More than 200,000 trains have been cancelled in Britain over the past year, official data shows.
Rail cancellations have reached their worst level in nearly a decade, according to analysis of Office of Rail and Road data by PA news agency.
Some 208,000 services were fully axed in the year to 9 November, along with a further 161,000 which were partly cancelled, meaning they did not serve at least one of their scheduled stops.
The rail industry produces a cancellations score – counting full cancellations as one and part-cancellations as half – which shows the equivalent of 4 per cent of the 7.3 million trains planned in that period were cancelled.
This is the worst reliability performance since comparable records began in March 2015, when the annual cancellations score was 1.9 per cent.
Despite poor performance, tickets in England will increase by 4.6 per cent next year, while the cost of railcards will rise by £5, or about 17 per cent.
Sunday services are being particularly badly disrupted because many rail firms rely on train drivers or guards volunteering to work paid overtime on that day.
Avanti West Coast had the highest cancellations (7.8 per cent), followed by CrossCountry (7.4 per cent), Northern (5.7 per cent) and Govia Thameslink (5.2 per cent).
The best performer was c2c, which runs services between London and Essex, and had a score of 1.6 per cent.
Rail journalist Tony Miles, of Modern Railways magazine, said much of the poor performance because of “a failure of successive governments to really resolve the staffing issues on rail, and that includes getting a proper seven-day railway in the terms and conditions (of train crew) – and recruiting enough staff – so they don’t have to rely on overtime and rest-day working”.
He said: “This is putting people off trains and back onto the roads, which is completely contrary to what Government ambition should be.”
Mr Miles claimed some train drivers have opted out of extra shifts since the Labour Government offered a multi-year pay deal to their union Aslef without changes to terms and conditions.
He predicted cancellations are “probably going to get worse” because of a “ticking time bomb” in recruitment, with drivers retiring faster than they are being hired.
Mr Miles said Network Rail is also “struggling” to maintain its infrastructure because of inadequate funding, which is adding to cancellations.
He added that more train staff are going off work because of sickness since the coronavirus pandemic, which led many people to decide it is better to stay home than risk spreading a virus at work.
Michael Solomon Williams, of pressure group Campaign for Better Transport, said: “Delays and cancellations erode passengers’ faith in the railways.
“The rail industry and Government must work together to invest in both the workforce and infrastructure to improve reliability across the whole network.”
In November, then-transport secretary Louise Haigh said train operators have been asked to prepare for their performance statistics to be displayed at most stations to boost transparency.
Her successor, Heidi Alexander, said earlier this month: “We are clear that we need to move to a seven-day railway.
“We are too over-reliant on rest day working and so that’s a big priority for me as we move into the new year.”
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “Passengers are being let down by poor services, which is why we are committed to delivering the biggest overhaul of the railways in a generation.
“Bringing services back into public ownership will put passengers at the heart of everything we do and allow us to reinvest into our railways.
“We have been clear we will not tolerate poor performance and will continue to hold all operators to account, regardless of ownership.”
A spokesperson for the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators, said: “We know how much passengers rely on the railway and the importance of reliable and punctual services.
“Rail staff work hard to enable five million journeys every day and the industry is working together to address the main causes of delays and cancellations.
“Delays and cancellations can occur due to various factors like weather and flooding, industrial action, infrastructure issues such as track or signalling faults, train faults and external incidents such as trespass.
“When this happens, we are raising awareness of delay repay compensation to ensure passengers can easily claim what they are entitled to.”