A North East train station has finished third for the most train cancellations across the UK, as the region has topped the charts collectively. 

According to BBC analysis of industry data collated by the website On Time Trains, Newcastle Train Station was joint third place for train cancellations, as statistics for train delays were also published. 

In the data, the North East had the highest rates of train cancellations, six per cent, of all English regions. 

Read more: Mum of girl at St Leonard's School in Durham 'devastated' about RAAC

Within other parts of the statistics, more than two out of five train services in Britain during the first half of the year were delayed.

Some 41 per cent of services in that period were at least one minute late, with a further three per cent being cancelled, while 56 per cent were on time.

Of Britain’s 100 busiest stations, Newcastle was joint third for cancellations, nine per cent, alongside York and Manchester Oxford Road, while Manchester Victoria (ten per cent) was second and Huddersfield (13 per cent) had the highest rate of cancellations, with more than 5,500 trains due to serve the station axed.

All these stations are in the TransPennine Express (TPE) area.

However, TPE has insisted that they have seen improvements in performance since the data was collected on May 28.

The Northern Echo: Newcastle Train Station Newcastle Train Station (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)

Chris Jackson, interim managing director for TransPennine Express, said: “The resumption of driver rest day working has helped move performance back towards where it needs to be and, during the five weeks where rest day working has been available, cancellations have dropped to an overall figure of 5.5 per cent for the entire TPE network.

“We know there is more to do, and we are actively developing plans to deliver the reliable, punctual and resilient railway our customers expect and deserve."

Its reliability was badly affected by drivers’ union Aslef banning overtime.

But Paul Tuohy, of the pressure group Campaign for Better Transport, has highlighted that passengers should be able to use trains with confidence.

He said: “We want people to travel by train so high rates of cancellations are unacceptable.

Read next: Northern launches sale with a million train tickets for 50p

“The Government and industry need to sort this out and ensure services run to schedule so that passengers can travel with confidence.”

Reliability of services across Britain has been affected by a series of issues, including infrastructure failures and strikes by staff.

There was widespread disruption on Saturday due to a walkout by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at 14 train operating companies and drivers in the Aslef union refusing to work overtime shifts.

A Department for Transport spokeswoman said: “Ministers have been clear with operators they need to deliver punctual services, keeping delays to a minimum.

“To help make our railways more reliable, it’s crucial unions agree to reforms that will modernise the industry.”