Slo-comotive – how likely is a delay on your train?

New research investigates the 13 most overcrowded trains in Britain to see how long you might be stuck on them – or waiting for them – and finds that the 07:34 Didcot Parkway to London Paddington has the highest chance of meeting with a delay – at stunning chances of 21/22.

• The most overcrowded train in the country was 540 passengers over capacity on average
• The network with the highest chances of delays was the First Transpennine Express
• The train most likely to be cancelled was the 04:22 Glasgow Central to Manchester Airport, with odds of 1/7

If you’ve ever felt that you had the worst commute in the world, now’s your chance to find out. In a new graphic from Roulette Online, you can see the 13 busiest trains in Britain, and what the chances are of them being delayed or cancelled.

As well as ranging from early morning packed journeys like the 04:22 Glasgow to Manchester Airport to rough rush hour routes like the 17:46 London Euston to Crewe, the graphic also includes some of the more entertaining, exasperated (and in some cases, unnerving) Tweets relating to the trains in question – so you can see how other passengers have dealt with delays and cancellations (or how they haven’t).

The trains researched were chosen from the most over-packed trains in the country, with the worst being the 06:57 Brighton to Bedford – which was an unbelievable 540 passengers over capacity on average. So even if your train isn’t the most likely to be delayed, you still have to put up with being crushed against other passengers for at least half an hour, just to make your commute more uncomfortable.

Top Tracks of the Week – for delays

The highest chances of having your train cancelled were a once-a-week 1/7 on the early train from Glasgow Central, but passengers there can at least rest assured that they also had the lowest chances of being delayed on the unlucky list of 13.

But from other side of the tracks, these were the worst trains in terms of delays:

• 07:34 Didcot Parkway to London Paddington – The worst for delays on the list, there was a 21/22 chance of the train suffering something that would mean it didn’t reach its destination on time.
• 16:26 Bedford to Brighton – 20/21 chances of being delayed, but on the bright side, the train is unlikely to be cancelled, having had no cancellations in the time period researched.
• 06:57 Brighton to Bedford – before you make your way to Brighton from Bedford on the 16:26, you have to get to Brighton from Bedford on the 06:57, assuming you’re not caught in the 8/11 times it’s likely to be delayed. Even worse, it’s the train with the highest delay time – just under 17 minutes on average, every time it’s delayed.
• 07:02 Reading to London Paddington – this train has a 1/22 chance of being outright cancelled. Not what you want at 7am, and with an additional 7/11 chance of being delayed, this train is a risky option for a regular commuter.
• 07:14 Alton to London Waterloo – This London Midland train has an average of 440 passengers over the intended capacity for the train – as well as a 7/11 chance of being delayed.

So if you’re reading this on a delayed train, packed in between a few too many commuters (or if you’re comfortable on a fast train, enjoying the legroom), make sure to check out the rest of the most delayed train routes in the UK here: