UK Train Stations With The Worst Delays Revealed

A report by Which? looked at Britain's railway "blackspots".
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The Telegraph

Ten of the UK’s railway stations have seen at least half of train services delayed or cancelled so far this year.

Passengers at Manchester Oxford Road were the worst hit, with more than two thirds (68%) of services being late or cancelled, according to research by consumer group Which?.

At peak times, a whopping 77% of trains did not arrive or depart at the scheduled time.

Train services passing through the station include Northern, TransPennine Express, East Midlands Trains and Transport for Wales.

York station came in second, with almost two-thirds (65%) of trains arriving or departing late, or altogether cancelled.

“People have been left deeply frustrated at the unacceptably high levels of delays and cancellations which impact on their everyday lives”

- Alex Hayman

Gatwick Airport and Birmingham New Street were joint third on the list, with 60% of services failing to run as scheduled.

In London, Clapham Junction scored the worst performance for punctuality, with 54% of trains being delayed or cancelled.

The station is served by South Western Railway, Thameslink, Gatwick Express and the oft-troubled Southern services.

It sees some 800 trains pass through each day.

The report looked at data from website On Time Trains to revel the proportion of services which were at least one minute late or cancelled from the 10 busiest stations in London and the twenty busiest stations outside London since the tart of the year.

The study comes as much of Britain experienced rail chaos over the summer and throughout the year following timetable changes.

UK stations with highest proportion or trains delayed or cancelled:

Manchester Oxford Road - 68%

York - 65%

Gatwick Airport - 60%

Birmingham New Street - 60%

Bristol Temple Meads - 58%

Manchester Piccadilly - 56%

Sheffield - 54%

Manchester Victoria - 51%

Woking - 50%

Liverpool Central - 49%

 

Inside London:

Clapham Junction - 54%

London King’s Cross - 45%

London Victoria - 44%

Stratford (London) - 41%

London Bridge - 40%

London Waterloo - 39%

London Paddington - 38%

London Euston - 33%

London Liverpool Street - 32%

London St Pancras International - 30%

New schedules introduced in May saw widespread disruption to services in the south-east and north of England.

Last month the Government commissioned a review of Britain’s railways which will consider all parts of the network, including accountability, the franchising system and value for money.

Which? managing director of public markets Alex Hayman 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.

“The review must not be used as an excuse to delay real action to improve passengers’ experiences on the trains today. As a first step, the Government must introduce fully automatic compensation, ensuring more passengers get the money they are owed.”