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Shocking figures show trains were cancelled every 90 seconds
in 2024 - with next year looking even worse amid severe staffing shortages.

A record 370,000 train services across the UK were fully or part-cancelled in 2024, according to analysis of
the latest Office of Rail and Road data.

Roughly 208,000 trains were fully axed in the year ending
Nov 9, while a further 161,000 were part-cancelled - meaning they did
not serve at least one of their planned stops.

The rail industry's cancellation scores count a
full cancellation as one and a part-cancellation as half. 

This means in total, 4 per cent of the 7.3 million train trips scheduled were axed making
it the joint poorest reliability performance on records dating
back to March 2015, when the annual cancellations score was just 1.9 per cent.

The 2015 cancellation percentage equates to one
cancellation every minute and 25 seconds, or about
42 every hour.

On Sundays rail services experience the most issues as many
companies count on staff volunteering to work paid overtime on that day.

This often means rail operators are left short of workers and are therefore unable to provide an efficient service. 

Shocking figures show trains were cancelled every 90 seconds in 2024 - and next year
could be even worse amid severe staffing shortages (stock image) 

A record 370,000 train services across the UK were fully or part-cancelled in 2024, according to analysis
of the latest Office of Rail and Road data (stock image) 

Great Western Railway, Northern and ScotRail are among the operators affected.

Tony Miles, a rail journalist at Modern Railways magazine, said: 'Much
of [the poor performance] is to do with a failure of successive governments
to really resolve the staffing issues on rail,
and that includes getting a proper seven-day railway
in the terms and conditions [of train crew] - and recruiting enough staff - so they don't have to rely on overtime and rest-day working.

'This is putting people off trains and back on to the
roads, which is completely contrary to what government
ambition should be.'

Mr Miles claimed some train drivers have chose not to work extra shifts since the Labour Government offered a multi-year pay deal
to their union Aslef without changes to terms
and conditions.

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He estimated cancellation rates are 'probably going to
get worse' because drivers are retiring faster than they are being hired, describing the situation as a 'ticking time bomb'.

Mr Miles said inadequate funding contributed to the cancellation numbers and that Network
Rail was 'struggling' to maintain its infrastructure.

He added there was an increase in the number of train staff off work because of illness, with
more people staying home when ill since the pandemic.

Michael Solomon Williams, from pressure group Campaign for Better Transport, said:
'Delays and cancellations erode passengers' faith in the railways.

'The rail industry and the Government must work together to invest in both the workforce and infrastructure to
improve reliability across the whole network.'

Avanti West Coast was the company with the highest
cancellations score in the year to Nov 9 at 7.8
per cent.

The rail service runs on the West Coast Main Line
between London, the West Midlands, North West
England, North Wales and Scotland.

It was closely followed by CrossCountry at 7.4
per cent, Northern at 5.7 per cent and Govia Thameslink
Railway at 5.2 per cent.

The best performing operator was c2c - which runs services between London and Essex - with only 1.6 per cent of its services impacted.

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In November, the transport secretary at the time, Louise Haigh, said
train operators have been asked to prepare for their performance statistics to
be displayed at most stations to boost transparency.

Officials are also aiming to simplify ticketing and fares.

Earlier this month, Heidi Alexander, the current transport secretary said: 'We are clear that we need to move to a seven-day railway.

'We are too over-reliant on rest-day working and so that's
a big priority for me as we move into the new year.'

Before the general election, Stephen Morgan, Labour's
shadow transport minister, revealed trains were being cancelled every 91 seconds on average
in 2023, but this has since become every 85
seconds.

A Department for Transport spokesman said: 'Passengers
are being let down by poor services, which is why we are committed
to delivering the biggest overhaul of the railways in a generation.

'Bringing services back into public ownership will put passengers at
the heart of everything we do and allow us to reinvest in our railways.

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EXCLUSIVE

Revealed: Britain's worst railway stations for cancellations - use our interactive tool

'We have been clear we will not tolerate poor performance and will continue to
hold all operators to account, regardless of ownership.'

It comes as Britain's worst railway stations
were revealed to be in the North West of England,
with at least one in ten trains cancelled at 20 stations so
far this year.

Leyland, Poulton-le-Fylde and Blackpool North had the most services axed out of any of the UK's
top 1,000 busiest stations, with at least 13 per cent cancelled at all three.

Also in the top ten worst performing between January and November 2024 were Kirkham & Wesham, Horwich Parkway, St Helens Central, Broad Green, Handforth,
Glossop and Deansgate - all with cancellation rates of over 11 per cent.

The worst performing major stations were Preston at 10 per cent, Manchester Victoria at 9.5 per
cent and Manchester Oxford Road at 8.1 per cent, according to the National Rail
figures compiled by rail performance-tracking website On Time
Trains.

Northern Rail, which runs trains through all the worst stations among its network of
500 stops across northern England, has apologised - while Department for Transport (DfT) officials admitted that rail users were 'being let down by
poor services'.

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