TrainAtlasAmong the most delayed train routes for the week of 5-11 July 2026, the UK took more than its share. Below are the UK routes running furthest behind schedule, ranked by the typical (median) arrival delay. This page refreshes every week from real arrival data.
4 of this week's 7 most delayed UK routes touch London Euston.
The most delayed UK train routes that week
| # | Route | Typical delay | Late (5+ min) | Trains |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | London EustonManchester Piccadilly (London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly) | 27min | 85% | 235 |
| 2 | London EustonGlasgow Central (London Euston to Glasgow Central) | 20min | 68% | 104 |
| 3 | SheffieldLondon St Pancras (Sheffield to London St Pancras) | 17min | 72% | 165 |
| 4 | PrestonLondon Euston (Preston to London Euston) | 16min | 70% | 165 |
| 5 | Birmingham New StreetEdinburgh (Birmingham New Street to Edinburgh) | 16min | 68% | 100 |
| 6 | London EustonLiverpool Lime Street (London Euston to Liverpool Lime Street) | 15min | 67% | 136 |
| 7 | Bristol Temple MeadsLondon Paddington (Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington) | 10min | 67% | 175 |
Bars are scaled to the worst route this week. "Typical delay" is the median across every tracked run; "late" is the share arriving 5 or more minutes behind. Only routes running 10 or more minutes late on a typical trip, with at least 25 tracked trains, are listed.
Catch a UK train?
This is last week. TrainAtlas tells you about your next one - live delays and platforms for your saved routes, across National Rail operators and 30+ operators.
Why are UK trains so delayed?
Three things compound:
- A tale of two main lines. The split is stark: the West Coast route out of London Euston runs badly late, while the East Coast route from Kings Cross to Leeds and Edinburgh stays far more punctual.
- Aging signalling, shared tracks. Long-distance expresses share congested tracks with commuter and freight services, so a single delay cascades.
- Fragmented operators. With many operators on shared infrastructure, a problem on one spills onto the others.
How we measure this
- Arrival delay, not departure.
- We measure how late a train actually arrives - departure delay understates how late trains really run.
- Median, not average.
- Each route shows the median across every tracked run that week, so one cancelled or extreme train cannot distort the ranking.
- A 25-train floor.
- A route needs at least 25 tracked runs that week to appear, so a single bad day cannot put an obscure route on the board.
TrainAtlas is independent and not affiliated with National Rail operators or any rail operator. These are our own measurements from public data, not official punctuality statistics - operators publish on-time percentages using their own, more generous thresholds, so our median-minutes figure will usually read worse. Data source: National Rail Historic Service Performance (HSP). Spot an error? Tell us and we will correct it and note the change in the archive.