"Many Photos" - Number of trains cancelled due to staff shortages rose nearly five times in six years

Five times the number of trains have been cancelled due to staff shortages over the last six years, figures reveal.

Data from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) shows 35,030 services were cancelled in the 12 months up to October last year due to a lack of train crew.

Of the total 157,917 passenger trains cancelled on the network up to October 2018, 35,030 did not run because of staff shortages, statistics show.

This is a rise from 7,188 in the year up to October 2012 and represents nearly five times the number from last year and an increase of a third from the previous 12 months.

Around 329,680 services were cancelled across the country during this period, which is 1.5 per cent of all trains planned.

A train is classed as a full cancellation if it ran less than 50 per cent of its planned journey length, including trains that did not run at all.

More than 35,000 train services were cancelled due to staff shortages, according to the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) 

Train crew cancellations were around double the number of cancellations blamed on bad weather or signal failures. 

Cancellations increased last year for 17 out of 23 train operators, with crew cancellations up in five out of the past six recorded years.

When a train is cancelled due to a 'crew shortage', it usually refers to a driver.

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) that owns Southern Rail, suffered the most cancellations with 18,197 - up by 7.6 per cent in 12 months. 

'Cancellations and significant lateness' attributed to GTR increased by 45 per cent compared with the same period the in 2017. 

A spokesman for Govia Thameslink told the Times that the company relies on drivers working on days off to cover for high levels of sickness.  

He added: 'As is standard across the industry, we rely on drivers working on rest days to cover high levels of absence for annual leave, short-term sickness and training. 

'Unfortunately, in the extremely rare event that all these occur at once, there might not be enough drivers available at very short notice to cover every service.'  

Cancellations due to services not having enough crew rose by a third from last year and and went up by around 500 per cent from six years ago

Arriva Trains Wales saw delays and cancellations attributed to train crew more than double with an increase of 58 per cent.

TransPennine Express saw cancellations increase by 222 per cent and a 424 per cent rise in cancellations and serious lateness due to train crew.   

The GTR spokesman also told MailOnline that the spike in train crew problems peaked around the time of last May's timetable change and lead to the company having to alter routes at short notice. 

He added: 'The proportion of services cancelled because of train crew issues peaked sharply immediately after last May's timetable changes, at almost five per cent. 

'This was because, given extremely short notice, we were unable to match our drivers' route knowledge and home depots to all of the new service patterns required.

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) said the problems spiked around last May due to timetable changes and a reliance on drivers working overtime to cover short-term sickness 

'This was reduced quickly by introducing the interim timetable in July, and has fallen steadily since to the previous year's level of around one per cent or less, with 400 more daily services now running.

'Thanks to the UK's largest ever recruitment and training programme, we now have over 2,000 qualified drivers and a further 300 in training, more than enough for our fleet of 535 trains in normal circumstances.'

London Overground saw a 137 per cent rise for cancellations and a 221 per cent rise for punctuality problems related to train crew.

Northern Rail saw cancellations rise by 261 per cent to 5,609 and Great Western went up by 141 per cent. 

Heathrow Express has no cancellations or punctuality problems due to train crew, compared with four the previous year. 

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News Photo Number of trains cancelled due to staff shortages rose nearly five times in six years
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