A Bolton train station, which was formerly the ‘worst in the country’, has continued to climb the ranks despite its punctuality declining.

Kearsley train station was revealed by The Bolton News as the ‘UK’s worst’ in May, with 81 per cent of its services delayed or cancelled in the four weeks leading up to May 28, according to Ontimetrains.

In July, the station climbed up from the bottom spot rising to the UK’s third worst – even though its performance had declined to only 85 per cent of its train arriving on time.

Months down the line, Kearsley now finds itself as the country’s ‘18th worst’ station, placing it in 2,611th place over the last four weeks for delays and cancellations.

The recent rise in the ranks comes, again, despite the station's punctuality getting worse, with only 14 per cent of stopping services arriving in the Bolton station on time.

“This should not be seen as a cause for celebration,” Farnworth and Kearsley First councillor, Tracey Wilkinson said.

Cllr Wilkinson added: “Whilst it’s encouraging that Kearsley Train Station has moved out of the bottom five in performance rankings, residents are still facing the frustration of cancelled trains, and lack of stopping trains.

“These issues must be addressed urgently.

“This improvement is just the beginning – now is the time to give Kearsley the attention and investment it truly deserves for the residents of Kearsley, Stoneclough, Prestolee and Ringley.”

How does Kearsley keep climbing the ranks despite more of its commuters arriving late?

Feniton in Devon, the station that currently holds the dreaded title of ‘UK’s worst’, has a record of nearly one in five of its services being cancelled – compared to Kearsley having a comparatively impressive ten per cent of trains cancelled.

South Western Railway, who operate Feniton, have six other stations in the bottom ten for the last four weeks.

The south of England operator's recent surge of stations in the bottom ten has bumped Kearsley and other Northern stations up the table.

Kearsley’s Labour Councillor, Debbie Newhall, said: “Any improvement is good.

“It’s easy to be negative about these things but we’re moving in the right direction, of course we need better service but I’m pleased.

“It’s out of our hands all we can do is press, I don’t agree with just being negative for the sake of it.”

A spokesperson for Northern said: “Our customers have experienced higher levels of cancellations in recent weeks and for that we are sorry.

“The underlying reason for services being cancelled remains traincrew availability.

“Improving the reliability of our timetable remains our top priority.”