Media centre

Wednesday 5 Jul 2006

MORE TRAINS, MORE PASSENGERS, MORE PUNCTUAL

Region & Route:

National

More and more trains are arriving punctually for the growing numbers of rail passengers, is the message in National Rail Trends, published today by the Office of Rail Regulation. The report details that train punctuality is at its highest level for six years with an average of 86.4% of trains on-time, compared with 83.6% the previous year. In 2002 the level was at 78.6%.  For Quarter 4, January to March 2006, punctuality averaged almost 90% (89.8%). These gains for passengers are due to an ever closer working relationship between Network Rail and train operators. John Armitt, Network Rail’s Chief Executive, said: “Passengers are seeing the fruits of sustained investment, efficient working and tight co-operation between all players on the railway. There is no sense of complacency, however. We must all continue these endeavours to deliver the performance improvements passengers rightly demand.” George Muir, Director General of the Association of Train Operating Companies, added: “With 17 train operators improving punctuality, these results show that the industry is delivering. Train travel has never been more popular but we have more to do with our industry partners to sustain the gains and provide additional capacity.” These punctuality improvements have gone on hand-in-hand with:

• More services daily – an increase of 315 extra trains in the last year
• An increase in passenger numbers – up 3.6% this year
• Maintaining a good safety record – key indicators, such as signals past at danger (SPADs) and broken rails, are at historically low levels