A 10% rise in rail passenger numbers has been hailed by transport campaigners.

But there was a note of caution from watchdog Peter Marshall in the wake of news for local passengers in this week’s Autumn statement.

The number of journeys in and out of stations in the Huddersfield area soared above the 8.5m mark last year and Mr Marshall, chairman of the Huddersfield-Sheffield-Penistone Rail Users’ Association, said: “It is great news for all of us promoting rail travel.

“I think the boom is partly down to the fact that the economy is picking up and more and more people are travelling to work.

“We were told by the Chancellor this week that the old Pacer trains in this area will be replaced by new and modern trains.

“I am cynical and I believe the new trains will be the electric ones when the transPennine line is electrified by 2018 and the modern ones will be the ones surplus to requirements there, passed on to other services”.

The new study by the Office of the Rail Regulation also showed the impact of the Ale Trail on Colne Valley stations.

The Trail has been criticised by many residents for bringing drunken behaviour into the villages along the line.

But Slaithwaite and Marsden stations showed big increases in passenger numbers, up from 185,594 to 208,418 and 166,910 to 182,170 respectively.

Huddersfield station was the fourth busiest in Yorkshire, behind Leeds, Sheffield and York, with 4,816,107 journeys (4,656700)

Totals for other stations compared to previous year were: Batley 296,046 (263,850), Berry Brow 25,360 (25,987), Lockwood 50,648 (50,148), Honley 55,852 (50,506), Brockholes 59,260 (49,460), Denby Dale 181,880 (177,036), Dewsbury, 1,669,753 (1,603,702), Mirfield 420,718 (393,08), Shepley 68,874 (69,020), Deighton (97,798 (93,022), Stocksmoor 26,648 (21,232) and Brighouse 371,666 (349,036).

Passengers crammed into rush-hour trains will be little surprised to learn that the busiest rail stations, including Leeds, are getting ever-more crowded.

Some London stations handled upwards of 8% more passengers last year, with the total for the busiest of them all - Waterloo - approaching the 100 million mark. Of the 10 busiest stations, Euston had the largest increase last year, rising 9.4%.

The only non-London stations in the top 10 were 10th-placed Leeds, where numbers were up 5.3% to 27.73 million, and Birmingham New Street, which was in 8th place and where numbers rose 8.3% to 34.75 million.

From the Office of Rail Regulation, the figures were based on estimates of entries and exits at stations for the period April 1 2013 to March 31 2014.

On this basis, Waterloo was the busiest station with 98.44 million passengers - a rise of 2.6% on 2012/13.

Next was Victoria, where numbers rose 5.2% to 81.35 million, with Liverpool Street third with a rise of 7.8% to 63 million.

Other busy stations in 2013/14 included Glasgow Central (27.15 million passengers), Edinburgh (20 million), Brighton (16.94 million), Gatwick Airport (16.18 million) and Glasgow Queen Street (15.76 million).