Hello, I'm Italian. I'd like to know if in United Kingdom trains are generally late?

Question

In Italy trains are inefficient and much often they are on a 30-minute delay (sometimes a more than an hour)...

Answer 1

always

Answer 2

Train services in the UK are generally far inferior, slower and significantly more expensive than those in Europe.

Although, Italy in general is an inefficient country compared to the rest of Europe, don't be surprised if you find UK trains worse than those in Italy.

Answer 3

We're English - we believe all the trains are late all the time and we complain about it. (When not complaining about the weather). The truth is we're right! Read the dreadful truth here in graph #3. http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/742.as...

Here's a very amusing story about GWR (the train provider I use) making bad excuses but a TREMENDOUS profit!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressre...

Answer 4

alot are on time but some lines are prone to delays more than others   Sundays are a bad day engineering work carred out

Answer 5

90% on time.

Answer 6

Sometime they are and sometime they ain't The train usually late from Where I live is London Kings Cross train from Hartlepool

Answer 7

The first trains ran in 1825, and there are some passengers still waiting! Seriously if you accept 10 minutes as ok then most trains are "on-time". The only exception tends to be on commuter routes when there is another train in a few minutes anyway. The exception to on-time is of course always the train you are on!

Answer 8

id say about 50% are late through my own experience you cannot rely on them

Answer 9

Despite the fact that people keep complaining that trains are always late, generally that's not true. Most trains run on time (which is defined as "reaching their destination station within 10 minutes of the advertised time"). If you use this website --> http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fare... and input the name of the station you're interested in, you can see how trains are running at the moment. For trains some time in the future, the site shows "no report" because the train will not have started its journey yet.

Answer 10

Si........!!!!!

Answer 11

There actually pretty good, I think. Usually punctual but not 100% efficient. Its the buses you have to worry about, xx.

Answer 12

ohhh yes they are always late it must be a world wide phenomenon -------> :)

Answer 13

didnt muscolini fix that problem

Answer 14

Only when they actually run!

Answer 15

I wanted to answer this question earlier but there were leaves on my internet connection!!!

Answer 16

Late, over crowded, over priced, poor food

need I go on. Will carry on using my car.

Answer 17

our trains are never late - they are just usually very early (if your waiting for the 5:15 you will find the 6:15 will arrive at 5:30 , lol )

Answer 18

Late? They don't even know what a time-table is!

Answer 19

By and large the majority of trains in the UK are 'on time' or within 10 minutes of the advertised time. I wonder how many of the smart-alecks who have answered this question have waited hours at an airport, or sat sweating in a traffic jam in their cars?

Answer 20

i cought one today and one yesterday, from southhampton to bmth, and back, and both times theye were on time to the minite,

I was suprised, so from my experince there not that bad, but i can imagine in london it could be worse

Answer 21

Most UK operators run services between 80 and 95% on time, however people always remember the break downs, cancellations and disruption.  Never the trans that are within 5 minutes of right time getting you to your destination.

Answer 22

Generally trains in the UK run on time but about 10% run late, anything from 5 to 20 minutes.

It's frustrating when you are depending on one service to get a connection and it runs late.

Every so often (I don't have the figures, but it seems to happen too often) a train gets cancelled, either due to staffing or rolling stock shortages.

The main problem however with UK trains is not punctuality but cramped accommodation and expensive fares - higher than in the rest of Europe.

Edit:

'Reaching their destination within 10 minutes of the advertised time' is not good enough. Either a train arrives at the time stated in the timetable, i.e. within 1 minute, or it is late. If you're relying on a connection even a few minutes' delay can mean the difference between catching your train and being stranded halfway home for hours.

Answer 23

they are always late regardless of any statistics the train companies quote

Answer 24

In the UK it depends on where you are. On a big station like one in London or in Birmingham the trains are quite often 10-20minutes late. On small stations the trains often come 2 or 3 minutes early or 2 or 3 minutes late. It also depends which company are the operators of the train, LONDON/MIDLAND are very efficiant.

Answer 25

I know that southeastern are very efficient, with trains 90 % on time and 99% within 5 minutes of the time stated. I cannot speak for the rest of the country, but in the south east, trains are very frequently on time.

Answer 26

Not generally late - but always late.  It's not as bad as it was though because the rail companies have moved the goal posts by making timetabled journeys longer in time.  Thus there is less lateness!  Any one for Lewis Caroll?