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This central London train station is officially the worst in the UK for delays

A whopping 76 percent of services here fail to depart on time

Liv Kelly
Written by
Liv Kelly
Contributing Writer
Thameslink train in London
Photograph: SimoneAmi / Shutterstock.com
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Whether you live in London or just outside, commuting can be an absolute faff, and we recently covered how it makes a fair few of us across the capital pretty unhappy. But no one knows the frustration of delays quite as well as people who frequently rely on one particular station in central London. 

City Thameslink, a busy rail hub between Farringdon and Blackfriars, has just been named the UK’s most delayed train station. According to Metro, new research has looked at the UK’s top 100 stations by passenger volume (ie the nation’s busiest stations) and calculated the number of delayed services for each. 

Though it’s not the biggest or most hectic train station in the capital, City Thameslink is connected to popular commuter towns such as Bedford, Stevenage and St Albans. It sees almost 18,000 passengers pass through it every day.

But research has found that of the 69,120 services that have departed from the hub over the last six months, only 24 percent were on time. That means that over three quarters of the trains passing through have been delayed. Three quarters. 

The capital’s performance overall was actually pretty dismal. Of the 20 most delayed stations in the country, where all entries experience disruption on at least half of services, nine are apparently located in London.

Fresh after being named one of the country’s most depressing places to liveEast Croydon claimed third place in the study, thanks to delays on 67 percent of trains. Earlsfield in south London also had delays on 67 percent of services, while services from Surrey Quays were delayed 64 percent of the time. 

Denmark Hill, Canada Water, Shoreditch High Street, Bromley South and Vauxhall were the other five London stations which made the list, all experiencing delays on at least 54 percent of services. 

More on transport in London

At Time Out, we get how important it is to keep up to date with how to get around London. From all the updates in London’s Superloop bus network to this massive refurb of Waterloo station, keep an eye on our news page for the latest on what’s going on with the city’s transport. 

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