New calculator reveals most unreliable train routes for Milton Keynes commuters

The Commuter Delays Calculator, from digital marketing and PR agency Tank, uses rail journey data from 660 routes and 50 stations to give the odds on a cancellation or delay.

All commuters need to do is enter their arrival and departure stations, along with their arrival time, and it works out the likelihood of any delays or cancellations.

It comes as research from Tank found that Wolverhampton to Milton Keynes Central is one of the worst journeys for delays in the UK with 38.08% of trains delayed by over five minutes and 9% cancelled. Other routes to Milton Keynes Central featured in the research include:

Birmingham New Street to Milton Keynes Central - 22.09% of trains delayed over five minutes and 4.36% cancelled.

Coventry to Milton Keynes Central - 20.92% of trains delayed over five minutes and 4.08% cancelled.

Leighton Buzzard to Milton Keynes Central - 15.13% of trains delayed over five minutes and 5.07% cancelled.

London Euston to Milton Keynes Central 3.03% of trains cancelled and 18.17 % more than five minutes late. Some 3.2% were cancelled.

Nationally, nearly 15% of morning commuter trains are delayed by at least five minutes and 4% are cancelled.

Last year, claims for delays reached 7.6 million, and fares expected to rise again in March 2025 by 4.6%.

The worst morning commuter routes to Milton Keynes Central

The research also revealed the worst UK station is London Kings Cross with 6% of services cancelled and more than a quarter of (26%) of trains delayed by over five minutes. Manchester Piccadilly is close second with 8% of services cancelled and 24% delayed.

On the other hand, London Barking comes out on top as the most reliable UK station for commuters with average delays just 0.21 minutes and only 1.5% of arrivals delayed more than five minutes.

Delays data was based on the time period between 1 July 2024 and 31 December 2024 and was compiled using the Recent Train Times website. This data is sourced from National Rail using its Open Data Feeds. Only ‘regular’ journeys were included in the sample.

To read the full research, visit here.