I live 50 miles from Shoeburyness. Had never heard of it. But that highlights something that the BBC's chart describes that's potentially relevant to the story that's being told (I've pointedly *not* read the article to keep my perspective fresh.) When we're talking about train journeys, distance has some relevance (even if there's no correlation.) The original chart does a very good job of communicating journey length. There may be a certain amount of assumed knowledge, too. Certain towns are more important than others -- the inclusion of Shoeburyness is such an oddity that it highlights that for the other cities.