Trains are not as reliable as we would like.  Is that because we are unreasonalble and would like every single one to run and on time, or are there real problems?   

We hear problem reports, it seems, from far and wide.  The BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) article below picks out Huddersfield.  How much worse is that than Bath?  How do trains in Weston-super-mare compare to trains in Southport?  What about your local line or station?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-66664323


That article refers to On Time Trains which I've not explored before - a wealth of comparative data.  To start a look at that comparison of areas, I'm sharing some of their maps with you - looking at the Severnside, London, Birmingham, Transpenine and Scottish Lowlands on the same scales.  If you "open image in new window" you can see more detail; if you visit the site there is a huge amount of data to drill down into











Edit to add - I have added a specific station example at http://www.passenger.chat/27850

There is some explanation on the site but, Chris, in my view you are looking at the same small details for every station and the comparison will be pretty accurate. As regards cancellation rates, in my view a cancellation is a cancellation regardless of whether the times are working of public tables, arrivals, departures or averages thereof.  That would only make a difference on the hour by hour charts, and then a minimal one.

Having said that, the situation is comparative and some station or another has to be worst or best.  I would not mind my local station being last if it never the less achieved 98% running, and there was another service less than 30 minutes later anyway if one was cancelled.

I agree with your concerns especially if you take out the data smoothing.   We could have a very long and complex discussion!!

I noted that for the single day last Friday (1st September 2023) Melksham got a green and came out 391st out of 1696.    Six hundred stations had no service at all that day due to industrial action (or nothing scheduled anyway such as Pilning!), and GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) had cut the timetable to just 4 calls in the day rather that 18 on the industry feeds ahead of time.   As far as Joe Public is concerned, that was 13 services cancelled out of 17. 

Playing (I admit) ... here are half a dozen interesting reports which show that a single ranking number doesn't really help make the grade:




My personal view is that I would give a much higher priority to the number of cancellations and the gap to the next service (i.e. frequency) than seems to be the case