Dealing with train delays

We regularly review the plans and procedures we have in place to keep everything running as smooth as possible to get us back on track as quick as we can following an incident.

When issues do arise, we’ll try to keep services operating as normal as possible. But when there’s a concern for safety we may have to slow, or even stop, services until it’s safe to resume. Our team constantly reviews our delay data to work out which delays are preventable, how we can avoid them in the first place.

We have contingency plans in place for events that we can foresee across our network. Our operational control teams use these to plan our response considering customer flows at various times of the day, events on the route and other factors to ensure we take the best solution for the majority of our customers. We amend our plans through a mixture of software applications, the available resources, our knowledge and experience and real time customer feedback.

If there are major disruptions to your journey, check online or with the team at the station you’re travelling from for more information. Each incident is different, and we may only be able to provide limited solutions, so please check at the time. Everyone's journey is different and using the journey planner is the best way to find the right train for your journey - especially if there is disruption on that journey.

As a guide, to help get you moving we may organise for you to:

• Travel on another rail service
• Travel via another rail route
• Travel on rail replacement road transport;
• Travel later in the day, or on another day using your original travel tickets
• Or, for customers who decide against travelling during major disruption, for a fee-free refund via the original purchase channel

If you have a connection to another rail service and the delay is our fault, your ticket will always be valid for the next service, and you won’t receive any further charges.

Sometimes we’re unable to run any services at all, often because of extremely bad weather. In these instances, it may also be unsafe to operate road transport. When this happens, we’ll always try to help you as best we can, but we may need to issue a “not to travel” notice. That means we cannot safely guarantee a way for you to travel, so you should not start or continue your journey. In these cases, we’ll inform you of your options (often a refund or a return to your station of origin).

When we experience ongoing delays and cancellations over an extended period of time, our services can be terminated short of their intended destination. Though we plan for these circumstances as thoroughly as we can, it can sometimes result in further cancellations or delays, even after the cause of the original delay has been fixed.

Delays also leave trains and train crew in the wrong place at the wrong time, so return and onward journeys can be affected too. And whilst we plan to have more available than we need - it's not always possible.

Even after we've resolved the problem, trains might be disrupted for several hours because much of the rail network runs close to capacity, so there's very little opportunity to squeeze trains closer together and make up time.

We pledge that our team members will:

• Be happy to help and be visible so you know where to find them.
• Be the eyes and ears to help things run smoothly on the network - they will listen to any feedback you
  give and make sure that it is recorded to help make things better in the future.
• Know what they need to do to resolve or report a problem.
• Know what to do to help you when you travel with us.
• Have access to technology (such as a mobile device) to enable them to get helpful information and
  share it with you.
• Be available - all our managed stations have a member of staff available to assist you from first to last
  train.
• At unstaffed stations, or if no staff are present, there will be a way of getting in touch with us, such as a
  help paint.

When you're at a station, we will:

• Give you as much notice as possible about the platform your train will depart from.
• When we can't confirm the platform or there is a change to the platform, we will tell you as soon as we know, working through trains in time order.
• Keep you up-to-date on the status of your train.
• Keep announcements to the minimum necessary, so you can easily pick out important information.
• Let you know if you need to travel in a particular part of the train for your journey - such as if you are travelling to a station which has a platform shorter than the length of the train or if your train splits during the journey.
• Provide details about onward travel options - including connecting trains and any local public transport
  services that are available.

On the train

When you're on one of our trains, we will:

• Tell you as soon as we're aware that your train may be disrupted.
• Let you know we are approaching the next station, to give you time to get ready to leave the train.
• Let you know the destination of the train (on the front and/or side of the train) the stations the train will call at (on internal displays, where fitted) at and whether you need to be in a particular part of the train to complete your journey (either due to short platforms, or because the train divides at a further stop, to serve two different destinations).
• Make an announcement if the train stops unexpectedly between stations or will be late departing a station, so you know what is happening.
• Make an announcement when the train will be stopping at additional stations.
• Let you know, where we can, of any disruption on other routes that your train connects with, which may affect your onward journey.

Most UK train companies offer compensation if your journey is delayed - you just have to claim from the train company who delayed you, within 28 days of your delayed journey.

It's different if you choose not to use your ticket or abandon your journey due to a delay or cancellation. If it's unused, you can claim a full refund from where you bought your ticket. Admin fees can be waived if the reason you didn't use your ticket was a delay or cancellation.

Find the train company you travelled with below and we'll take you right to their delay compensation information and claim forms.

Claiming compensation

Our Customer Information Pledges set out the ways we support customers before, during and after their journey - particularly during disruption. To find out more about these Pledges, click here.

We work with Network Rail and other operators on our contingency plans which are very detailed. We aim to shape our plans to the event on the day – what we do in the morning might be different to what we do in the evening as our customer flows change.

Sometimes we will get a report from a train driver of a problem whilst they are passing by at 125 mph. It’s only when a member of Network Rail staff is able to get to site to inspect the problem we know exactly what has happened. This can take a while and you may be waiting on a train whilst this happens. But as always, safety is our top priority.

We run services throughout the UK across three nations and as a result of disruption – our trains and people can end up out of place. We aim to have more trains and people available than we need, but this is not always the case and they can be out of position as a result of disruption earlier in the day which leads to knock on delays. We work hard to keep these to a minimum and avoiding this can lead to last minute changes to the plan.

This varies and depends on what availability our suppliers have at the time. We use several different companies, but they may not have vehicles immediately available for our use, or in the areas we need them, so it can take us time to get alternatives arranged during disruption - please be patient and courteous to our team whilst we work hard to put things in place. Our teams will keep you updated.