Wednesday 2 Jun 2010
BEST EVER YEAR FOR TIMELY TRAINS
- Region & Route:
- National
Passengers have enjoyed the best train punctuality ever recorded¹ on Britain's railways as 91.5% of train services arrived on time over the past year (1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010). The highest since records began almost 20 years ago (1992).
Back in 2002, when Network Rail took control of Britain's Rail infrastructure, train performance was languishing at record low levels (78.6%). Working closely with train operators, accompanied by prudent levels of investment and attention to detail, train punctuality has been pushed up every year. For the first time ever, over the course of the last twelve months (1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010), punctuality has breached the threshold of over 91 out of every 100 trains on time, beating regulatory targets.
Robin Gisby, director of operations and customer services, said: "Passengers are today experiencing the most punctual train service ever provided on Britain's railways. This has been accomplished through the sheer hard work and determination of tens of thousands of rail staff across the country working for both Network Rail and the train operators.
"This is just one of a number of records set on Britain's railway this year with record numbers of passengers travelling on record numbers of trains at record levels of safety with record levels of satisfaction.
"But we are far from complacent and realise that passengers' still experience some delays, albeit much less often than in times past. Our focus in the years ahead will be to drive performance to even higher levels with particularly attention given to reducing the number of very late services."
Notes to editors
- National train punctuality measured for all trains across every day did not start to be recorded until 1997. Before then Railtrack & BR before it measured most services - those during peak periods (and variations) and so the percentages from 1992 to 1997 are extrapolations of the best figures available. No reliable figures exist pre1992 but anecdotal evidence from numerous senior ex-BR managers indicate that performance under BR was never better than it was in the 1990s
- Arrived on time - the measure of train punctuality also know as PPM (public performance measure) means trains arriving at their destinations within 5 minutes for commuter services and within 10 for long distance services. This measure of punctuality is common and used throughout Europe where the UK's record is one of the highest
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