Brighton rail services '˜most punctual' in survey of busiest stations

A study of train travel '˜blackspots' by consumer champion Which? found a quarter of rail services to and from Brighton were delayed.
Delays from Brighton StationDelays from Brighton Station
Delays from Brighton Station

But of the 20 busiest non-London rail stations that it looked at, Brighton actually had the most punctual services with only 26 per cent delayed by one minute or more.

Worst hit was Manchester Oxford Road, with 68 per cent of serviced delayed, York at 65 per cent, and nearby Gatwick Airport with 60 per cent of services more than one minute later.

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The Which? data looked at the busiest railway stations in the UK, and using data from rail-performance tracking site On Time Trains, it ranked the stations as to how many services were at least one minute late or cancelled.

The top non-London stations for delayed trains were Clapham Junction (54 per cent), King’s Cross (45 per cent) and London Victoria (44 per cent).

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But Which? said despite the huge number of delays since the beginning of the year outlined by this research, the number of delayed journeys that passengers could be eligible to claim compensation for was remarkably low.

Fifteen minutes is the point at which Delay Repay compensation can kick in.

Despite the widespread disruption, at the 20 busiest stations excluding London, three per cent of services were delayed by 15 minutes or more and three per cent were cancelled, meaning passengers on only up to 13 per cent of all delayed or cancelled services could be eligible for compensation.

Alex Hayman, Which? Managing Director of Public Markets, said: “Passengers have told us reliability is hugely important to them. People have been left deeply frustrated at the unacceptably high levels of delays and cancellations which impact on their everyday lives.

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“Passengers must be at the centre of the forthcoming Government rail review, it must look at performance targets to drive improvements in punctuality and reliability for passengers.

“The review must not be used as an excuse to delay real action to improve passengers’ experiences on the trains today. As a first step, the Government must introduce fully automatic compensation, ensuring more passengers get the money they are owed.”