Majority of trains run by northern operators are delayed

Fewer than half of train services provided by three rail operators in northern England are arriving on time.

Services from TransPennine Express, Northern and Avanti West Coast were analysed by PA using Office of Rail and Road (ORR) data.

It found just 33.3% of Avanti services were within a minute of the schedule between 16 October and 12 November.

The figure is close to its worst four-week period on record in autumn 2019 when 31.4% of stops at stations were not delayed.

TransPennine recoded an on-time figure of 45.8%, while 48% of Northern services were were running to schedule.

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

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said he is “under no illusions” about the “real problem” blighting northern England’s railways.

He made the comments after holding talks with five of the region’s metro mayors, who said the discussion was “positive” but stressed they need more than “warm words” to fix the disruption “causing misery for millions”.

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

With east coast service LNER’s on-time figure between 16 October and 12 November was 50.1%, while East Midlands Railway managed 45.5% – its worst performance on record.

The ORR figures also show the industry’s cancellations score during the same period was 4.1%.

It reflects the percentage of services either fully or partly cancelled. 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: “In 2019/2020, 64.8% of trains arrived on time.

“Since then, the industry has had to recover from the devastating impact of the pandemic.

“This 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.

“It 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.

“This measures both reliability (ie that a train service ran) and punctuality.”

A spokesman for TransPennine previously said it has suffered “prolonged disruption” from a range of issues, which include a training backlog and staff sickness.

TransPennine Express said: "Prior to December 2021 TransPennine Express (TPE) had posted its best ever performance results, and was subsequently recognised as "Train Operator of the Year" at the Rail Business Awards.

"Since then, prolonged disruption affecting our services has been caused by a range of issues including ongoing high levels of train crew sickness, a persisting training backlog as a direct result of Covid, and infrastructure issues outside of TPE’s control.

"Combined, these factors have seen a number of on-the-day or 'evening before' cancellations being made.

Responding to criticism Avanti said: "We know in recent months our customers have not been getting the service they deserve.

"We are sorry for the enormous amount of frustration and inconvenience this has caused and are grateful for the patience our passengers have shown.

"Over the last few months, our sole focus has been to do everything we can to return to a more resilient operation which delivers more services for our customers and communities."

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