Record 57,000 signal failures on our railways

RAIL passengers endured lengthy delays due to a record number of signalling faults last year.

- By Matthew Davis

Official figures show there were almost 57,000 incidents more than 1,000 every week.

And the signal failures caused almost 23,000 hours of holdups, triggering payouts to customers running into millions of pounds.

Network Rail, which has responsibility for Britain's tracks, said problems last year meant 192,647 trains were delayed or cancelled.

When a signal gets stuck and halts a service it can have a domino effect on trains behind.