A new survey by Which? Magazine has
found that at many major railway stations across the UK, more than half of
trains are late or cancelled altogether. Overall, Manchester Oxford Road
station performed worst with 68% of trains running late or cancelled
altogether. It is a key station in the centre of Manchester, with regular
services to Merseyside, Yorkshire, Tyneside and Scotland. Manchester
Piccadilly, less than a mile from Oxford Road was also one of the worst
stations in the UK, with 56% of trains late or cancelled.
York, the halfway point on the east
coast main line between London and Edinburgh, was the second worst station in
the UK, with 65% of trains being late.
At Birmingham New Street station (one
of the busiest in the UK) and Gatwick Airport, 60% of trains ran late or were
cancelled altogether.
The fifth worst station in the UK was
Bristol Temple Meads (the main hub for the west of England) with 58% of trains
running late.
The best performing station was
Brighton, where 74% of trains left on time. But it is a sad indictment of the
railway system in the UK, considering that even at the so-called ‘best’
station, around a quarter of trains were still late.
What about London?
Among the 10 busiest London stations,
Clapham Junction came out worst, with 54% of trains either delayed or
cancelled.
Victoria station, one of the most
important stations in the UK, had 44% of trains late or cancelled. And St
Pancras station (home of the vital train service going through the Channel
Tunnel into Europe) had 30% of trains being either late or cancelled - although
this poor record still made them the 'best' station in London!
Alex Hayman, managing director of
Public Markets for Which? said: “Passengers have told us reliability is hugely
important to them. People have been left deeply frustrated at the unacceptably
high levels of delays and cancellations which impact on their everyday lives.”
“Passengers must be at the centre of
the forthcoming government rail review, it must look at performance targets to
drive improvements in punctuality and reliability for passengers.”
Robert Nisbet, regional director at
the Rail Delivery Group (which represents train operator and Network Rail)
said: “We know how frustrating delays are which is why, as part of our
long-term plan, we’re investing billions to ease congestion, reduce delays and
minimise disruption. We’re also improving awareness of compensation with
payments increasing 80 per cent in the last two years.”
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Which? used information from the
tracking site ontimetrains.co.uk and counted as delayed any train that departed
one minute or more late. To find the stations with the most delayed or
cancelled services, the research looked at data from the 20 busiest stations in
the UK excluding London, and then the 10 busiest London stations, since the beginning
of 2018.
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