many people travelling between Wymondham and Langley Mill on 1L17 or 1R84! @LowLevel may be able to answer that for me

The services to Wymondham from Langley Mill are at the wrong end of the day, but the return services would be about right for any Langley-based heritage rail fans to return from a day out on the Mid-Norfolk Railway.

Personally I've used the direct train from Nottingham to Wymondham to get to the MNR (1L06 0918 Nottingham to Norwich on Sunday) and would use any direct service to Langley Mill if it was appropriately timed and if it was my nearest station.

 

[brad465]

There must be quite a few contra-flow peak diagrams that run as passenger services but have low numbers as they're not the peak flow. Between Blackfriars and Beckenham Jct comes to mind as one example (the peak flow is all stations; contra-peak flow calls only at Herne Hill).

The 20:16 Frome-Westbury may also be quiet, especially relative to the length of the train, as it's a 9-car IET that forms off the Paddington-Frome peak diagram.

 

[The exile]

The 20:16 Frome-Westbury may also be quiet, especially relative to the length of the train, as it's a 9-car IET that forms off the Paddington-Frome peak diagram.

Almost certainly true, but Frome - Westbury itself is a normal flow, and one with plenty of direct trains

 

[DanNCL]

Can’t imagine many people choose to spend 5 hours on a 156 between Whitby and Carlisle.

Barry Links to Golf Street?

The sale of First Class tickets must have soared in 2019.

Well they sold at least one first class ticket in 2019 for that combination as I bought one!

 

[Failed Unit]

I need will take a look at the data, but there must be a lot where a direct service exists but it is quicker to walk. For example Newark Northgate - Newark Castle, Or where the service isn’t that frequent, such as Rolleston - Fiskerton (on the Newark - Nottingham line) Where the stations are under 1 min apart. However I could be wrong as people take the tube between Covent Garden and Leicester Square….

 

[The exile]

Can’t imagine many people choose to spend 5 hours on a 156 between Whitby and Carlisle.

Although since these are the termini and larger settlements, the flow is likely to be greater than (say) Ruswarp to Wetheral (assuming it stops at both)

 

[JBuchananGB]

Would Clifton (Greater Manchester) produce any instances of very low pairs. Maybe to/from places like Hoscar or Bescar Lane.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Although since these are the termini and larger settlements, the flow is likely to be greater than (say) Ruswarp to Wetheral (assuming it stops at both)

The 1249 SuO currently does. And it's only four-and-a-half hours' journey time between Ruswarp and Wetheral.

 

[DanNCL]

Although since these are the termini and larger settlements, the flow is likely to be greater than (say) Ruswarp to Wetheral (assuming it stops at both)

Even if it doesn’t stop at Wetheral, Ruswarp to Haltwhistle would work.

 

[Farigiraf]

Doubt many people will travel the full length on the one 7am train a day from Gloucester to Stansted Airport - as well between Ashchurch for Tewkesbury or Worcestershire Parkway and Coleshill Parkway, Stamford, March or Ely