Railway station footfall in the Cumberland Council area continues to lag behind the levels seen before the coronavirus pandemic, new figures show.

It comes as new data from regulator the Office of Rail and Road shows the total number of passenger entries and exits taken across Britain in the year to March reached 2.9 billion – just shy of the 3 billion pre-pandemic peak in 2019-20.

It is the closest the number of journeys on the nation's rail system has come to recovering to pre-pandemic levels.

There were 3.5 million recorded entries and exits across the 24 stations in the Cumberland Council area in the year to March – down 10 per cent on 2020, when there were 3.8 million entries and exits.

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Nationally, London Liverpool Street retained its title of Britain’s busiest station as passenger numbers using it soared.

In Cumbria, Carlisle was the busiest station with 2.1 million entries and exits. The station was ranked as the 251st busiest in the country.