"Coventry has fastest growing train station outside London"

Coventry saw almost seven million passengers travel to or from it between 2015 and 2016.



In all 6,921,432 million passengers travelled through the station during the year, up from around 6.252 million in 2014/15.

That equates to 18,962 passengers a day on average.

In addition Virgin Trains says it has seen a 30 per cent increase in passenger numbers between Coventry and Birmingham.

Despite the surge in passengers capacity is not a pressing issue in Coventry, though a £31m masterplan which is already under way is set to not only transform the station but the area around it.

Due to be completed by 2019, work includes a new station building, a multi-storey car park and a new platform, which will enable the service to the Ricoh Arena railway station to be enhanced at busy times.

The masterplan is partly driven by the fact Coventry has the fastest-growing train station, in terms of passenger numbers, outside of London.

The latest passenger figures meant Coventry was the second busiest station in the West Midlands after Birmingham New Street, which saw annual passenger numbers of 39,077,018 and 271,639 passengers each day on average.

Coventry pipped Birmingham Moor Street station to second spot in the region.

It also saw more than 400,000 interchanges - people changing train - over the course of the year.

The year saw a programme of upgrades completed at Coventry, including a revamped ticket hall featuring new ticket machines and ticket barriers, with further improvements in the pipeline.

Welcoming the increase, Sarah Grice, station manager for Virgin Trains Coventry, said: “The railways are more popular than ever before, reflecting both the UK’s passion for trains and the significant investment that has taken place across the network in recent years.

“Nowhere is that more apparent than in the West Midlands with Coventry, New Street, Birmingham International and Wolverhampton customers all having benefitting from a range of station improvements.”