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Majority of trains run by northern operators are delayed

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Three train operators serving northern England are getting fewer than half their services to arrive on time.

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Just 45.8% of stops at stations by TransPennine Express trains were within a minute of the schedule between October 16 and November 12, analysis of Office of Rail and Road (ORR) data by the PA news agency found.

At 48%, Northernโ€™s punctuality was only slightly better.

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Avanti West Coast, which serves north-west England as part of its long-distance routes on the West Coast Main Line, recorded an on-time figure of 33.3%.

That was close to its worst four-week period on record, which was in autumn 2019 when 31.4% of stops at stations were not delayed.

All three operators have been hit by staffing problems, with many drivers refusing to volunteer to work on rest days.

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Transport Secretary Mark Harper said on Wednesday he is โ€œunder no illusionsโ€ about the โ€œreal problemโ€ blighting northern Englandโ€™s railways.

He made the comments after holding talks with five of the regionโ€™s metro mayors, who said the discussion was โ€œpositiveโ€ but stressed they need more than โ€œwarm wordsโ€ to fix the disruption โ€œcausing misery for millionsโ€.

Elsewhere, LNERโ€™s on-time figure between October 16 and November 12 was 50.1%, while East Midlands Railway managed 45.5% โ€“ its worst performance on record.

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For Britain as a whole, 60.7% of trains were on time.

The ORR figures also show the industryโ€™s cancellations score during the same period was 4.1%.

This reflects the percentage of services either fully or partly cancelled.

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Each part cancellation counts as half a full cancellation.

The figures do not include trains removed from timetables before 10pm the previous day.

A spokesman for the Rail Delivery Group, which represents operators, said: โ€œIn 2019/2020, 64.8% of trains arrived on time.

โ€œSince then, the industry has had to recover from the devastating impact of the pandemic.

โ€œThis year has seen a national rail dispute and extreme weather challenges ranging from three named storms and flooding to heatwaves where temperatures peaked above 40 degrees.

โ€œIt is also important to consider wider data. For example, between May 1 to October 15 more than 87% of trains arrived within five minutes of their scheduled arrival time on commuter and regional routes and 10 minutes for long distance services.

โ€œThis measures both reliability (ie that a train service ran) and punctuality.โ€


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