Two-hundred years ago, in a small mining town in County Durham about 450-people rode into the history books, creating the foundations of the modern railway – something the UK exported around the world.
27 September 1825, George Stephenson’s steam-powered Locomotion No. 1 travelled 26 miles between Shildon, Darlington and Stockton, carrying hundreds of passengers to great fanfare.
In 2025, what is the state of rail services in the UK? New research has uncovered the UK’s most and least likely to cancel services. This study was commissioned by Bet Clever and it has analysed new data from the Office of Rail and Road between August 2024 and August 2025, evaluating 20 UK rail operators on their percentage of cancelled trains in that time.
Reliability of Britain’s railways hits all time low with more than one in 25 services cancelled in the past year (based on around eight million trains), based on official UK government statistics. But which rail companies in particular?
The results paint a mixed picture.
Top 5 UK train operators most likely to cancel services
| Rank | Operator | Percentage of fully cancelled trains |
| 1 | CrossCountry | 4.88% |
| 2 | Northern Trains | 4.28% |
| 3 | Govia Thameslink Railway | 4.00% |
| 4 | Avanti West Coast | 3.98% |
| 5 | Great Western Railway | 3.75% |
The statistics show that CrossCountry cancelled 4.88% of its scheduled services, meaning nearly one in every 20 trains failed to run at all. Northern Trains recorded the second-highest cancellation rate at 4.28%.
Coming third in the cancellation rankings, Govia Thameslink Railway saw 4.00% of its services fully cancelled during the period. Avanti West Coast, which operates services on the West Coast Main Line between London, the West Midlands, North Wales, Manchester, Liverpool, and Glasgow, registered a cancellation rate of 3.98%.
Completing the top five worst performers, Great Western Railway recorded 3.75% of its trains as fully cancelled.
Top 5 UK train operators least likely to cancel services
| Rank | Operator | Percentage of fully cancelled trains |
| 1 | c2c | 1.08% |
| 2 | Greater Anglia | 1.30% |
| 3 | Southeastern | 1.37% |
| 4 | Caledonian Sleeper | 1.42% |
| 5 | ScotRail | 1.57% |
c2c emerged as the UK’s operator least likely to cancel trains with only 1.08% of services fully cancelled. Greater Anglia followed closely with a cancellation rate of just 1.30%, making it the second most reliable operator in the UK.
With 1.37% of its trains fully cancelled, Southeastern ranked as the third most reliable operator. The Caledonian Sleeper, which provides overnight rail services between London and Scotland, recorded a cancellation rate of 1.42%.
Completing the five most reliable operators, ScotRail saw 1.57% of its services fully cancelled.
These statistics show significant differences in the reliability of train services across the UK. Passengers on the worst-performing routes face nearly five times the chance of cancellation compared to the best services.
