Train passengers faced delays 15,000 times in past five years due to junction point issues

TRAIN passengers have faced delays nearly 15,000 times in the past five years due to issues with junction points.

Network Rail figures show trains are thrown into chaos over faulty points more than 50 times a week.

One failure alone between Reading and Newbury in Berkshire last January affected 669 separate train services.

Points on junctions allow trains to move from one set of tracks on to another.

Any fault means a train gets stranded on a certain route, unable to change tracks — causing blockages to any locomotives behind.

The points are electrically controlled, and often seize up because of power connection issues.

Last year’s figures show there were 3,175 disruptions as a result of points issues, the highest in the past five years.

They affected almost 56,000 services — 5,360 of which had to be cancelled — and led to 10,396 hours of delays.

As taxpayer-funded Network Rail is responsible for upkeep of tracks and stations, it has been paying out huge sums to rail operators in compensation.

The bill for past year is an estimated £69million — most of which covered customer refunds.

Network Rail said: “In April, we announced our £45.4billion rail improvement plan to meet the needs of the railway.”

It also noted that less than one per cent of services had been affected by points failures.

The Government plans to scrap Network Rail and create a new Great British Railways body that will also handle a re-nationalisation plan.