The Stranded Report
Britain’s best and worst stations when travel goes wrong
We ranked 50 major British transport hubs by reliability, complaints, facilities, food options and recorded crime.
Key findings
Three things to know
Milton Keynes Central has the lowest share of trains arriving within three minutes, alongside a 3.6% cancellation rate.
Paddington has the most food and drink outlets within the station area.
The ranking
How does your station compare?
The overall score gives 35% to reliability and 65% to comfort.
| Rank | Station | Trains within 3 min | Cancellation rate | Complaints per 100k journeys | Crimes per 1m passengers | Facilities score | Food and drink outlets | Survival score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | London | 93.0% | 1.9% | 5.3 | 2.7 | 5/5 | 20 | 98.6 |
| 2 | London | 84.7% | 2.1% | 12.0 | 5.4 | 5/5 | 20 | 91.0 |
| 3 | London | 85.5% | 2.8% | 21.9 | 3.6 | 5/5 | 25 | 85.6 |
| 4 | Liverpool | 90.2% | 2.2% | 5.6 | 3.9 | 4/5 | 13 | 82.9 |
| 5 | London | 84.8% | 2.6% | 12.5 | 4.6 | 5/5 | 20 | 81.4 |
| 6 | London | 83.0% | 2.5% | 14.1 | 2.5 | 5/5 | 31 | 81.1 |
| 7 | London | 90.6% | 1.3% | 15.0 | 8.6 | 5/5 | 10 | 77.8 |
| 8 | Edinburgh | 86.1% | 1.7% | 22.9 | 4.0 | 5/5 | 21 | 76.3 |
| 9 | Leeds | 76.3% | 2.1% | 36.6 | 5.1 | 5/5 | 14 | 75.9 |
| 10 | Airport London (Hillingdon) | 89.9% | 4.1% | 8.7 | 1.4 | 3/5 | 6 | 75.7 |
| 11 | Airport Uttlesford, Essex | 89.6% | 3.4% | 13.0 | 3.4 | 5/5 | 4 | 75.7 |
| 12 | Glasgow | 88.3% | 1.8% | 16.1 | 4.4 | 5/5 | 10 | 75.1 |
| 13 | Reading | 76.5% | 3.3% | 30.6 | 9.7 | 5/5 | 12 | 74.3 |
| 14 | Norwich | 91.3% | 1.2% | 16.6 | 19.3 | 5/5 | 6 | 73.0 |
| 15 | Sheffield | 71.9% | 2.7% | 34.1 | 11.4 | 5/5 | 9 | 70.8 |
| 16 | London | 79.7% | 4.9% | 21.8 | 4.5 | 4/5 | 21 | 70.7 |
| 17 | Liverpool | 80.8% | 3.1% | 41.2 | 8.5 | 5/5 | 7 | 70.3 |
| 18 | Aberdeen | 85.6% | 2.1% | 22.1 | 11.8 | 5/5 | 22 | 69.6 |
| 19 | York | 71.4% | 2.3% | 48.3 | 10.8 | 5/5 | 11 | 67.2 |
| 20 | London | 74.6% | 3.6% | 36.8 | 7.4 | 5/5 | 14 | 66.9 |
| 21 | Airport Crawley, West Sussex | 74.6% | 5.3% | 11.8 | 4.0 | 4/5 | 8 | 66.8 |
| 22 | Cambridge | 80.1% | 4.4% | 16.2 | 8.6 | 5/5 | 6 | 66.5 |
| 23 | Manchester | 71.4% | 3.3% | 36.5 | 6.1 | 5/5 | 13 | 66.3 |
| 24 | Bath | 72.6% | 3.0% | 41.3 | 6.8 | 5/5 | 20 | 65.5 |
| 25 | London | 90.8% | 1.1% | 6.8 | 2.9 | 4/5 | 5 | 65.3 |
| 26 | Birmingham | 71.6% | 3.7% | 44.4 | 4.8 | 5/5 | 35 | 64.3 |
| 27 | London | 78.4% | 3.7% | 50.0 | 11.2 | 5/5 | 14 | 63.2 |
| 28 | Glasgow | 87.2% | 1.4% | 16.2 | 4.7 | 5/5 | 1 | 63.0 |
| 29 | London | 86.8% | 2.1% | 15.3 | 3.1 | 4/5 | 7 | 62.4 |
| 30 | Newcastle upon Tyne | 78.9% | 2.7% | 36.4 | 12.5 | 5/5 | 8 | 60.7 |
| 31 | Nottingham | 78.3% | 2.8% | 50.5 | 12.7 | 5/5 | 7 | 58.1 |
| 32 | Hull | 79.6% | 2.4% | 27.9 | 33.4 | 5/5 | 16 | 57.1 |
| 33 | Brighton | 85.2% | 3.9% | 10.2 | 9.1 | 4/5 | 9 | 55.8 |
| 34 | Oxford | 79.8% | 3.2% | 33.9 | 10.6 | 5/5 | 5 | 54.8 |
| 35 | Southampton | 75.7% | 3.8% | 22.1 | 18.8 | 5/5 | 5 | 52.9 |
| 36 | Dundee | 81.8% | 1.7% | 32.4 | 6.8 | 5/5 | 1 | 49.1 |
| 37 | Derby | 72.2% | 3.3% | 49.4 | 20.7 | 5/5 | 3 | 48.4 |
| 38 | Cardiff | 83.5% | 2.9% | 57.4 | 10.0 | 5/5 | 4 | 48.0 |
| 39 | Bristol | 74.3% | 3.6% | 41.8 | 11.4 | 5/5 | 3 | 46.4 |
| 40 | Bournemouth | 74.5% | 4.3% | 18.6 | 21.4 | 5/5 | 2 | 46.0 |
| 41 | Leicester | 69.5% | 2.7% | 51.3 | 16.1 | 5/5 | 4 | 44.0 |
| 42 | London | 81.7% | 6.0% | 10.2 | 6.3 | 2/5 | 4 | 43.4 |
| 43 | Coventry | 67.3% | 4.5% | 54.6 | 16.1 | 5/5 | 5 | 42.6 |
| 44 | Plymouth | 72.4% | 3.7% | 42.1 | 21.3 | 5/5 | 3 | 41.9 |
| 45 | Swansea | 69.6% | 2.3% | 57.3 | 7.8 | 5/5 | 1 | 39.9 |
| 46 | Exeter | 83.8% | 2.7% | 35.9 | 8.1 | 4/5 | 3 | 38.9 |
| 47 | Portsmouth | 77.6% | 7.0% | 16.8 | 15.8 | 3/5 | 2 | 35.5 |
| 48 | Preston | 73.8% | 3.9% | 34.0 | 23.7 | 4/5 | 10 | 33.7 |
| 49 | Stoke-on-Trent | 65.7% | 4.4% | 53.8 | 14.6 | 5/5 | 2 | 32.3 |
| 50 | Milton Keynes | 65.8% | 3.6% | 58.2 | 17.4 | 4/5 | 3 | 31.4 |
Scores are ranked before rounding. ORR station performance data is provisional.
Station survival map
Reliable journey or comfortable delay?
See how Britain’s major stations compare for avoiding disruption and managing the wait when plans go wrong.
Swipe the chart to explore all stations.
Select or tap a stationExplore its Reliability score, Comfort score and overall position.
Delay Survival Tool
Make the wait work for you
Choose your station and delay to get a practical plan, with realistic options and enough time to get back.
Build your survival plan
Choose a station and delay length to see realistic options for the time you have.
Stranded passenger checklist
What to do when you’re stranded
Confirm the disruption
Check the departure board and operator updates before leaving the station. Keep screenshots of cancellations and delay notices.
Know what you can claim
Keep receipts for reasonable food, transport or accommodation costs and check the operator’s Delay Repay and disruption guidance.
Make use of the time nearby
If there is enough time, store your luggage with Stasher and visit somewhere close to the station. Leave a return buffer and check your service before heading back.
A delay is easier without the bags
Secure luggage storage in trusted hotels, shops and lockers.
Methodology
How the score works
We compared 50 major British transport hubs. The list includes major London terminals, the three largest airport stations, other highly used stations and the busiest stations in major cities.
Each station receives a score out of 100. A higher score means a more reliable journey, a more comfortable wait, or both.
Journey reliability, 35%
This measures how likely passengers are to experience disruption, using station punctuality, cancellations and operator complaint rates.
Delay comfort, 65%
This measures how manageable the wait is, using facilities, food and drink options, and recorded crime per million passengers.
How scoring works
Each measure is standardised across the 50 stations before the weights are applied. The strongest result receives 100 and the weakest receives 0.
Sources
The study uses the Office of Rail and Road, British Transport Police, National Rail and official station retail information, with clearly labelled OpenStreetMap information where required.
Data verified July 2026
Prices are not used in the score. Venue opening times are based on published information and should be confirmed before visiting.