Media centre

Friday 28 Jan 2005

- DELAYS SLASHED - PASSENGERS BENEFIT FROM BEST EVER AUTUMN

Region & Route:

| Southern

Network Rail today revealed that delays caused by autumnal weather have been reduced nationally by a massive 42% this year.  East Anglia alone saw a 12.3% reduction in delays.  This marked improvement is the result of the extensive preparations that took place across the network to mitigate the effects of Mother Nature. Iain Coucher, Network Rail Deputy Chief Executive, said: “Network Rail has had a fantastic autumn.  Thorough planning, attention to detail and close co-operation with the train operators has paid dividends with the best autumnal performance for many years.  My thanks go to all the people who worked so hard to make such a difference.” In East Anglia, a fleet of seven ‘leaf busting’ trains was in action over the nine-week autumn period (October to December), tackling the railway’s equivalent of black ice on the roads.  These modern leaf-fall weapons travelled the network day and night, treating over 400 miles of track every 24 hours during the leaf-fall season.  East Anglia also benefited from three regional ‘leaf gangs’, including six dedicated leaf workers and many more operational staff, who were constantly on standby to treat problem areas by hand using specialised equipment and techniques. Simon Smith, Network Rail’s Weather Strategy Manager for East Anglia, said: “We are all delighted to have achieved such an improvement in train performance for passengers travelling in East Anglia.  The reduction of last year’s best-ever delay figures by a further 12.3% is testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone involved.” Autumn leaf-fall can have a severe effect on train performance, a problem that is shared by railways all over the world.  The compression of leaves by passing trains creates a thick, hard coating on the rails, which causes trains to slip when braking or pulling away and can cause them to overrun stations or signals.  Crushed leaves can also have an insulating effect on the rails, interfering with signalling systems and contributing to delays. This year, in East Anglia alone, over 5000 man hours and £5 million were dedicated to reducing the effects of leaf-fall on train services.  A programme of extensive planning and preparation included the identification of problem areas, monitoring of weather conditions, preventative treatment of rails, efficient reporting and rapid response to affected areas.  These efforts contributed to a substantial reduction in seasonal delays to train services in the region, from 19,993 minutes in 2003 to 17,533 minutes last year.  Nationally, autumn performance in 2004 was the best for at least the last five years with delays falling to 275,000 minutes.  This compares to 473,000 minutes in 2003 and 519,000 in 2002. The successful autumn period also saw safety benefits in the region - not a single signal overrun was recorded on East Anglia’s railway network.  Incidents of ‘ghosting’, where leaves interfere with signalling systems that detect trains, were reduced by more than half to 21, from 45 in 2003.