One of the north of England’s main railway companies is taking advantage of an “outrageous” legal loophole that allows it to vastly under-report cancellations, it has emerged.
Figures obtained by the Guardian show that during the October half-term holiday, TransPennine Express (TPE) cancelled 30% of all trains, and at least 20% each subsequent week until 20 November. Most of those services were cancelled in full, but some started or ended at different stations from those advertised on the current May 2022 timetable.
TPE did not dispute these figures and apologised, blaming staff sickness, an intensive crew training programme and infrastructure issues outside its control.
Yet when it submits its performance statistics to the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), the government body that collates information about train reliability, TPE will report
— source theguardian.com | Helen Pidd | 28 Nov 2022