Train cancellations have reached an all-time high with more than 314,000 fully or partially canceled trains in Britain in a year, Guardian analysis reveals.
Figures from the Office for Rail and Road Transport (ORR) show the proportion of canceled services has more than doubled since 2015, rising to one in 26 of all train journeys disrupted in the year to October 15, the latest date for which data is available.
Ministers have been accused of rewarding “deficient failure” by firms such as Avanti West Coast, which is in line for a seven-figure performance bonus despite abandoning proportionately more journeys than any other operator.
Louise Hay, shadow transport secretary, said: “This ongoing fiasco is causing huge damage to the public, passengers and the economy, and ministers seem completely uninterested. After 12 years of ignoring the Tories, our rail services are in crisis.
Passengers on one of Britain’s main rail routes faced disruption on Sunday as train managers on the Avanti West Coast line between London and Glasgow went on strike.
There are fears that service disruptions could cause misery for thousands of people over the Christmas period. A national strike by train drivers is due to take place on Saturday, with no sign of a breakthrough in talks between the Aslef union and the rail companies.
Analysis of ORR data by the Guardian shows that 187,000 trains were fully canceled and 127,000 partially canceled in the year to October 15, which equates to 860 a day. Figures exclude trains canceled due to strike.
This equates to 3.8% of scheduled services – meaning one in 26 rail journeys were disrupted or canceled last year – the highest rate since records began in 2014-15.
This is up from 2.9% in the year to October 2019 and 3.1% in the same period in 2018. The number of canceled trips fell sharply in 2020 and early 2021 due to the Covid-19 lockdown.
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Commuters in the north of England are bearing the brunt of the chaos. Avanti West Coast, which operates services between London, Manchester and Glasgow, was the worst offender with one in 13 (7.7%) scheduled services cancelled.
Three-quarters of these canceled flights (76%) were due to train faults or other issues falling within Avanti’s remit, rather than infrastructure issues which are the responsibility of Network Rail. This was more than any other company operating trains in the country.
Labor has promised to turn the railways into public ownership when the operators’ contracts expire.
Hay, who represents the Sheffield Healy constituency, said ministers were rewarding the “miserable failure” of rail companies and needed to “show some responsibility and step in”. She added: “It is completely absurd that millions cannot rely on the train to get to work and fly in the face of countless promises made by the Tories to connect our northern cities.”
In the three months to mid-October, Avanti canceled 1,440 trains, leading to busy services at other times.
Train operators are paid a fixed fee by taxpayers to provide services after the franchise ends in May 2021. They also have a contractual right to a “performance fee” for exceeding minimum service standards. Avanti is believed to be eligible for a performance fee of more than £1m despite abandoning so many rides.
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Avanti has been given until April next year to “drastically improve services” or be stripped of its contract by the government.
A spokesman for Avanti West Coast said cancellations had fallen from nearly 25% at the end of July to 3% in the first week of November.
The operator cut around a quarter of its services in August but said its main routes will have more trains than earlier this year when it increases its timetable next month.
The company added: “We know we are not providing the service our customers rightly expect and apologize for the huge disappointment and inconvenience caused. Resolving this situation requires a robust plan that will allow us to gradually increase services without relying on crew overtime, which was dramatically reduced in July.”
The second-worst performing rail operator was Govia Thameslink Railway, which canceled 6.4% of scheduled trains over the past year, according to ORR figures. TransPennine Express shed 5.3% over the same period, rising to 5.8% over the latest 12-week period covered by the data.
The high level of canceled journeys comes despite several major train operators operating reduced timetables.
Avanti – named after the Italian word for forward – has gone backwards when it comes to train timetables. In the 12 weeks to October 15, the company planned to run just 60% of the trains it did in the same period in 2019 – the biggest reduction of any operating company. Of these trains, one in 10 were cancelled.
Other operators running reduced timetables include TransPennine Express and Northern Trains (both running at 69% of 2019 levels), CrossCountry (74%) and Chiltern Railways (75%).
A Department for Transport spokesman said: “It is unacceptable that poor levels of service should stop hard-working people from going about their daily lives.
“We have committed more than £16bn to improving 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.”
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