Ghost Trains

[whole diary]

[CJB666]

Reports are that some unscrupulous traincos are deliberately selling tickets for non-existent trains. How widespread is this? And what happens if someone purchases tickets from a JourneyPlanner site only to turn up to travel and finds that the train didn’t actually exist? This all sounds very underhand, and a tag illegal.

https://metro.co.uk/2022/12/06/rail-firms-revealed-to-have-axed-thousands-of-trips-through-loop-holes-17883539/amp/

[CJB666]

Rail firms are using loopholes to cancel thousands of services after customers have paid

Tuesday 6 Dec 2022 12:01 am

Rail firms are using loopholes to axe thousands of services without officially recording them – after selling travellers tickets for the cancelled ‘ghost trains’.

A record 314,000 were dropped in the year to October 15, the Office of Road and Rail has admitted – but that figure does not include those hit by strikes, lost in ‘amended’ timetables or cancelled before 10pm the night before.

Veteran rail expert Christian Wolmar revealed the ruse, explaining: ‘I had a ticket for an 8am King’s Cross train – I looked on the station noticeboard and it wasn’t there. The man said there is no 8am train and I said I have a ticket for it. It was always on the timetable but it had become a phantom train.’

He said of the official figure – 3.8 per cent of services across the country: ‘I can’t remember such a high figure but it’s irrelevant because it only represents cancellations on the day.’

Avanti West Coast was savaged by prime minister Rishi Sunak last week as it emerged it had the worst official record with 7.7 per cent cancelled. In the 12 weeks to mid-October, it timetabled 60 per cent of the trains it operated a year earlier.

Govia Thameslink is second worst with 6.4 per cent, while TransPennine Express – owned by the same company as Avanti – cancelled 5.3 per cent.

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham called the hidden figures ‘outrageous’, adding: ‘There’s no other word. People have lost trust in trains.’

The government extended Avanti West Coast’s contract last month but said it would lose it in April unless it ‘drastically improves’.

[Timmer]

A thread already highlighting this can be found here:
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=26905.msg328234#msg328234