Record cancellation levels “unacceptable” - Baker
FORMER Transport Minister Norman Baker has called for government and the rail industry to “ensure services run to schedule so that passengers can travel with confidence”.
Baker, who was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport in 2010-13, and is now Director of External Affairs for the Campaign for Better Transport, described the record level of train cancellations in the 12 months to October 15 as “unacceptable”.
Rolling figures released by the Office of Rail and Road show that cancellations reached a Moving Annual Average (MAA) of 3.8%, up from 3.7% over the previous two months, and the highest since records began in 2014-15. Cancellations for the four-week period to October 15 were at 3.1%.
Baker’s words have been echoed by the Department for Transport, with a spokesman telling RAIL on November 21: “It’s unacceptable that poor levels of service are preventing hardworking people from going about their daily lives.
“We have earmarked more than £16 billion to improve passenger services since the start of the pandemic, and are working closely with train operators to ensure long-term solutions are put in place so passengers can travel confidently without disruption.”
RAIL understands that new Secretary of State for Transport Mark Harper is planning to meet metro mayors in those areas most affected by disruption and cancellations.
While Britain’s railways have been adversely affected by industrial action in recent months, the figures do not include services cancelled the day before they are due to run. Trains taken out of service part-way through their journey (‘part cancellations’) are however scored, at half the level of a train that does not run at all.
Avanti West Coast, which in October was given six months by the DfT to improve its services (RAIL 968), topped the table of cancellations, reaching an MAA of 7.7% (up from 7.3% in the previous period).
An AWC spokesman told RAIL: “We know we’re not delivering the service our customers rightly expect and we apologise for the enormous frustration and inconvenience caused.
“Resolving this situation requires a robust plan that will allow us to gradually increase services without being reliant on traincrew overtime, which fell dramatically in
July. Our plans are working, and we have seen cancellations drop from nearly 25% at the end of July to 3% for the first week of November.
“In September, we stepped up our timetable, adding extra services on our Birmingham and Manchester routes.
“In December, we will introduce a significant increase in our timetable - one that will not be dependent on overtime. All our main routes will have more services than they had in May, including Manchester restored to its full three trains per hour service.”
Cancellation statistics, which go back to 2014-15, are among those regularly updated and published by the ORR. They can be found at https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/ statistics/performance/passengerrail-performance/table-3124-trainsplanned-and-cancellations-byoperator-and-cause-periodic/