The first of the passenger railway stations in Cornwall, United Kingdom, 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