Date: 05/05/2015

There are different ways of measuring how late a train appears to be. Government figures for the last two years show that the worst-performing company, CrossCountry Trains, saw 89% of its trains arrive on time. Its long-distance services are only recorded as late if they arrive more than ten minutes after the scheduled time. But using Department for Transport data - recording trains that arrive more than one minute later than scheduled - only 42% of their trains arrived on time. Tony Miles from Modern Railway Magazine explains when a late train is really late.

External links

When is a late train really late?

BBC News

Tony Miles from Modern Railway Magazine explains how train companies decide when a train is late and why some trains cannot run on time.

Related images

Finally, running about 2 hours late, the Edinburgh portion of a combined Edinburgh and Glasgow train to Inverness arrives at Perth on 3 January 1989.
Location: Perth
Company: Scottish Central Railway
03/01/1989 Ewan Crawford

Where am I?... What day is this?... Who are all these people?
A confused passenger peers out of the window of the late running Euston - Inverness sleeper (1130 as opposed to 0741) at Aviemore station on 24 September 2004.
Location: Aviemore
Company: Inverness and Perth Junction Railway
24/09/2004 John Furnevel

The East Coast 07.52 Aberdeen-London Kings Cross HST service, led by 43251, running through a snowy landscape near Dalgety Bay on 5 January 2010. The train was running approximately 40 minutes late at this point.
Location: Dalgety Bay
Company: Aberdour Line (North British Railway)
05/01/2010 Bill Roberton