In terms of lives lost in railway accidents, 2018 was another very successful year with not a single member of the public killed in a railway accident. (excluding suicides and trespassers)
In terms of reliability it was IMO the worst recent year. A series of strikes, train failures and infrastructure failures combined to make an appalling year.
Regular victims of Southern, Northern, Thameslink and others will no doubt agree.
There also seems to have been a subjective increase in very large scale disruptions with major London termini closed and passengers advised against travel.
Hopefully 2019 will be better.
The RMT disputes though are still ongoing.
Large scale signal failures seem to be an increasing risk.
New trains have not always met with expectations regarding either timely delivery or reliability.
HS2 and Crossrail seem most unlikely to open on time.
GWR electrification has the potential to cause major delays to existing services.
