Penrith has narrowly missed out on a chance to be crowned the nation's favourite railway station.

The award-winning station reached the semi-final of the "World Cup of Stations" this week, a national competition held on the social media platform Twitter by the Rail Delivery Group.

The competition has this week seen Twitter users from across the country vote for their favourite railway stations in a world cup elimination-style competition.

Penrith station joined this week's competition just weeks after it was crowned "medium station of the year" at the National Rail Awards.

The "World Cup of Stations" competition pitched different stations against each other in popular polls.

After making it through to the semi-finals, on Thursday Penrith station was knocked out of the competition by one of the nation's heavyweights, London King's Cross.

Receiving more than 52 per cent of the 5,275 votes cast, the major central London station and terminus of the east coast main line comfortably clinched a place in the final.

However, Penrith North Lakes railway station put up a good fight, receiving 31.3 per cent of the total votes cast, putting the Eden valley station in second place.

Sevenoaks station in Kent came in third, with the final 16.1 per cent of the vote.

Michael Byrne, Avanti west coast station manager at Penrith, said prior to the semi-final that he hoped the station could "go as far as possible in this competition".

He added that, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, 2020 had been "a really challenging year" for the team at the station, who have continued operations throughout the duration of the coronavirus crisis.

Michael added that the support received from passengers for the team, demonstrated by successes in competitions such as the stations world cup, means a lot to the team.

“Our close-knit community are really important to us and are a proud bunch. They see us as the beating heart of Penrith," he said.

Robert Nisbet, director of nations and regions for the Rail Delivery Group, explained that the competition was about "celebrating the thousands of stations across the country many of which have been at the heart of their communities for more than a century".

"It’s also about recognising the friendly local faces who have kept key workers moving throughout the pandemic," he said.

"As Britain gets moving again, their role in supporting local businesses and spreading opportunity is more important than ever.”