COMMUTERS have hit out at 'shoddy' rail services after the number of cancelled Weymouth trains was revealed.

The Echo has discovered that hundreds of trains headed for the town have been cut on arrival at Dorchester South, with passengers saying they get no warning.

Between April 6, 2012 and June 23 this year, trains due to arrive at Weymouth train station have been cancelled at Dorchester South on 309 occasions, an average of once every five days.

There was 70 cancellations in 2013, 64 in 2014 and 83 in 2015.

From April in 2012 there was 33, showing a gradual increase in the number of cancellations.

For the first six months of this year, 59 trains were cancelled, meaning we could be set for a record number.

The information comes as rail passengers face another increase in ticket prices. And some say the unreliability of the service is hindering their employment.

All of the cancelled services were run by South West Trains.

Reasons for cancellation include track defects; signal failure; adhesion problems due to leaf contamination; flooding; over-running works; Network Rail or other infrastructure staff error; train crew issues; delay caused by operating staff oversight, error or absence; and train crew rostering problems.

Many of the trains were cancelled in the evening, when people are trying to return to Weymouth from working in places including Southampton, Bournemouth and London.

One commuter, who uses the line to travel from their home in Weymouth each day to work in Bournemouth spoke about their continued frustration.

She said: "I think it’s ridiculous that these trains are cancelled so often, but unfortunately it’s no surprise. There’s rarely enough information at stations to inform you of delays and whether trains will actually be running, let alone have enough staff around to answer any questions.

"SWT must realise and take responsibility for this shoddy service that seems incapable of doing a straight forward job. They offer redundant excuses and there’s never anyone around who knows what is going on. They just stop the train, expect everyone to get off and make their own way to the station. There needs to be better organisation and a much better way of communicating with travellers other than desperate pleas for help over Twitter.

"Sometimes it feels like Weymouth is cut off and we are second class customers."

The South and West Dorset Green Party was recently out to campaign about problems on the trains as they call for them to be brought back in to public ownership.

The Green Party is campaigning as the UK has the highest train fares in Europe.

Responding to the figures, campaigns manager for Weymouth and Dorchester, Caz Dennett, said: "I would say that did surprise me. That’s really frequent.

"That’s poor isn’t it? That’s not very good service at all. If you’re heading in to Weymouth you don’t really want to be stuck in Dorchester, especially if it is late in the evening."

In a joint statement, Network Rail and South West Trains said that sometimes trains do terminate at Dorchester South to ensure as many passengers as possible get to their destination on time.
A spokesman said: "Over 96% of services run as planned on the Weymouth to Waterloo route, but there are occasions when services may be delayed or have to be cancelled as a result of problems with infrastructure or other external factors, such as severe weather conditions. There are times when the decision is made to terminate trains at Dorchester South, rather than continuing to Weymouth, this is to make sure as many passengers as possible are able to get to their destinations on time and to avoid the delays creating knock on delays for other services. 
“Network Rail is investing millions of pounds upgrading the infrastructure between London and Weymouth over the next three years, tackling the common causes of delays. 
“We’d like to apologise to any passengers who have been delayed as a result of services terminating early at Dorchester South. Our aim is to deliver a better railway for all passengers and we are working tirelessly to deliver it.”