Train cancellations have hit their highest level on record with more than 314,000 trains being fully or partially canceled in Britain in one year, Guardian analysis reveals.
Office of Rail and Road (ORR) figures show the proportion of canceled services has more than doubled since 2015, rising to one in 26 of all rail journeys disrupted in the year to to October 15, the latest date for which figures are available.
Ministers have been accused of rewarding “abject failure” by companies 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 Haigh, the shadow transport secretary, said: “This ongoing fiasco is causing huge harm to the public, passengers and the economy, and ministers seem completely disinterested. After 12 years of Tory neglect, our rail services are in crisis.”
Passengers on one of the UK’s main rail routes faced disruption on Sunday when train managers on the Avanti West Coast line between London and Glasgow went on strike.
There are concerns the disruption to services could cause thousands of people misery over the Christmas period. A national strike of train drivers is due to take place on Saturday, with little sign of progress in negotiations between the Aslef union and the railway companies.
Analysis of ORR figures by the Guardian shows that 187,000 trains were fully canceled and 127,000 partially canceled in the year to October 15, the equivalent of 860 a day. The figures exclude trains canceled due to the strike.
This means 3.8% of planned services, or one in 26 train journeys, were disrupted or canceled last year, the highest proportion since records began in 2014 -15.
This is up 2.9% in the year to October 2019 and up 3.1% on the same period in 2018. The number of cancellations fell sharply in 2020 and early 2021 to due to the Covid-19 lockdown.
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Commuters in northern 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%) of its planned services cancelled.
Three quarters of these cancellations (76%) were due to train breakdowns or other problems within Avanti, rather than infrastructure issues which are the responsibility of Network Rail. This was more than any other train company in the country.
Labor has pledged to bring the railways into public ownership when the operators’ contracts expire.
Haigh, who represents the Sheffield Heeley constituency, said ministers were rewarding the “abject failure” of train companies and must “show some responsibility and step in”. He added: “It’s completely absurd that millions of people can’t rely on the train to get to work, and they’re going against the countless promises made by the Tories to connect our northern towns and cities.”
In the three months to mid-October, Avanti had canceled 1,440 trains, resulting in full services at other times.
Taxpayers pay train operators a fixed fee to run the services after the franchise ends in May 2021. They are also contractually entitled to a “performance fee” for exceeding minimum service standards. Avanti is understood 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 its cancellations had dropped from almost 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 has said its main routes would 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 enormous frustration and inconvenience caused. Resolving this situation requires a robust plan to allow us to progressively increase services without rely on train crew overtime, which fell dramatically 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 data. TransPennine Express canceled 5.3% over the same period, rising to 5.8% in the latest 12-week period covered by the data.
The high level of cancellations comes despite several major train operators having reduced timetables.
Avanti, named after the Italian word for forward, has gone backwards when it comes to scheduling trains. 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 was cancelled.
Other operators that have reduced timetables include TransPennine Express and Northern Trains (both operating 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 are preventing working people from going about their daily lives.
“We have allocated more than £16 billion to improve 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 with confidence without interruptions”.