The UK’s ‘worst’ railway station revealed as prospects ‘left in tears’ | UK | News | EUROtoday

The UK’s “worst” railway station for commuters has been revealed as prospects are affected by delays at essential interchanges.

A brand new disruption calculator has recommended {that a} main station in London is the worst UK station for delays.

The software works out how seemingly passengers are to face cancellations or delays, based mostly on their arrival and departure stations, utilizing rail journey knowledge from 660 routes and 50 stations between July and December 2024.

Last yr, delay repay claims reached 7.6million, in response to Office for Rail and Road (ORR) knowledge, with rail fares anticipated to be elevated once more in March 2025 by 4.6%.

26% of arrivals at London Kings Cross – well-known because the station served by the Hogwarts Express within the Harry Potter novels – had been delayed by greater than 5 minutes, in response to analysis.

A assessment of the interchange on TripAdvisor from Janaury 2024 was titled “awful place, awful staff”. It learn: “Travelled back home on December 27th. Far too crowded.

“Called boarding for a number of trains without delay however didn’t open the gates. Was absolute chaos. Women had been carrying infants and older {couples} had been in tears. I’m shocked no person was significantly damage or worse. Staff had been horrible and had no consideration for anybody.”

A different reviewer wrote: “The practice station with filthy unusable bathrooms. The platforms are removed from one another which means there isn’t any speedy transfers.”

The London terminus was followed by Manchester Piccadilly in the rankings – 24% of its arrivals were delayed by the same time.

Liverpool Lime Street is also included in the list, alongside Huddersfield, York, London Blackfriars and Derby.

As well as the percentage of services delayed, the table also took into account the percentage of cancellations and average delay times.

The “worst” commuter routes have also been named. Peterborough to Nottingham is said to top the list, with 39 arrivals that were more than five minutes late, and an average delay time of 7.5 minutes.

Second came Newton-le-Willows to Liverpool Lime Street. This was followed by Macnhester Piccadilly to Cardiff Central.

Stations ranked

Here’s a list of the least reliable stations in the UK, according to the Commuter Delays Calculator, developed by Tank.

Network Rail owns and manages King’s Cross station but train services are provided by multiple operators.

A spokesperson for Network Rail said: “While King’s Cross does have many commuters, it is also one of the country’s premier long-distance stations, with trains arriving from as far away as Aberdeen.

“In current months providers have been affected by main storms and different points, nonetheless, we all know how essential reliability is for passengers and we’re working carefully with operators throughout the nation to enhance it.”