Commuters lose 165million hours a year because of train delays, probe reveals 

Commuters on Britain’s worst-performing railways waste 165 million hours a year sitting on delayed trains, an investigation has revealed.

The probe by Channel 4’s Dispatches found passengers in the North spend an extra 40 minutes a day on sluggish trains run by crisis-hit operators including Northern and TransPennine Express.

The shocking statistics come from analysis by Manchester Metropolitan University. 

The delays are being blamed on a lack of electric trains in the North, which are faster and more reliable than diesel trains. 

Only 38 per cent of Britain’s rail network is electrified, and just 17 per cent of train journeys serving the North are electrified, compared to 84 per cent of trains heading to London.

The programme, to be aired tonight, also uncovers how at least 20 miles worth of useable rail carriages, the equivalent of over 110,000 extra seats, are sitting idle in depots across the country. 

Many empty carriages are electric, and some require minor modifications to make them useable, it is claimed.

The investigation comes ahead of the Government’s Williams Review, which will recommend major rail improvements. 

It should have been published at the end of last year, but was delayed. Government sources told Dispatches this is because those involved have been unable to agree a way forward for the rail network.

In a survey of 2,000 travellers, Dispatches found 60 per cent said trains offered worse value for money than a year ago. 

A spokesman for the Rail Delivery Group said rail companies were ‘improving journeys’ by adding new services, upgrading carriages and investing in infrastructure.