Rail services are now at their worst for 17 years
RAIL services across the country are the least reliable for 17 years, official figures reveal.
Services became even more shambolic during the autumn than they were in the aftermath of last summer’s timetable chaos, a devastating report concludes.
Leaves on the line, snow, staff shortages, signal failures and power cuts caused misery for passengers.
The proportion of severely delayed or cancelled trains is at its highest level since 2001 – affecting about one in 22 services (4.6 per cent) in the final three months of last year.
While about one in seven (14.4 per cent) of trains were at least five minutes’ late – the worst punctuality rate for 13 years as slippery leaf ‘mulch’ on tracks helped wreak havoc.
Passengers across the North were the hardest hit. According to the Office of Rail and Road, the deterioration in train services in recent months was driven entirely by the worst service on Northern rail since records began in 2009.
Delays caused by leaves on the line, stray branches and snow more than doubled (up 114 per cent) from a year earlier. Those due to faulty tracks soared by almost two-thirds (64 per cent) and, overall, more than one in four (15.7 per cent) of Northern’s services were delayed.
Of 26 rail operators, 20 reported a drop in punctuality compared to last year and 23 reported an increase in the number of cancelled or severely delayed trains.
Apart from on Northern, passengers relying on TransPennine Express, the renationalised London North Eastern Railway – formerly Virgin Trains East Coast –Grand Central and Hull Trains saw the most deterioration in services.
Hull Trains was the least punctual of all, with more than three in ten of its trains being delayed.
Andy McDonald, Labour’s shadow transport spokesman, said: ‘These figures are an indictment of the failing privatised railway under Chris Grayling’s stewardship. It is an insult to passengers that fares have soared above wages since 2010 yet the reliability of the railway has gone into decline.’
He added: ‘Late and cancelled trains harm the economy and damage people’s personal and family lives. We cannot allow this to continue.’
The botched introduction of a new rail timetable in May last year caused more than 300 trains to be cancelled on Northformed
‘Delays damage family lives’
ern every day and many more delays.
Passengers in the South using Thameslink and Great Northern services saw 470 services cancelled.
The ORR has since launched enforcement action against Network Rail – the state-owned body which oversees Britain’s rail infrastructure –for failing to deliver a ‘punctual and reliable’ service.
Northern leaders, including Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, have claimed that Northern passengers have been neglected. The old ‘Pacer’ trains,
COULD the nation’s railways be run more dysfunctionally? Even when it seems impossible to believe the creaking network could become more chaotic, it does!
Every day, millions of long-suffering men and women endure the singular hell of our railroads, paying through the nose for an inefficient Third World shambles.
Extortionate and perpetually increasing fares. Chronically overcrowded trains. Bungled timetables leaving commuters angry and bewildered.
Now train punctuality has hit dire lows. Incredibly, one in seven services ran late in the final three months of 2018, while one in 20 was cancelled or grievously delayed – stranding fuming passengers on platforms.
Unfortunately, many have no alternative to these shoddy services. Rail operators and Transport Secretary Chris Grayling have displayed deplorable leadership, making train travel a miserable insult.
Anyone who had the misfortune of using the wretched British Rail understands that re-nationalisation – Labour’s misguided answer to everything – is not the solution.
But the clamour for returning the railways to state ownership will only grow more vociferous until the mess is sorted out.