A Department for Transport (DfT) spokesperson said operators would have to meet “rigorous, bespoke standards” under its plans to renationalise rail services in Britain, external.
Great British Railways, a new arm’s length body, will oversee the rail system in England, Wales and Scotland in a move that the government hopes will bring savings while also reducing delays and cancellations.
The legislation needed to establish the new body is still due to go through parliament, but some services have already been transferred into public ownership as franchises held by private companies start to expire. All services are expected to be publicly owned by the end of 2027.
The DfT said it was already starting to see “positive signs of progress with overall cancellations starting to fall”.
On the face of it, the number of cancelled train stops has gone down in the most recent four-week period, when compared to the period just before or the same period last year.
However, the cancellation rate for the past year was still slightly higher than the previous one – 3.3%, up from 3.2%.
A Rail Delivery Group spokeperson said train operators “spare no effort to maintain as many services as possible” but extreme weather, infrastructure faults and trespass could have an impact.
It apologised to those affected, saying it had introduced Visual Disruption Maps – videos to help passengers navigate service changes – and was raising awareness of the Delay Repay scheme to simplify compensation.