List of railway stations in Cornwall

The first of the passenger railway stations in Cornwall, England, were opened in 1834. The network expanded considerably between the 1840s and 1900s. There were 81 stations in the duchy in 1960 but rationalisation of lines and stations has reduced this to just 36 National rail stations since 1989 including two opened in the 1970s. These are on the Cornish Main Line (between  and  where it continues across the Royal Albert Bridge into Devon) and the five remaining branch lines. There are also a small number of new or reopened stations on heritage railways.

The busiest station is  with more than one million passengers each year; the quietest is  with fewer than 250.

Railway development in Cornwall

Early transport in Cornwall relied on coastal shipping so the first rail tracks were laid to connect the hinterland with harbours. The first line to carry passengers was the Bodmin and Wadebridge Railway (B&WR) on 4 July 1834.

In the west the Hayle Railway connected that port with  at the end of 1837 and started a passenger service on 23 May 1843. This line was not convenient to operate but was taken over by the West Cornwall Railway (WCR) and realigned in 1852, extending it west to  and east to . It moved its Truro terminus to join the new Cornwall Railway (CR) which opened from  on 4 May 1859. The CR completed its line from Truro to Falmouth on 24 August 1863. The WCR and CR were financially supported by the Great Western Railway (GWR). Other branch lines were opened, either by the GWR or independent companies which were later absorbed, to places such as  and  (1876)  (1879),  and  (1887), and Bodmin (1888). The GWR network was completed in 1905 by a long line which connected Truro with Newquay via .

Meanwhile the B&WR had been bought by the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) but remained isolated from its parent until their line through the north of Cornwall to  opened in 1895. This was extended to Padstow in 1899. The LSWR also supported branches across the border from Devon to  (1898) and  (1908). The GWR also had a cross-border line to  from 1865. The LSWR became part of the Southern Railway in 1923 while the GWR continued with its same name, although absorbing the last of the still independent lines that it operated.

The 1900s saw a number of small halts opened and, often, closed as the railways made an effort to keep local traffic away from trams and buses. The railways themselves operated bus routes, the first in the country being a GWR service from Helston railway station to The Lizard in 1903.

During the 1960s many of the quieter stations and lines were closed, either as a result of Dr Beeching's Reshaping of British Railways or general commercial considerations. The whole of the LSWR network was closed (except for two stations on a truncated Callington line) as were many GWR branches, but this has allowed heritage and narrow gauge railways to open using parts of these old lines.

Stations on the national network
Estimated station usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at each station from Office of Rail and Road statistics. The methodology for calculating the number may vary between years. Closure dates refer to passenger services, goods traffic may have continued to a later date.

Heritage railway stations

Stations in use

References

Railway stations
Cornwall
Rail transport in Cornwall