London (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Train disruptions in Britain continue to reach record levels, with over 400,000 services cancelled this year. Despite efforts to improve reliability, train cancellations primarily affected northern England.
The latest data from the Office of Rail and Road reveals that 208,000 train services were fully cancelled in the year up to November 9 and an additional 161,000 train services were partially cancelled, missing one or more planned stops.
The rail industry’s cancellation score disclosed that 4% of the 7.3 million scheduled trains were cancelled, with part cancellations recorded as half.
This marks the lowest reliability rate since March 2015, when the annual cancellations score was only 1.9%.
The rising disruptions coincide with Labour’s move to renationalise the railways, with the Passenger Rail Services Bill receiving a royal agreement last month. This is Sir Keir Starmer’s first major reform led by Louise Haigh since taking office.
As reported by the Independent, under the new Passenger Rail Services Bill, rail networks will shift to public ownership, with Great British Rail taking control and they are set to be fully renationalised by the next election.
Northern was the poorest-performing company, cancelling 8% of its services, while Avanti West Coast terminated 7.8% and CrossCountry 7.4%.
The Guardian reports that Govia Thameslink Railway, which runs services to and from London, recorded the second-highest cancellation rate in the final months of 2024, affecting commuters in the south.
Train companies are running significantly fewer services than before COVID-19, with CrossCountry operating at 78.4%, GTR at 80.1%, and Avanti at 83.5% of their 2019 trains, yet unreliability continues.
Tony Miles, Rail journalist Tony Miles of Modern Railways magazine, stated, “Much of (the poor performance) has 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).”
According to Mr Miles, Network Rail is struggling to maintain its infrastructure due to a lack of funding, which is a major reason behind these cancellations.
Michael Solomon Williams, from the pressure group Campaign for Better Transport, stated, “Delays and cancellations erode passengers” trust in the railways.
He added, “The rail industry and Government must work together to invest in both the workforce and infrastructure to improve reliability across the whole network.”
The current government has passed legislation to bring more train services under public ownership to improve services. However, Northern has been managed by the Department for Transport since its renationalisation in 2020.
To tackle poor rail performance, ministers are holding discussions with the directors of the worst-performing operators and Network Rail officials.
Former transport secretary Louise Haigh stated in November that operators were asked to display performance data at stations to improve transparency.
Earlier this month, the current transport minister, Heidi Alexander, 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.”
A spokesperson from DfT stated, “Poor performance will not be tolerated, and we will hold all operators accountable, regardless of ownership.”
He added public ownership would prioritise passengers, reinvest in railways, simplify fares, and end rail fragmentation.
Northern apologised for its bad performance and argued that they are working hard to resolve crew shortages to improve reliability.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union participants have voted to refuse a potential deal with the rail industry. This agreement proposed a 4% pay increase for 2022 and 2023 and was linked to changes in working practices that the RMT warned could lead to job cuts and worse conditions.
A spokesperson from Northern said, “Despite this setback, we will continue to work with colleagues and the RMT union to find a new way forward. We realise there is more to be done to address issues with performance and are now focused on delivering our improvement plan.”
A representative from the Rail Delivery Group stated factors like extreme weather, train functionality, and external disruptions like trespassing are major reasons for delays and cancellations.