A survey of more than 25,000 passengers has put Manchester”s Piccadilly Station top of a user rating poll.
The research, carried out by UK rail watchdog, Passenger Focus, highlighted the UK”s 20 busiest stations and scored Manchester Piccadilly at a 92% satisfaction rate compared with the national average of 60%.
Second and third were Glasgow Central and Leeds, while bottom of the pile was East Croydon, with a measly 52% satisfaction rate.
Both Manchester (22m) and East Croydon (19m) have reasonably similar numbers of passengers, but the latter station can become a major rush hour bottleneck as huge amounts of travellers attempt to squeeze through the few ticket barriers and funnel down narrow walkways.
Manchester Piccadilly on the other hand, is a much larger proposition with a far bigger concourse and wider platforms, while it also features a plethora of shops and eating facilities.
It”s not often that the UK”s railways receive praise, but it appears that the ”100m ($203m) investment in Manchester by Network Rail has paid off. ”Passengers” ratings of Manchester was head and shoulders above the national average of 60% satisfaction with station environment,” said Passenger Focus chief executive, Anthony Smith.
”These results show passengers value the fact that the station continues to be well run [and] we encourage more investment into stations to attract people to travel by train.”
The busiest stations in the UK centred unsurprisingly around London and were: Waterloo (65m), Victoria (51m), Liverpool Street (48m) and London Bridge (43m).
Passenger Focus is the official, independent consumer organisation representing the interests of rail users in the UK.