Train operators have been ordered by a regulator to stop misusing a process which removes services from schedules without them being classed as cancelled. The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) said cancellations are at record levels, and there is “a further gap” between the passenger experience and performance statistics.
It found that operators are increasingly using a process known as p-coding, through which services can be axed as late as 10pm on the previous evening and not included in the timetables that reliability is measured against. For passengers, it means a train they expected to catch when they went to bed can disappear from the timetable by the time they leave for the station the following morning.
Such changes have historically been made to support the introduction of emergency timetables when poor weather or infrastructure damage has required major changes on certain routes. But over the last year this mechanism has been used when there are not enough staff or trains available.
