NINE OUT OF TEN TRAINS ARRIVE ON TIME DURING JANUARY
Thursday 18 Feb 2010 09:24
Over the last four weeks, almost nine out of 10 trains ran to time.
The figures were released today in Network Rail's regular monthly report on train performance. During the four weeks from 10 January to 6 February, 89.5% of services arrived on time. This compares to 90.5% in period 11 last year.
Robin Gisby, director of operations and customer service, said: “Punctuality has recovered following the extreme weather of last month. Passengers on Merseyside are seeing not just the most punctual railway in the country but the most punctual service ever seen in this country with 98% of services running to time last month. There is still room for improvement however, especially on the long distance and south east routes."
Five of the 19 operators - Virgin Trains, London Midland, First Scotrail, Merseyrail and East Midlands Trains - saw their performance improve compared to the same period last year. Virgin Trains saw the biggest improvement in performance this month compared to the same period last year. Six operators saw significant movement in their performance (over three percentage points):
P11 2009/10 P11 2008/09 % point change
First Capital Connect 85.5% 93.0% -7.5%
Virgin Trains 77.9% 71.8% +6.1%
London Midland 89.3% 83.6% +5.7%
Southeastern 84.1% 89.2% -5.1%
South West Trains 90.8% 95.2% -4.4%
London Overground 88.5% 91.7% -3.2%
Notes to Editors:
1) Arrived on time - the measure of train punctuality also known as PPM (public performance measure) means trains arriving at their destinations within five minutes for commuter services and within 10 for long distance services. This measure of punctuality is commonly used throughout Europe
2) National train punctuality is measured for all trains across every day, including cancelled services and delays caused by external factors (such as vandalism, extreme weather, suicides etc). Punctuality did not start to be recorded in this vigorous and thorough way until 1997. Before then Railtrack, and BR before it, did not measure all services and also excluded external factors and other items from their numbers
3) These figures represent provisional data for the period and individuals operators performance data may vary slightly from the full period performance report that Network Rail publishes on its website around one month after period end
4) Network Rail and the train operators run more trains across Great Britain than are run in most European countries - almost 20% more than in France and 60% more than in Italy. Great Britain's 24,000 trains per-day is also more than Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Portugal and Norway combined
5) Network Rail and the operators worked tirelessly over the past few weeks to keep the railways open. Over 5,000 workers were deployed overnight to keep the railway clear of ice and snow and a fleet of 60 trains - special de-icing trains, ghost trains and snow ploughs - were sent out each night to tackle the freezing conditions and keep all the main routes open
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About Network RailNetwork Rail is the not for dividend owner and operator of Britain's railway infrastructure, which includes the tracks, signals, tunnels, bridges, viaducts, level crossings and stations - the largest of which we also manage We aim to provide a safe, reliable and efficient rail infrastructure for freight and passenger trains to use Our website:
www.networkrail.co.uk