East Lancs train cancellation figures revealed in Labour strategy
Labour has revealed the scale of train cancellations across the North West as it sets out plans to renationalise Britain's railway system.
The party has published figures for the performance of companies which operate in the region.
They show that Northern - which operates the East Lancashire line from Preston via Blackburn, Accrington, Burnley and Nelson to Colne and was taken back under government control in 2020 - saw a 394 per cent increase in cancellations between 2016/2017 and 2023/2024 from 3,073 to 15,184 with just 50.2 per cent of its trains running on time between October and December last year.
The figures for TransPennine Express - taken back into government control in May last year also for poor performance in private hands - saw a 158 per cent increase in cancellations over the same period from 593 to 1,529 with just 40 per cent of services running on time.
For Avanti West Coast which runs the main line from London to Glasgow via Preston the increase was 506 per cent from 393 to 2,381 with just 37.2 per cent of trains on time.
Publishing the figures, Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh set out Labour’s roadmap to establish Great British Railways.
If it wins the forthcoming General Election, the party in government will fold existing private passenger rail contracts into the new body as they expire, without the taxpayer paying a penny in compensation costs, as part of a publicly owned and passenger focused railway.
Ms Haigh said: “Labour will deliver the biggest overhaul to our railways in a generation.
"Whilst the Conservatives are content to let Britain’s broken railways fail passengers, Labour will deliver root and branch reform.
“After years of dysfunction and waste our broken railways are unfit to meet the needs of modern Britain.
“With Labour’s bold reforms, a publicly owned railway will be single-mindedly focused on delivering for passengers and will be held to account on delivering reliable, safe, efficient, accessible, affordable and quality services.
“Labour’s detailed plans will get our railways back on track: driving up standards for passengers, bringing down costs for taxpayers, driving growth and getting Britain moving.”
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