Pilning Station in South Gloucestershire – famous for having just two trains a week, both on Saturdays, both in the same direction – has received its most significant investment in years. And crucially, the latest official figures show that 294 passengers used the station in 2024/25, all before a single improvement was made. Now that the upgrades are complete, the case for better services has never been stronger.
The Office of Rail and Road figures cover the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 – but the station improvements weren’t carried out until summer 2025. That means nearly 300 passengers made the effort to use Pilning despite a crumbling platform, no proper lighting, and a shabby old shelter. The question now is: what will the figures look like next year, with a station that’s finally fit for purpose?
Great Western Railway has carried out a comprehensive programme of improvements to Platform 1 over the summer. The entire platform surface has been completely re-laid with fresh tarmac to a good standard. The platform edge has been repaired, tactile paving installed for passengers with visual impairments, and a yellow safety line now runs the full length. New fencing has been erected along the entire platform, with safety barriers at both ends fitted with access gates. Platform lighting has been installed – for the first time in 40 years, trains could theoretically call after dark.
The tired old bus-stop-style waiting shelter has been scrapped and replaced with a smart new one, repositioned further back from the platform edge for passenger comfort. The station also boasts new signage, a new help point, and a new entry gate. It’s the most substantial upgrade Pilning has seen in living memory.
The figures reveal something remarkable about passenger determination. The most popular destination for Pilning users in 2024/25 was Cardiff Queen Street. To reach it, passengers must travel from Pilning to Filton Abbey Wood, change for Bristol Parkway, change again for Cardiff Central, then finally reach Cardiff Queen Street – four legs and three changes for what should be a simple cross-Severn journey. Yet people still make the effort. The return is more straightforward – Cardiff Queen Street to Cardiff Central, then direct to Pilning – but the fact that passengers tolerate such a convoluted outward journey shows the genuine demand for this station.
Said the Chair of the station’s User Group, Olga Taylor: “For years we were told there was no point investing in Pilning because nobody used it. These figures blow that argument out of the water. Nearly 300 passengers came to a station with no lighting, a broken-up platform, and a miserable shelter – and they did it knowing they’d have to make three changes just to get to Cardiff. Now we have a properly refurbished station with lighting installed, and we’re gathering support to request later stopping trains. With lights on the platform, there’s no longer any excuse for the last train to leave at half past three in the afternoon.”
Pilning now ranks 2,574th out of approximately 2,586 stations nationally. Back in 2015/16, when the station was the third least-used in the country with just 46 passengers, few would have predicted such a recovery – let alone the significant investment that has now been made.
Taylor added: “GWR’s investment shows they believe Pilning has a future. We agree – and we think that future should include evening services, now that lighting makes them possible, and ultimately a reinstated footbridge so passengers can travel westbound without detouring through Wales. With 12,000 jobs coming to the Severnside area, the potential is enormous. We’ve proved the demand exists. Now let’s build on it.”