ALMOST half of railway services in some East Lancashire stations are late every day - according to Network Rail figures.

Do you often stand on a railway platform and feel your heart sink when you look up to the schedule board and see your train is delayed? You're not the only one.

Online software company Rotacloud used Network Rail figures and analysed the lateness data of the railway stations in East Lancashire between January 2019 and January 2020.

It discoveed that across the railway stations in the region, services from Burnley Barracks are most likely to be late, with a 65.7 per cent chance of not arriving on time.

This is followed closely by services to Brierfield, which have a 63.4 per cent chance of being late.

The best performing stations include Clitheroe, with 18.5 per cent - still almost one in four trains will be late.

Other better performers include Whalley at 29.9 per cent, and Blackburn, at 34.5 per cent - roughly one in three trains will be late.

A Northern spokesman said around 70 per cent of all delays are outside of Northern's control.

RAILWAY STATION BREAKDOWN

Blackburn with Darwen

Blackburn - 34.5 per cent chance it will be late

Cherry Tree - 36 per cent chance it will be late

Darwen - 38.2 per cent chance it will be late

Entwistle - 42.5 per cent chance it will be late

Pleasington - 38.8 per cent chance it will be late

Mill Hill - 38.8 per cent chance it will be late

Burnley

Burnley Barracks - 65.7 per cent chance it will be late

Burnley Central - 49.5 per cent chance it will be late

Burnley Manchester Road - 50.7 per cent chance it will be late

Rose Grove - 54.3 per cent chance it will be late

Hapton - 55.1 per cent chance it will be late

Hyndburn

Accrington - 49.1 per cent chance it will be late

Church and Oswaldtwistle - 59.3 per cent chance it will be late

Rishton - 49.9 per cent chance it will be late

Huncoat 50.5 per cent chance it will be late

Ribble Valley

Clitheroe 18.5 per cent chance it will be late

Whalley - 29.9 per cent chance it will be late

Langho - 42.3 per cent chance it will be late

Ramsgreave and Wilpshire - 33.5 per cent chance it will be late

Pendle

Brierfield, there's a 63.4 per cent chance it will be late

Nelson, there's a 51.6 per cent chance it will be late

Colne, there's a 40.2 per cent chance it will be late

Last month Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told MPs that the existing nine-year contract between Northern, due to last until March 2025, 'will only be able to continue for a number of months'.

He confirmed the government was not examining whether to give current operator Arrive Rail North a short-term management contract or take the under-fire franchise into public ownership pending the results of a review of the national rail system.

The franchise covers the East Lancashire Line from Preston through Blackburn and Burnley to Colne and trains from Clitheroe to Manchester.

Phil Riley, board member of Transport for the North, a partnership of the north's 20 transport authorities and railway companies, in a bid to improve transport across the region, said: "It's part of the reason why there has been a serious concern about the premise of Northern.

"It's contributed to the government's position to take the franchise away from them.

"There's going to be a period of time when the new franchise operator is going to have to remedy issues that relate to this.

"It's going to take time."

A Northern spokesman said: "We operate almost 3,000 services each weekday on a complex network shared with several other operators and freight carriers. This has led to more congested railways across the North and, as a result, there will be times when our customers' journeys are disrupted and impacts on punctuality.

"We continue to work closely with colleagues from Network Rail, and the other operators, to keep this disruption to a minimum and our customers on the move.

"Northern is delivering a £600m investment in new and refurbished trains and better stations which will improve service reliability and provide a much better journey experience for customers.

"Customers in the north west will also see an improved Sunday service following a new agreement with our drivers."