CrossCountry has been revealed as the UK’s worst major train operator for cancelations this year, according to new analysis from Locals Insider.
CrossCountry tops the table with 9.54% of trains canceled in 2025
TransPennine Express (8.48%) and Avanti West Coast (8.19%) also feature among worst.
ScotRail (1.68%), Lumo (1.76%) and Greater Anglia (1.82%) named the UK’s most reliable operators.
Northern has shown the biggest improvement – from 14.3% cancelations in January down to just 2.5% in April.
CrossCountry Tops UK Train Cancellation in 2025
If you’ve felt like your train never shows up, you’re not imagining it. New figures from the Office of Rail and Road reveal that CrossCountry is the worst culprit this year, cancelling nearly one in ten trains (9.54%). That means if you booked ten journeys in 2025, odds are at least one of them never left the platform.
The long-distance operator isn’t alone. TransPennine Express (8.48%) and Avanti West Coast (8.19%) round out the year’s top three worst performers, with Transport for Wales (7.60%) and Northern (7.09%) also leaving passengers stranded far more often than the national average of 3.43%.
The Bright Spots
Not every rail company is falling short. In fact, some are proving that reliability is possible. ScotRail (1.68%), Lumo (1.76%) and Greater Anglia (1.82%) are the UK’s best bets if you actually want your train to arrive. A handful of others — Chiltern Railways, Hull Trains and c2c — have also kept their cancelations under 2% this year.
Who’s Getting Better (and Who Isn’t)
Northern is perhaps the year’s biggest turnaround story. Back in January, a shocking 14.3% of its trains were cancelled — nearly one in seven. By April, that number dropped to just 2.5%, showing that improvements are possible even for the worst offenders.
TransPennine Express, however, remains stubbornly unreliable. Its cancelations fell as low as 2.1% early in the year, but by mid-2025 the service had drifted back into chaos, leaving it among the worst overall.
And even London’s shiny new Elizabeth line hasn’t escaped trouble. At the end of 2024 it was cancelling almost 9% of trains — a figure more common to regional services. Things have calmed down this year, but its 2025 rate of 3.57% still puts it above average.
The Bigger Picture
What this data really shows is a split in the UK rail experience. Commuter-focused lines in London and the South East often keep cancelations low, while long-distance and regional operators lag behind. In other words: if you’re travelling between major cities or across regions, expect more headaches.
As Martin Danemaq of Locals Insider puts it:
“While nearly one in ten CrossCountry services are scrapped, operators like Greater Anglia and c2c cancel fewer than 2%. It’s clear passengers outside London and the South East are getting the rougher deal.”
The 2025 Cancelation League Table
(Overall cancelation % = total cancelations ÷ total trains planned)
- ScotRail – 1.68%
- CrossCountry – 9.54%
- TransPennine Express – 8.48%
- Avanti West Coast – 8.19%
- TfW Rail (Transport for Wales) – 7.60%
- Northern – 7.09%
- East Midlands Railway – 6.65%
- Govia Thameslink Railway – 6.65%
- West Midlands Trains – 6.01%
- Great Western Railway – 5.38%
- Merseyrail – 4.43%
- South Western Railway – 4.41%
- London Overground – 3.57%
- Elizabeth line – 3.44%
- Caledonian Sleeper – 3.13% (small sample size)
- Southeastern – 2.56%
- London North Eastern Railway – 2.48%
- Grand Central – 2.45%
- Heathrow Express – 2.43%
- c2c – 1.94%
- Hull Trains – 1.94%
- Chiltern Railways – 1.92%
- Greater Anglia – 1.82%
- Lumo – 1.76%
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