For this week’s activity, my London Shoes took advantage of a glorious day of weather, and with my 60+Oyster-Free Travel Card in my hand, I travelled across the ‘Smoke’ to track down:-
London’s ‘Most Used’ & ‘Least Used’ Stations – and this is the result
>Roding Valley:
London Underground’s quietest, least used tube station is “Roding Valley”.
Located at the top end of the ‘Hainault Loop’ section of the Central Line (the red one on a tube map), Roding Valley station is situated in the north eastern Greater London & South Essex borders.
The Central Line is the busiest of London’s tube lines, servicing in excess of 260 million passengers per year – but its Roding Valley station sees only a little over 360,000 passengers per year – giving it the grand title of London’s least used tube station.
The station itself was opened in 1946 and is situated in Zone 4 on the London Underground Map, and up until recently, it was one of a very select few tube stations that didn’t have a ticket barrier installed.
Trains depart to Woodford in the north and Hainault to the south of the ‘Loop’, every 15mins or so – and another unique fixture of Roding Valley station is that it has a ‘public’ footbridge that crosses the rail tracks from one platform to the other – and this access bridge is open to the public 24/7 every day of the year.
What struck me about Roding Valley tube station was just how quiet, peaceful and countrified it was –very strange for quite a built up residential area – but still, a very nice little station to commute to and from work.
>South Greenford:
Train geeks out there will probably know that South Greenford station is London’s least used, quietest rail ‘overground’ rail station – with around only 28,000 entrances & exits per year.
The station opened in 1926 – its located in the London Borough of Ealing – is part of the Great Western Railway network – its 8 miles from Paddington Station and is in situated in Zone 4 on the train map.
It runs 2 trains per hour to Greenford & 2 trains per hour to West Ealing then on to Heathrow.
It used to be called South Greenford Halt station up until 1969 – and today its line also services a lot of freight train traffic.
>Waterloo:
Waterloo Station has the accolade of being London’s busiest rail & tube station – not surprising really, as it has a number of tube lines connected to it.
Its main-line rail station opened first back in 1848, when it was run by the London & South Western Railway Co – running services as far afield as Weymouth / Southampton / Portsmouth / Exeter, plus the suburbs of Surrey/Hampshire/Berkshire.
The overground railway was the original Eurostar terminus before services were transferred to St. Pancras
Waterloo tube station was first opened in 1898 when it provided an underground rail link to Bank station and was known as ‘The Drain’ – the line was extended the other way to Baker Street in 1906 – and in subsequent years the Bakerloo Line (the brown one on a tube map) and the Northern Line (the black one on a tube map) were linked up to the Waterloo tube – and in 1999 the Jubilee Line (the silver one on a tube map) was linked to it.
With a collective 100 million entries & exits per year it is not only London’s but also the UK’s busiest station – and in terms of floor space, and platforms etc – the UK’s largest.
There is one other station that I feel warrants inclusion in this ‘busiest & quietest’ category – this particular station also has a personal connection for me, as I spent roughly 15 years commuting to & from it whilst working at Barclays Bank’s head-office, before my retirement in 2017 – and that station is:-
>Canary Wharf:
Canary Wharf tube station is the busiest ‘single-line’ tube station in London – servicing a staggering 54 million passenger entrances & exits at the last count in 2018.
It is situated at the northern end of the Isle-of-Dog’s in London’s old Docklands district – and is located in Zone 2 on a London Underground Map.
It is served by the Jubilee Line (the silver one on a tube map) and (at present) has no other tube line connected to or running through it.
The station’s structure is built to a very distinctive style – that was designed by architect ‘Sir Norman Foster’ and its structure was based on the ‘Bilbao Metro’ in northern Spain, that Foster designed, and is known locally as the ‘Fosteritos’ – (a train network that I personally know very well, having visited that magnificent city virtually every year for the past 15 years)
Canary Wharf tube station has been specifically designed to cope with anything from 50,000 to 70,000 passengers at any one time – particularly the so called morning and evening ‘rush-hour’, and from experience, it comfortably copes with those sorts of numbers – and it is the only station ‘outside’ Zone 1 to be in the Top 10 of London’s busiest stations.
Viewing Canary Wharf station from street level, you would have no idea of the enormity of the vast subterranean ‘station’ world that exists below ground, a complex which also includes 2 massive shopping malls.
Because Canary Wharf is a ‘single-line’ station, it only has just 2 platforms – and these 2 platforms have unique ‘screen doors’ that have to open & close to enable you to board a train – these unique screen doors are in situ at all the other Jubilee Line stations that are ‘underground’.
There are also a total of 20 escalators in operation at the station plus 3 large passenger lifts – and covering all this, above ground, is the peaceful & tranquil Jubilee Park for the public to enjoy.
In the past few years a brand new Canary Wharf station has been built, which is a massive complex and is a very visible sight on the landscape of Canary Wharf – this new station is part of the new ‘Crossrail’ service which is scheduled to open at the end of 2021 and has been built at a cost of £500 million – but whether it opens on time remains to be seen, with the way the world is at the mo.
Before boarding an empty tube train and setting off back home – I necked down a ‘cheeky’ bottle of ‘Iron Bru’ amongst the delightful waterfall landscape features and greenery of a serene Jubilee Park – and it was good to see so many other folk taking advantage of the balmy September weather, and just chilling-out and taking in the rays.
So – in conclusion, that’s London’s 4 busiest & least busy tube & rail stations, 2 x underground & 2 x overground, plus London’s busiest ‘single-line’ station.
However, also in conclusion, although this was quite a straight forward simple topic to cover-off, there was an under-current of serious concern and sadness that, as a born & bred Londoner, emotionally impacted me throughout the day, as I travelled all over the ‘Smoke’ on empty trains – rode on empty escalators – stood on empty platforms – went up & down in empty lifts – passed through empty ticket barriers, and on most locations, walked through empty surrounding streets………..how the hell have we let this, and allowed this to happen – and will it EVER be the same again!!!!
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See below the entire gallery of photos taken to support this blog
Me – all masked up and on my way to my 1st location
London Underground’s quietest, least used tube station is “Roding Valley”. Located at the top end of the ‘Hainault Loop’ section of the Central Line (the red one on a tube map)
Roding Valley station sees only a little over 360,000 passengers per year – giving it the grand title of London’s least used tube station
Roding Valley station is a bit unique in that it has a ‘public’ footbridge that crosses the rail tracks from one platform to the other – and this access bridge is open to the public 24/7 every day of the year.
The station itself was opened in 1946 and is situated in Zone 4 on the London Underground Map, and up until recently, it was one of a very select few tube stations that didn’t have a ticket barrier installed
The Central Line heading towards Hainault Station – as viewed from the public bridge that crosses the platforms of ‘Roding Valley’ station
From ‘Roding Valley’ station – trains depart to Woodford in the north and Hainault to the south of the ‘Loop’, every 15mins or so – and another unique fixture of Roding Valley station is that it has a ‘public’ footbridge that crosses the rail tracks from one platform to the other – and this access bridge is open to the public 24/7 every day of the year.
Me – on the public bridge across the 2 platforms at Roding Valley tube station :-))
Me – outside the entrance to Roding Valley tube station
Me – at Roding Valley tube station
My empty carriage – on the Central Line from Roding Valley station to my next destination
South Greenford station is London’s least used, quietest rail ‘overground’ rail station – with around only 28,000 entrances & exits per year.
South Greenford station opened in 1926 – its located in the London Borough of Ealing – is part of the Great Western Railway network – its 8 miles from Paddington Station and is in situated in Zone 4 on the train map. It runs 2 trains per hour to Greenford & 2 trains per hour to West Ealing then on to Heathrow.
Me – at South Greenford Station – London’s least used, quietest rail ‘overground’ rail station
My ‘London Shoes’ alongside one of the many hundreds of Covid19 pandemic – social distancing related public notices on display throughout London’s Overground rail network
Me – on an empty Central Line tube train – heading towards my next destination
Waterloo Station has the accolade of being London’s busiest Rail & tube station – not surprising really, as it has a number of tube lines connected to it
Me – down on one of the tube line platforms at Waterloo Station
An eerily deserted Waterloo tube station 👻 The station was first opened in 1898
Just one of the many ‘deserted’ escalators operating at Waterloo Station 🙁
Waterloo Station has the accolade of being London’s busiest Rail & tube station – not surprising really, as it has a number of tube lines connected to it.
A deserted entrance to a couple of the tube-line links operating at Waterloo Station
A deserted entrance to the Jubilee Line tube-line link at Waterloo Station
Me – on a deserted escalator at Waterloo Station
Waterloo tube station – where ‘social distancing’ poses no difficulties at present
Me – down on one of the platforms at Waterloo tube station
Waterloo Station has the accolade of being London’s busiest Rail & tube station – servicing almost 100 million passengers per year – not surprising really, as it has a number of tube lines connected to it.
My ‘London Shoes’ alongside one of the many hundreds of Covid19 pandemic – social distancing related public notices on display throughout the London Underground network
An empty Jubilee Line tube train – on my way to my next destination
Me – at Canary Wharf tube station – The busiest ‘single-line’ tube station in London – servicing a staggering 54 million passenger entrances & exits at the last count in 2018
Down on one of only 2 platforms at Canary Wharf tube station
One of many ‘Social Distancing’ public notices displayed throughout Canary Wharf station!
In today’s world – ‘social distancing’ is a very easy task at Canary Wharf tube station
One of the two Canary Wharf tube station deserted platforms
Just one of the many hand-sanitisers available to passengers, at Canary Wharf station – and all of the other tube and overground stations throughout London
I think it will be a long time before someone is allowed to tickle the old ivories again at Canary Wharf station
‘Social Distancing’ is such an easy task to observed at Canary Wharf station these days
The magnificent escalator up to street level – at Canary Wharf station
Social Distancing public notices – displayed in front of all of the public escalators in Canary Wharf station – at the moment, it would be very hard NOT to be socially distant at Canary Wharf and all of the other tubes stations
The main escalator at Canary Wharf tube station – that transports passengers from the stations subterranean world – up into the day light
All of the escalators at Canary Wharf tube station – have these ‘footprint’ social distancing markers sprayed on to them.
My ‘London Shoes’ observing social distancing guidance on a deserted Canary Wharf tube station escalator
One of the totally deserted subterranean shopping malls at Canary Wharf station 🙁
An almost deserted ‘food court’ at Canary Wharf station – this would normally be rammed to the max – with people also queueing to get in 🙁
Although there is a sign saying ‘open’ – there were literally no punters for the ‘shoeshine’ boys throughout the shopping malls of Canary Wharf station
A masked-up me – down on an almost deserted main concourse of Canary Wharf tube station
Another of the ‘social distancing’ public notices displayed throughout Canary Wharf station
Not difficult to adhere to social distancing instructions at Canary Wharf tube station these days :-((
Viewing Canary Wharf station from street level, you would have no idea of the enormity of the vast subterranean ‘station’ world that exists below ground, a complex which also includes 2 massive shopping malls
One of the 3 main entrances/exits at Canary Wharf tube station – I wonder if ‘social distancing’ is being observed on board that jet flying above the CW sky-scrapers !!
Another of Canary Wharf tube station’s 3 main entrances/exits
Me – at the entrance to Jubilee Park that sits on top of the Canary Wharf undeground station complex
The lovely waterfall landscape features and greenery of a serene Jubilee Park that sits on top of the Canary Wharf tube station complex– It was good to see so many other folk taking advantage of the balmy September weather, and just chilling-out and taking in the rays
Just one of the many public ‘social distancing’ notices on display throughout Canary Wharf’s Jubilee Park
Just one of the many ‘social distancing-circles’ on the lawns of Jubilee Park at Canary Wharf – you can sit in one of these and stay safe (apparently)
Me – and a ‘cheeky’ bottle of ‘Iron Bru’ amongst the delightful waterfall landscape features and greenery of a serene Jubilee Park
The lovely waterfall landscape features and greenery of a serene Jubilee Park that sits on top of the Canary Wharf tube station complex– It was good to see so many other folk taking advantage of the balmy September weather, and just chilling-out and taking in the rays
A blurry me – neckin down a ‘cheeky’ Iron Bru in Jubilee Gardens – Canary Wharf
Used tubes and buses whilst working in London for Barclays Bank in the early 70s- and cannot recall ever seeing the station name of ‘Roding Valley’ on a tube map. Will keep it in mind for quizzes now tho! Thank you again for an interesting glimpse into London Town.
Great read Geoff having travelled on packed tube trains so many times, not an enjoyable experience, I would love to travel them like this!
It would have been easier to navigate the tube stations on my very first visits down to London from up north, if it had been this quiet!! 😳
Must have been a little scary on the trains with so few people
It has surprised me that it is still so empty Geoff. Living in a small town, the impact on the streets is not so dramatic.
I can’t say that the underground was my favourite part of the journey when I visited Canary Wharf for business,mas I hated the crush, but can understand how strange it must feel for you. It’s going to be a long hard slog to recovery even without any new surge in the virus causing further restrictions. It seems like lots of things we took for granted will never recover to previous levels.
Interesting / never heard of Roding Tube
Hi Milly – yes ‘Roding Valley’ station is on the Central Line, at the top of what is known as the ‘Hainault Loop’ – which spurs off after Leytonstone, and then circles round and takes in the following stations:- Wanstead-Redbridge-Gants Hill-Newbury Patk-Barkingside-Fairlop-Haunault-Grange Hill-Chigwell & Roding Valley, before ending at Woodford on the main Central Line route 😊👍
Hi, I have really enjoyed browsing your travels around London. Especially your exploration of the tube. it reminds me that at about age 12, (1973) one holiday, myself and my friend, Matt, got three day ‘Red Rovers’ and decided to cover the entire tube network in those three days. We did it. I remember the adventure quite well. The logistics of working out how to do it effectively so that time was maximised, with as little as possible doubling back. It is the only time in my life I was ever on the ‘Hainaut Loop’. I will be 60 next year, so maybe when I have my Freedom Pass I will try it again. I’m amazed my parents let me do it, I would be mortified if my boys at 12 years old had even suggested such a thing.!!
Hi Jan,
I just wanted to thank you for taking the time & trouble to contact my London Shoes website – really appreciate it👍
I’m glad that you enjoyed the ‘Busiest & Quietest’ stations blog that I published a few months back – I certainly enjoyed doing it 👍
Thanks also, for sharing your early memories and experiences of travelling around and exploring this wonderful Capital City of ours – your experiences sound very similar to mine – which is not really surprising, as we are of the same age group 😄👍
I truly hope that you will continue to follow my little London Shoes hobby, that I took up upon my retirement a couple of years back. Up until the arrival of the Covid19 pandemic, I used to post/publish a new blog virtually every week – so I have now amassed a few hundred – which you can trawl through via the Archives or Categories tabs from the Menu of my London Shoes website (www.londonshoes.blog) an ideal way to relieve the boredom of ‘lockdown’ 😄👍
Kind regards……GEOFF (LONDON SHOES)