AN average of 57 trains are significantly late every day in Britain, with services on the Caledonian Sleeper between Scotland and London most likely to be running over time, according to industry figures.
Some 5,250 trains were between 30 and 119 minutes late from July to September last year, the Press Association analysis of Office of Rail and Road (ORR) data showed.
The Caledonian Sleeper was the operator with the highest percentage of its services suffering from this level of disruption. One in 27 of its services was affected.
The second worst performance was by First Hull Trains (2.7 per cent), followed by Virgin Trains East Coast (2.6 per cent). It meant that four services per day on the east coast line between Edinburgh and London are delayed by at between 30 minutes and two hours.
The proportion of Virgin Trains on the West Coast line which ran that late was slightly smaller (1.9 per cent) but a total of five per day were affected.
The figures do not include trains that were at least two hours late.
James MacColl, of the Campaign for Better Transport, urged train companies to make more effort to ensure passengers receive compensation when services were significantly delayed.
He said: "Late-running trains can be very frustrating, but far too few passengers understand when they're due compensation or how they should go about claiming it.
"With record numbers of people now relying on the railways – and technology like electronic tickets becoming more widespread – this needs to change.
"With big investment going into the railways, it's also essential that the whole industry works together to minimise disruption and keep the trains running to time."
A spokesman for the Rail Delivery Group, representing train operators and Network Rail, described timetables as a "promise to passengers" and insisted "we never want people to suffer delays or disruption".
He added: "Train operators and Network Rail are working hard together every day to deliver a better, more punctual railway and to give people better information when things do go wrong.
"The rail industry has cut the number of incidents causing delays every year, but a busier network means that incidents can have a greater knock-on effect."
TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "Private rail companies get massive public subsidies, but they still can't run the trains on time.
"It seems that maximising profits is more important than delivering a good service. We need to return the railways to public ownership, so that more money can be spent on better services not shareholder profit."
Mick Cash, leader of the RMT rail union, described the statistics as "shocking" and said they would come as no surprise to passengers affected by trains "cancelled at the drop of a hat by private rail companies due to a shortage of fleet, staff and chronic under-investment in infrastructure."
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