Highlands and Islands Railway Statistics

There are seventy railway stations in Highlands and Islands.

Busiest Stations

The ten Busiest Stations

  1. 1 Inverness 1,169,550
  2. 2 Elgin 284,140
  3. 3 Oban 221,968
  4. 4 Fort William 192,078
  5. 5 Nairn 133,760
  6. 6 Aviemore 130,090
  7. 7 Forres 129,646
  8. 8 Mallaig 97,710
  9. 9 Keith 71,474
  10. 10 Dingwall 63,976

Least Used Stations

The ten Least Used Stations

  1. 1 Kildonan 240
  2. 2 Scotscalder 242
  3. 3 Altnabreac 250
  4. 4 Beasdale 260
  5. 5 Culrain 300
  6. 6 Lochluichart 374
  7. 7 Locheilside 418
  8. 8 Invershin 440
  9. 9 Duncraig 448
  10. 10 Achanalt 506

Passenger Numbers

Passenger numbers for Highlands and Islands peaked during 2012-13 with 4,686,384 estimated passengers.

Usage dropped to 23% during the 2020-21 travel lockdowns and recovered to 82% by 2023.

Passenger Estimates for Highlands and Islands table
YearPassenger Numbers
1997-982,586,760
1998-992,802,259
1999-002,948,882
2000-012,939,536
2001-022,915,775
2002-032,968,066
2003-04 
2004-053,293,972
2005-063,488,159
2006-073,537,661
2007-083,682,116
2008-094,197,464
2009-104,267,802
2010-114,469,948
2011-124,652,828
2012-134,686,384
2013-144,472,605
2014-154,488,892
2015-164,488,892
2016-174,186,592
2017-184,219,394
2018-194,180,030
2019-204,058,294
2020-21934,388
2021-222,715,522
2022-233,332,746
2023-24