Over half of CrossCountry trains arrive ‘late’

Just 45.2 per cent of the companies trains, which include services connecting Yorkshire with Birmingham and the South-West, were on schedule in the last 12 months.

Passengers using the East Coast main line also suffered, with Government-backed operator East Coast managing to achieve a punctuality rate of only 57.9 per cent.

First Transpennine Express fared little better with 61.9 per cent of services staying on time.

Northern Rail and East Midlands Trains had the best records among train operators running services in the region at 71.9 and 7.8 per cent respectively.

The companies were judged against a measure known as “right-time” where a train is only considered to be on time if it arrives early or within 59 seconds of schedule.

According to the figures from Network Rail, 67.6 per cent of trains nationally were on time in the 12 months up to August 17 this year, falling to 53.2 per cent for long-distance services.

A spokesman for the Association of Train Operating Companies said: “According to the Government’s own measure, train punctuality is better now than it was 15 years ago with nine out of 10 trains arriving as planned.”