Watford Junction has retaken its top spot as the county’s busiest station – prompting renewed calls to improve it.

St Albans City Station was Hertfordshire’s most used last year but fell behind the new leader by 156,152 entries and exits in the latest data released by the Office of Rail and Road last month.

It shows that there were just under 6.5 million entries and exits at Watford Junction in the 2023 to 2024 period, up roughly a million from the year before but still significantly below the pre-Covid peak of 8.5 million.

An artist's impression of a planned new entrance that has not materialised. Photo: Kingshott HoldingsAn artist's impression of a planned new entrance that has not materialised, from 2018. Image: Kingshott Holdings.Kevin Ambrose, from Abbey Line users group Abfly, said Watford Junction tends to vie with St Albans City as the most used station in Hertfordshire as it is a “major transport interchange”, with multiple lines and many buses running out of it.

“It’s outgrown its physical size, it was rebuilt 40 years ago and can’t cope with the amount of people using it,” he said.

Watford Junction.Watford Junction. (Image: Newsquest) “It needs a pretty radical look at how it works.”

With usage recovering quickly from the lockdown dip, he suggested that potential changes which were discussed pre-Covid need to be taken seriously – including a new entrance and improvements to the interior tunnel.

Watford Junction commuters most often travelled to or from London Euston, with 3.1 million making this journey.

Within Watford, it was followed by Watford High Street (1,192,064), Bushey (1,157,470), Watford North (53,412), and Garston (45,030) for having the most entries and exists.

In Three Rivers, Carpenders Park was the most used (1,073,673) followed by Rickmansworth (1,072,706), Chorleywood (517,682), and Kings Langley (449,482).

Elstree and Borehamwood was the most used station in Hertsmere (2,643,842), followed by Potters Bar (2,378,970), and Radlett (1,227,226).

London Liverpool Street (94, 499,824) retained its title of Britain’s busiest railway station as passenger numbers soared overall.

Estimates of entries and exits are largely based on ticket sales.