Oxford Road station named and shamed as the worst in the country

More than 60% of journeys were delayed this year alone

@HitsMcrNews
Published 16th Oct 2018

All three of Manchester's railway stations have made it into the top ten 'railway blackspots' of services which frequently fail to run on time.

Passengers using Manchester Oxford Road suffer from the worst punctuality out of all the stations analysed by Which?/

More than two thirds (68%) of services have been late or cancelled since the beginning of the year, according to research.

This was even worse at peak times, with more than three-quarters (77%) of trains not departing or arriving as scheduled.

The station is served by Northern, TransPennine Express, East Midlands Trains and Transport for Wales services, to destinations including Liverpool, Newcastle and Norwich.

The study analysed data from website On Time Trains to reveal the proportion of trains which were at least one minute late or cancelled from the 10 busiest stations in London and the 20 busiest stations outside London since the start of 2018.

Last month the Government commissioned a review of Britain's railways which will consider all parts of the network, including accountability, the franchising system and value for money.

New timetables introduced in May saw widespread disruption to services in the south-east and north of England.

Which? managing director of public markets Alex Hayman 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.

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.''