Elizabeth Line, Thameslink and Heathrow Express: London commuters ‘failed’ by train firms as punctuality plummets
London commuters are being “failed” by train companies after new figures showed punctuality has dipped significantly at major operators in the capital.
New quarterly data from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) revealed punctuality on the Elizabeth Line, Govia Thameslink, Great Western, Heathrow Express and LNER had all fallen year-on-year.
Nationally, punctuality was worse for 14 out of 24 operators in the latest quarter despite last year being marred by delays, disruption and ongoing industrial action.
The Elizabeth Line still finished as the second most punctual route in the country but dipped 3.4 per cent amid a recent downturn in performance since the turn of the year.
The Heathrow Express service from London Paddington fell a whopping 7.6 per cent, while Great Western and Govia fell 3.3 and 0.6 per cent respectively.
The punctuality figures were joined by an equally troubling number of cancellations, with just over half of operators seeing an increase in the last quarter. Overall, cancellations remain at the joint highest level since data was first recorded in 2014.
Britain’s railways are on the brink of some of the biggest reforms in decades. Labour has announced plans to renationalise passenger operators and the Conservatives have backed Great British Rail (GBR), an arms length but government owned body designed to reduce fragmentation and improve accountability.
It comes after years of poor performance post-Covid, with passenger revenues plummeting amid a dearth in commuters and continued strike action from workers at the major unions.
All of Southeastern, Govia Thameslink and South Western now have punctuality rates of less than 70 per cent.
Elly Baker, Labour’s London Assembly spokesperson for Transport, said: “These figures show the extent to which Londoners are being failed by train operating companies.
“Last year, we saw the companies taking Londoners for a ride, charging them thousands of pounds to get around but more often leaving them stranded.
“It’s time for passengers to get a better deal. The Mayor is running TfL much better than this – and has been clear that he could improve these other services too.
“The government must look to bring back these services into Londoners’ ownership as soon as their contracts expire.”
A Rail Delivery Group spokesperson said: “We know how important reliability is to our customers and apologise to everyone affected by cancelled or delayed services.”
When train delays or cancellations do occur, we are proactively notifying customers in advance and raising awareness of Delay Repay to simplify compensation claims for affected customers.”