25.11.14
Abellio Greater Anglia cancels 36,000 journeys in two years
Abellio Greater Anglia has cancelled more than 36,000 journeys since the company took over the franchise in 2012.
Freedom of Information requests made by the BBC have also revealed that 5,808 train failures occurred in the same period, from February 2012 to November 2014.
Abellio blames power line faults and signalling for the failures and cancellations, which accounted for about 2% of the 1.7 million train journeys it carried out over the two years.
A spokesman for the company said: “The majority of cancellations are caused by infrastructure faults plus fatalities (almost doubled in the past year), weather related incidents and train faults.”
The company pointed to punctuality figures that show for all services it is at 90.6%, compared to a national average of 89.2%.
However passengers on the operator’s services have also said that in addition to delays many services are overcrowded and unsafe.
Tim Woodgett, a regular commuter, told the BBC: "There's nowhere to hold on to so if the train stops or lurches people are falling over or getting very cramped, having mild panic attacks and fainting. There's nothing you can do but try and help them because the conductor can't get down the carriage as it's too packed.
"We have to pay £5,000 or more for the privilege of being cramped into a sardine can."
Abellio said: “We recognise the need for new rolling stock; that can only happen when government lets a long franchise contract from October 2016.”
(Image: c. The Photo Xchange)
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