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Notes to editors

PPM is a % measure of passenger trains arriving on time at their scheduled destination. For long distance trains ‘on time’ is within 10 minutes of the timetabled arrival time, for all others it is within 5 minutes.

MAA: Moving annual average

Note: The data contained within this report is for initial indications only and is subject to change in subsequent publications.

1. Virgin Trains' performance was impacted by seven days of less than 80% PPM. The worst impacts were caused by overhead line damage at Stowe Hill on Dec 13, extremely high winds across the route as well as a fatality at Leighton Buzzard on Jan 5 and a track circuit failure at Kings Langley on Dec 30

2. 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 minutes for long distance services. This measure of punctuality is commonly used throughout Europe

3. National train punctuality is measured for all trains across the whole network, 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

4. These figures represent provisional data for the period and individual operators' performance data may vary slightly from the full period performance report that Network Rail publishes on its website every month

5. 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