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Tuesday 13 December 2016 1:26 pm

Are you travelling with the UK’s sorriest train company?

By: Lynsey Barber

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As travellers commuting to the capital are thwarted by the worst strikes in decades, Southern is certainly the most hated train company right now.

But what about the sorriest? And we don't just mean the weary passengers putting up with one thing after another when it comes to disruption.

One genius (that name thoroughly deserved, you'll learn) has used some coding genius to pull together and count up exactly how many times the country's rail companies have issued apologies.

Read more: #Southernstrike: The funniest tweets from miserable commuters

In 2016 so far, that totals an astonishing 394,461, according to the counter at the wonderfully named www.sorryfortheinconcenience.co.uk. 

And the most apologetic train firm of the year? There's no surprises here, as Southern tops the ranking with more than 38,000 apologies.

[infographic id="962"]

In fact, Southern is averaging an astonishing 111 apologies per day, based on tweet activity.

And it's not only train companies which are forced to grovel to customers. Two other forms of transport ranked among the eight train firms in the top 10 – the Tube's Nothern Line and easyJet.

Read more: Government dragged its heels on revealing Southern rail details

The most satisfying of data deep dives for anyone ever caught up in train delays was created by Manchester web developer and graphic designer Omid Kashan two weeks ago.

While issues may arise that the companies don't apologise for, and are thus not recorded, he told the BBC: "the fact that Southern has apologised almost 40,000 times in a year tells its own story."

"Hopefully it will raise a bit of awareness of what people are having to put up with, but I guess more than anything it's just a bit of pathos."

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