TRAIN services in Scotland are the most reliable in the whole of the UK, despite more than 100,000 ScotRail cancellations in the last five years.
Data from the UK Government Office of Rail and Road (ORR), compiled by Accident Claims Advice, found that Scottish commuters have a more reliable service than in England and Wales.
It comes as ScotRail has introduced a temporary timetable following an industrial dispute with train drivers’ union Aslef, with peak fares also set to be reintroduced from Friday.
Between April 2019 and April 2024, 1,447,680 trains were partly or fully cancelled, equivalent to nearly 800 trains per day.
A fully cancelled train is one which runs less than half of its planned journey, or none at all. A partly cancelled train completes its journey but misses at least one planned station.
In England and Wales, one in every 20 trains scheduled across 2023/24 did not complete its intended route. Of those, 44% were noted as full cancellations, meaning that 140,834 commuters either saw their train miss numerous stations or not arrive at all.
Meanwhile, almost all (97.2%) Scottish services finished their route without disruption, with just 1% (7122) of trains cancelled altogether.
The total number of services in Scotland affected by some degree of cancellation between 2019 and 2024 was 102,675, or 3.1% – lower than the UK average of 4.2%.
The Caledonian Sleeper had an overall partial or full cancellation rate of 4.8% between 2019 and 2024, with a total of 9059 trains running during this period.
The operator with the greatest proportion of trains which failed to complete their expected routes was TransPennine Express, which operates in southern Scotland as well as northern England.
A total of 31,992 partial and full cancellations were recorded for TransPennine Express in the five-year period, equivalent to 6.8% of services.
TransPennine trains have also been impacted by pre-cancellations, where a service was cancelled any time before 10pm the night prior to departure.
In the period 2023 to 2024, a total of 5042 pre-cancellations meant that one in 20 TransPennine trains never made it onto the schedule, far clear of the 0.4% UK average.
Meanwhile, ScotRail’s pre-cancellation rate was just 0.2%, calling off 1112 services.
Commenting, Mark Ilderton, ScotRail service delivery director, said: “Everyone across Scotland’s Railway is working flat out for our customers to ensure our rail service is a safe, reliable, and green form of public transport.
“While it’s encouraging to see performance levels ahead of the UK averages, we know there’s more work to be done.
“Our focus is building on the hard work of our people to deliver the safe and reliable railway that our customers expect and deserve, and to encourage more people to travel by train instead of using the car.”
