Sadiq Khan is under pressure: Damaged train tracks increase delays 20-fold

Presenter Rachel Riley was among thousands of people stranded after a falling overhead cable caused an accident

Trouble on Friday The alarm led to further delays for travellers, with the Elizabeth and Heathrow Express lines temporarily suspended.

As well as slowing rail traffic due to damaged tracks, delays due to a series of infrastructure failures have risen sharply, The Telegraph's analysis found. about rail traffic to and from London on the Great Western Main Line, including the recently opened Elizabeth Line, which uses some of the same tracks.

In total, trains were delayed 223,204 minutes in the first nine months of 2023 due to signaling faults, overhead line damage, track faults and other incidents, a 177% increase from the same period four years ago.

Delays also increased by 18% compared to the first nine months of 2022. The Office of Rail and Road confirmed on Friday that it was aware of the incidents and had launched an investigation.

Network Rail blamed the problems on unexpected wear and tear caused by more frequent «Tube-style» levels of service on the Elizabeth line since its opening in May 2022.

However, in a dig at the Government, Mr Khan also blamed «insufficient investment in rail infrastructure» and called for more funding.

In a statement on Friday, the mayor's spokesman admitted that the recent service on the Elizabeth line «has been below the high standards» installed when the railway opened.»

«That's why the mayor has written to Network Rail, which manages the tracks and infrastructure that has caused many of the delays.

“In his letter, Sadiq asked for a meeting to discuss these recent issues and asked Network Rail to take action to minimize the impact of faults on trains and ensure regular information is provided to customers if problems arise.”

Network spokesperson Rail said: «This rail corridor is one of the busiest in the country and the introduction of the hugely popular Elizabeth Line means we are running a different railway here than we were a few years ago.»

«While we have invested £3 billion in upgrading the infrastructure for new services, it is clear that we need to adapt the way we operate and maintain this part of the rail network to improve the passenger experience.

«We have engaged experts to help we need to understand what's going wrong so we can put plans in place to fix the situation and give passengers the safe, efficient and on-time rail experience they deserve.»

< p>Paul Swinney, Director of Policy and Research, Center for Cities , warned that the chaos could delay the return of London workers to offices.

He said: 'We need people to come into offices.' City centers to reap the productivity benefits of face-to-face interactions in the office, not just for routine Zoom communications.

«Less reliable transportation services will likely be a barrier to this. As the return to the office continues to gain momentum, we need more reliable services, not less.»