Delays and cancellations on Elizabeth Line since April 2023
Request ID: FOI-3785-2324 Date published: 14 February 2024
You asked
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I am writing to request information regarding the Elizabeth Line train services at West Ealing station.
Please provide the following details:
A comprehensive summary of all delays exceeding 5 minutes and all cancellations for Elizabeth Line trains at West Ealing station, categorised by month, starting from April 2023 to the present date. Please also include the number of trains running during these periods, and therefore rates or delays and cancellations as percentages of total running trains.
The approximate number of passengers boarding eastbound trains during the morning peak hours, and those alighting from westbound trains during the evening peak hours, at West Ealing station. Additionally, I seek an explanation for the decision to limit the service to six trains per hour to and from West Ealing station during peak hours.
Information concerning the second entrance to West Ealing station, which has been under renovation during 2022 or 2023. Specifically:
Will this entrance be made accessible to the public? If so, when is the opening anticipated?
If there are no plans to open this entrance, please provide the reasons why a renovated space will not be utilised.
Confirm whether any public funds were allocated for this renovation and, if so, provide a justification for the expenditure given the current status of the entrance's accessibility.
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-3785-2324
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 22nd January 2024 asking for information about delays and cancellations on the Elizabeth Line. Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.
Specifically you asked:
“Please provide the following details:
A comprehensive summary of all delays exceeding 5 minutes and all cancellations for Elizabeth Line trains at West Ealing station, categorised by month, starting from April 2023 to the present date. Please also include the number of trains running during these periods, and therefore rates or delays and cancellations as percentages of total running trains.
The approximate number of passengers boarding eastbound trains during the morning peak hours, and those alighting from westbound trains during the evening peak hours, at West Ealing station. Additionally, I seek an explanation for the decision to limit the service to six trains per hour to and from West Ealing station during peak hours.
Information concerning the second entrance to West Ealing station, which has been under renovation during 2022 or 2023. Specifically:
Will this entrance be made accessible to the public? If so, when is the opening anticipated? If there are no plans to open this entrance, please provide the reasons why a renovated space will not be utilised. Confirm whether any public funds were allocated for this renovation and, if so, provide a justification for the expenditure given the current status of the entrance's accessibility.”
I can confirm that we hold the information you require.
In answer to your first question, please see the first spreadsheet attached and table below detailing the number of trains affected at West Ealing since April 2023.
Month
% of Trains > 5 mins Late at W Ealing
% of Cancellations
April
6.79%
3.41%
May
8.78%
3.69%
June
9.79%
6.79%
July
7.85%
11.23%
August
7.58%
6.69%
September
7.75%
5.71%
October
11.92%
6.07%
November
12.64%
9.24%
December
11.88%
9.96%
January
8.42%
6.21%
In answer to the second question on passenger numbers, please see the second spreadsheet attached (you may need to expand the width of the columns to read the data in full). Note the following:
Data shows Eastbound AM Peak Boarders and Westbound PM Peak Alighters for each day from 01/04/2023 until the 19/01/2024, which is the latest data currently available.
AM Peak is 0700-1000
PM Peak is 1600-1900
Some dates shown are date ranges, rather than individual days. These are highlighted in red. The data shown is a total for all dates within the range.
In regard to stopping patterns, in Autumn 2022 the frequency of services at Acton Main Line, Hanwell and West Ealing was increased, doubling the capacity from 2 Elizabeth line trains per hour to 4 trains per hour. On 21 May 2023, improvements to the Elizabeth line timetable were introduced resulting in improvements to journey times for customers traveling from Acton Main Line, Hanwell and West Ealing through to Central London. Also in May 2023, new services between Shenfield and Heathrow Terminal 5 were introduced, and a decision was taken to include stops at West Ealing in these services due to the higher footfall at this station and the links to other train services (via the Greenford branch line). This increased the stops at West Ealing from 4 trains per hour to 6 trains per hour. In November 2023 stops were added at Acton Main Line in to two of the semi-fast services from Reading in the AM peaks. Passenger data shows that customers were struggling to board trains towards London from Acton Main Line between 0800 and 0900 on weekdays. These times were therefore targeted for providing additional trains to ease passenger loadings.
Timetables are kept under review and are updated as required to best meet passenger demand, improve journey quality and service reliability. We will continue to do this with the Elizabeth line services to ensure the best service possible for our customers.
Finally, in regard to the second exit at West Ealing, MTR Elizabeth line (the operator of the Elizabeth Line) was funded by Rail for London (which therefore is public funding) to undertake works on the old station building to ensure a secondary exit was available for customers to use in an emergency, and also to provide a retail unit in the old station building. General access into the station will continue to be by the Station building entrance on Manor Road.
If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.
Yours sincerely,
David Wells FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
