Train cancellations hit record high despite Labour handing out millions in pay rises

Train cancellations have hit a record high after the Government handed 15 per cent pay rises to drivers.

Performance across the country hit record-breaking lows in the three months from July, when the general election took place, according to official figures.

The failures come despite the pay rise in August. At the time, Louise Haigh, the then transport secretary, boasted: “I promised to move fast and fix things, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.”

Yet the £135 million pay increases have failed to lead to an improvement in train services.

Summer cancellations soared to a record high, with 4.2 per cent of trains during the three months being withdrawn before they ran – an increase of more than a quarter on 2023’s performance.

This year had the highest number of summer cancellations in Office of Rail and Road records going back to 2014, representing a total of 78,000 services being partially or fully cancelled.

State-owned Northern Rail was the worst offender, topping the cancellations league table with 6.5 per cent of its services being withdrawn.

This was up by more than half – 53 per cent – from its final summer under private control before it was nationalised by the Conservative government in 2020 for poor performance.

Thameslink and CrossCountry were joint second worst, cancelling 5.8 per cent of their scheduled trains.

The so-called “public performance measure”, which shows how many trains arrived at their final destination within five minutes of their scheduled time, sank to its lowest point for 20 years between July and September this year.

Other recent statistics showed that state subsidy to the railways hit £12.5 billion in the 12 months to March, representing 49 per cent of the entire income of the rail system.

This includes £8.3 billion of taxpayers’ money allocated to Network Rail, the state-owned company that maintains tracks and bridges.

As part of its pre-election promises to fix the country’s railways, Labour vowed in its manifesto to bring trains under full state ownership.

Its flagship Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act received Royal Assent a few weeks ago.

Heidi Alexander, the new transport secretary, announced earlier this month that South Western Railway would be the first of the 10 remaining privately owned franchises to be nationalised.

The Telegraph later reported that Greater Anglia, the nation’s best-performing passenger train company, will be nationalised next autumn.

Andy Bagnall, chief executive of trade association Rail Partners, said: “The latest Office of Rail and Road data show public and private train companies continue to face the same performance challenges.

“It is counter-intuitive to start removing private sector operators from the system, with their track record of delivering growth to reduce subsidy, when the Government has not yet set out the details of how it intends to create a more reliable and affordable experience for passengers.

“Simply changing who runs the trains won’t deliver more reliable services for passengers.”

Lord Hendy, the rail minister, 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 into our railways.

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