RAIL companies have been ordered to stop abusing a train cancellation loophole.
They are taking advantage of a tactic which means services axed the night before do not count in official statistics.
While cancellations are at record levels, the reality is much worse due to so-called ghost trains.
The unrecorded pre-cancellations, known as “p-coding”, can be confirmed as late as 10pm the previous evening.
They were originally used when weather or track damage required timetable changes.
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But rail firms increasingly use the loophole to axe trains for staff shortages.
TransPennine Express cut 20 to 30 per cent of services last autumn under p-codes.
The Office of Rail and Road said that was an “inappropriate” use of the scheme and has written to all train firms demanding a halt.
The regulator added: “This could mean a train a passenger expected to catch when they went to bed can disappear from the timetable by the time they leave for the station unaware the train has been cancelled.”
The Campaign for Better Transport’s Norman Baker said cancellation figures were being “artificially massaged” using the code.