Passengers are set to pay as much as £90 for rail replacement bus tickets this Christmas as more cancellations are set to hit the British rail network.
While customers are entitled to rail fare compensation for services running behind schedule or those which are cancelled, the cost of travelling on a rail replacement bus is the same as a functioning train service, as both require a valid rail ticket.
However, anyone travelling from Liverpool to London on Friday 27 December will face a 50-mile bus trip between Liverpool and Stoke due to reduced services and delays of over an hour.
Most of the available journeys on that day will involve a bus replacement service from Liverpool Lime Street to Stoke-on-Trent and then a train into Euston.
Despite the additional hour to an already 3 hour 16 minute journey, passengers will face a return ticket price of £90.30.
The journey between London and Norwich will require three changes next Friday, with a rail replacement bus through Essex. Passengers on the trip must pay £83.40 for a return.
Meanwhile, those travelling between Bedford and London will have to pay £40 for a return but will face most of the journey off the tracks and on a bus to Milton Keynes.
It comes as some of the UK’s largest rail companies face sustained criticism for poor performance this year, with Avanti, Northern and CrossCountry all criticised by the Government for “unacceptable” delays and cancellations.
Rail fares will rise by 4.6 per cent next year despite this poor performance, and rail bosses continue to see their bonuses increase.
Almost 800 rail services have been cancelled every day in 2024, The i Paper revealed.
Over the year, ten per cent of CrossCountry’s trains have been delayed each day, and more than 200 trains a day on Northern have been scrapped.
The travel chaos is likely to get worse over the Christmas period, with Britain’s 10 worst rail firms already announcing changes to services. London NorthWestern Railway has urged passengers to avoid travelling over the holidays altogether.
Meanwhile, Great Western Railway has asked passengers not to bring “massive suitcases” onboard due to reduced services.
Delays: How has your train operator performed?
Across Britain, operators cancelled 368,843 trains between November 2023 and November 2024 – around 5 per cent of 7.2 million services planned.
Here’s how the largest operators have performed:
1. CrossCountry – 23 trains cancelled per day, 10.1 per cent
2. Avanti West Coast – 22 trains per day, 9.4 cent
3. Northern – 204 trains per day, 9.1 per cent
4. Southwestern – 115 trains per day, 7.6 per cent
5. Govia Thameslink – 193 trains per day, 6.5 per cent
6. TfW – 61 trains per day, 6.4 per cent
7. LNER – 9 trains per day, 6.1 per cent
8. West Mids – 66 trains per day, 6.1 per cent
9. Great Western – 88 trains per day, 5.8 per cent
10. TPE – 15 trains per day, 5.2 per cent
11. Merseyrail – 27 trains per day, 4.9 per cent
12. East Mids – 22 trains per day, 4.8 per cent
13. London Overground – 66 trains per day, 4.5 per cent
14. Elizabeth line – 41 trains per day, 4.2 per cent
15. Southeastern – 50 trains per day, 3.3 per cent
16. Chiltern – 9 trains per day, 3 per cent
17. ScotRail – 47 trains per day, 2.5 per cent
18. c2c – 7 trains per day, 2.1 per cent
19. Greater Anglia – 25 trains per day, 2.1 per cent
An Avanti West Coast spokesperson said: “While we are not in the position we want to be in terms of overall performance, there has been a significant improvement in the latter part of 2024.
“We have developed a joint performance plan which has had a positive impact in the latest quarter, our overall cancellations reduced to 4.3 per cent in the four-week period ending 9 November which was the lowest for over a year.”
A spokesperson for CrossCountry said: “The last 12 months have brought a range of challenges to running trains on time; not least, the frequency and severity of named storms, which have taken place with the highest frequency and severity for almost 10 years.
“We continue to work with Network Rail and other industry partners to mitigate the impact of delay-causing events on customers, not only those caused by severe weather but also when trains have to slow down during repairs to infrastructure.”
A spokesperson for Northern, said: “We are working hard to address issues with train crew availability so we can improve reliability for our customers.
“Since the summer, we have secured a rest day working agreement with our drivers, however an offer that was recently put to our conductors in the North West to secure a commitment to work on Sundays was rejected by RMT union members.”
Engineering works set to “severely” disrupt services to London and winds of up to 60mph have sparked Christmas travel chaos.
Yellow weather warnings for wind will be in place until 9pm on Sunday for Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, and northern and western England.
Train operator East Midlands Railway (EMR) said work would last from Saturday to 29 December, impacting all its Intercity and Connect services to London Kings Cross and St Pancras.
Network Rail is also carrying out a major scheme to replace overhead electric power lines and other “vital and extensive” maintenance works to support the future expansion of freight operations on the network.
No trains will run between Bedford and London while the work is carried out and passengers will be required to travel onwards on replacement bus services.
EMR said journey times were expected to take “significantly longer than normal” and could be increased by up to one hour due to the replacement bus services.
During the election campaign, Labour announced plans to take a number of rail operators back into public ownership, and reforms to ensure commuters always paid the lowest fare available for their ticket.
This comes as rail executives have taken home millions in pay packages, many with extensive bonuses.
FirstGroup chief executive Graham Sutherland saw his pay increase to £1.4m for 2024 of which more than £796,000 was in bonuses, while Arriva Group chief executive Mike Brown took home £1.1m in total pay.
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “As part of our plans to reform the railways, we’re determined to move towards a seven-day working week and end the overreliance on rest day working, giving passengers the certainty and reliability they deserve.”
The spokesperson added: “We are committed to delivering the biggest overhaul of the railways in a generation, bringing services back into public ownership to put passengers at the heart of everything we do.
“We have been clear we will not tolerate poor performance, and Ministers continue to meet with leaders of the worst performing operators to address unacceptable services and demand immediate action.”
A spokesperson for Arriva Group, said: “We do not comment on specific director’s pay.
“Director renumeration includes pay, pension contributions and success-based performance related schemes linked to key performance indicators set across all the Arriva Group subsidiaries in our operations across 11 countries.
“Renumeration recorded in the report and accounts will reflect the overall performance of the Arriva Group of companies and is entirely funded by Arriva Group and therefore separate to any operating contract held with the Department for Transport.”
First Group was approached for comment.
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