Station where 40% of all trains are late

THREE of Scotland’s busiest railway stations have been named among the UK’s worst for delays and cancellations.

An investigation found more than four in ten trains leaving Edinburgh Waverley Station were delayed by at least a minute and 4 per cent were cancelled so far this year.

Glasgow’s Queen Street and Central stations were also in the top 20 worst performing stations in the UK, in figures published by consumer group Which?

It obtained data covering January 1 to September 30 from tracking site On Time Trains and marked a train as late if it arrived at least one minute behind schedule.

Edinburgh Waverley was ranked 16th worst in the UK, with 42 per cent of services delayed, while Glasgow Queen Street ranked 18th with 39 per cent delayed and 3 per cent cancelled.

Glasgow Central was ranked 19th with 34 per cent of services delayed and 3 per cent cancelled.

ScotRail runs the majority of services from the three stations.

A spokesman said: ‘The most recent figures show that more than four out of five trains met their punctuality target over the previous four weeks. But we know performance needs to get better and we share the frustrations of our customers when things don’t go according to plan.

‘The investment we are making in new and upgraded trains, and

‘Improve service we provide’

our recruitment drive to increase the number of people working on our frontline, will help us to significantly improve the service we provide to our customers.’

Commuter routes in England were hit the hardest by delays.

Britain’s worst ‘train travel blackspot’ was Oxford Road Station in Manchester which saw 68 per cent of trains delayed this year. Of these, 5 per cent, were cancelled. In the morning and evening peak periods, 77 per cent were late or axed.

Manchester was one of the cities hit hardest by the botched introduction of a timetable in May which wreaked havoc in Northern and Southern England.

Another two of the city’s stations – Piccadilly and Victoria – were also included in the list of blackspots.

York was named as the country’s second worst ‘train travel blackspot’. Ten million train trips go through the station every year but 65 per cent departed or arrived late or were cancelled.

The rail industry only classifies a train as late if it arrives at its final destination more than five minutes behind schedule, rising to ten minutes or more for long distances.

However, Which? said even a delay of a few minutes can have a knock-on effect on other services and make passengers miss connections.

Robert Nisbet, regional director at the Rail Delivery Group, which represents the industry, said: ‘We know how frustrating delays are, which is why 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 two years.’

UK Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has announced an independent review of the industry.