Most frequently missed connections

[walkingsophie]

I am considering doing a long distance leisure railway journey to somewhere with an itinerary planned to have as many tight connections as possible to maximize the chance of delay repay. Is there any open historical railway running data I can process that would allow me to see which train connections get frequently missed due to delays and how often they get missed?
As an example, during the last week weekdays, the connection at Teddington between Shepperton to London via Kingston and the trains to London via Richmond were missed about 20% of the time.

If no such data is available I would also be happy with people anecdotally talking about their most frequently missed connections to get a general idea.

 

[mmh]

This site keeps 3 years worth: https://charlwoodhouse.co.uk/

 

[Bletchleyite]

Timekeeping on GWR in Cornwall is generally utterly appalling. If you plan to take the first super off peak train from Paddington to Plymouth at 1103 and connect to Penzance, a 15 minute claim is near certain and a 30 minute one not entirely unlikely.

 

[sot]

Ontimetrains is good for a overview/analysis of this.

What used to be really bad was the Euston to stoke via Stafford LNR only.

The connection used to be perhaps just a minute or two over the 5 min connection at Stafford. For most this would be acceptable but for one end of train, to lift and back down in the lift it can be just enough.

The issue was the 1U's would often arrive late and the Stafford to Crewe slow train is effectively a shuttle so delaying it too much compounds then all day.

I think some of it is slightly retimed now and on certain hours it is worse than others.

Worth a look, but not worthy of DR if you have any permitted or split ticketing.

 

[MrJeeves]

LNER from Leeds onto a Brighton Thameslink at Stevenage is exactly the MCT, so even a minor delay into Stevenage will likely result in a missed connection.

Continuing on the LNER into KGX won't let you make up the delay in most cases either. Whenever I've tried that move, they always put the Thameslink onto the Welwyn Viaduct in front of the slightly late LNER.

You've also got numerous connections at Three Bridges from fast Thameslink services towards Cambridge onto slow Thameslink services via Redhill to Peterborough which are exactly on the MCT, too (xx19 -> xx23 and xx39 -> xx43).

 

[To the trains]

The 10 minute changeover at Didcot from the ex-Bristol train onto the train to Oxford is missed fairly often in my experience as even though I reckon the great majority of people getting off the intercity train at Didcot are changing for Oxford, not going to Didcot (and most passengers boarding the Oxford train are connecting onto it from the west). Any time the intercity is late, I always watch the other one leave as basically everyone who gets off then waits half an hour (probably gets in the way of a through service, I presume they'd hold it otherwise). Reading only has a 7 minute connection time, which is very short for a station its size, some often missed connections must originate there. You only have 10 minutes to change over from an ex-Bristol train onto the service to Gatwick airport, and while I have made it before, it felt far from generous (getting from the higher numbered through platforms, potentially quite far from the overbridge, up the quite high bridge, behind lots of people, and the walk around the old building to the east-facing bays is a fair distance away).

 

[Farang]

Timekeeping on GWR in Cornwall is generally utterly appalling. If you plan to take the first super off peak train from Paddington to Plymouth at 1103 and connect to Penzance, a 15 minute claim is near certain and a 30 minute one not entirely unlikely.

The 12:03 last Saturday was delayed 16 mins - just had my Delay Repay claim approved.

 

[Kilopylae]

Anecdata - SWR ex Exeter never makes it to Salisbury on time; it always accumulates small delays at each local stop. It's booked to sit in Salisbury for a while, which it never gets the chance to, but this means it generally leaves on time. However, if you hinge the connexion on your arrival time there's a good chance it'll be fouled.