'I'm missing out on uni due to rail cancellations'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1j0z9dzwn9o

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Faizan Mujtaba said catching up was not the same as being in lessons to start with

"When you do stack it up over the weeks, it is quite a lot of learning which I've missed out on."

Faizan Mujtaba estimates over the course of his degree, he has missed about 80 to 90 hours of university due to rail cancellations.

More than three million train stops in Britain have been cancelled from January to November this year - 3.8% of the nearly 83 million scheduled.

For Mr Mujtaba, from Birmingham, cancellations have had an effect on his "learning experience".

Worst major railway stations for cancellations named

The third-year student commutes regularly to Sheffield, where he studies, and Derby, where he works.

"Trains for me are a necessity," he said.

"I've gone to uni late quite a few times, there've been a few occasions when I've gone in late by more than three hours."

Mr Mujtaba said he was having to catch up, by going to his lecturers to talk to them.

"Me catching up isn't the same as being in those lessons in the first place," he said.

"Being able to be punctual to work, to go to uni on time, I feel like there are so many different areas where it has affected [my] ability to get around."

Marcus Patterson said train cancellations and delays meant he had had to miss many hours of studying

Manchester Victoria has been the worst of Britain's busiest railway stations for cancellations this year.

About one in 10 of 10,506 scheduled stops were cancelled between January and November, according to National Rail figures collected by train data website On Time Trains.

Marcus Patterson, a 26-year-old music student at university in Birmingham, said his journey should take about an hour but, due to train issues, could take twice as long to get to a two-hour lecture.

Mr Patterson stated he had had to miss many hours of studying and now he was in the third year, he had to think seriously about whether the travel was worth it.

'Stupidly early'

Recently there was an announcement saying all trains were cancelled, he said.

"I was fully prepared to email my lecturers, saying that unless I spend an extortionate amount of money, I can't come in," Mr Patterson added.

He managed to get in OK but it took double the amount of time to get home.

Mr Patterson stated "there has not been one week" when everything ran smoothly.

To plan for rail issues, he said he often gets to university "stupidly early", arriving an hour and a half before lectures start.

He also misses out on socialising, as he worries about the journey home.

BBC analysis calculated the percentage of scheduled stops with a cancelled arrival and/or departure by using National Rail data collected by On Time Trains (OTT).

Rail Delivery Group, which represents National Rail and train operators, said everyone was working hard to ensure train services were reliable and punctual.

The government said it was committed to delivering the biggest overhaul of the railways in a generation, bringing services back into public ownership to reinvest in them.

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