TRAIN PERFORMANCE HIT BY SEVERE WINTER WEATHER

Thursday 20 Jan 2011

TRAIN PERFORMANCE HIT BY SEVERE WINTER WEATHER

Region & Route:: National

Continued severe winter weather during December hit train punctuality during the period, Network Rail reported today.

The latest train performance results reported that 81% of trains arrived on time compared with 80% for the same period last year.

Period 10 (12 December to 8 January) included more severe winter weather and the coldest December ever recorded in Great Britain.

Robin Gisby, director of operations and customer services, said: "During the recent tough weather, many passengers saw disruption to their journeys. Whilst most trains ran and we kept all the major routes open, passengers and freight users did not receive the high levels of service they have come to expect and rightly demand.

"We endeavoured to run as many trains as possible and sometimes put capacity ahead of punctuality. Working closely with train operators, Network Rail is looking at what we can do to further reduce the impact of extreme weather on passenger journeys and improve the flow of information to passengers."

Nine of the 19 operators saw their performance improve compared to the same period last year. London Overground was the most punctual operator during the period with 93.5% of trains on time. 12 operators saw significant movement in their performance (over three percentage points):

	*P10 2010*	*P10 2009*	*% point change*
Merseyrail	82.9%	92.5%	-9.6
First Transpennine Express	83.7%	75.7%	8.0
Southeastern	76.5%	70.0%	6.5
Arriva Trains Wales	84.2%	90.4%	-6.2
South West Trains	88.2%	82.2%	6.0
London Midland	77.5%	83.4%	-5.9
First Great Western	80.3%	85.9%	-5.6
c2c	89.4%	94.6%	-5.2
London Overground	93.5%	88.9%	4.6
Chiltern	85.5%	89.4%	-3.9
East Coast	63.3%	67.2%	-3.9
East Midlands Trains	86.6%	89.7%	-3.1

Notes to editors

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
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
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
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

Period 10 of 2010/11 - 12 December to 8 January 2011

Franchise

Punctuality P10

2010

Punctuality P10

2009

Moving Annual Average (MAA)

Arriva Trains Wales

84.2%

90.4%

94.2%

c2c Rail

89.4%

94.6%

95.0%

Chiltern

85.5%

89.4%

94.3%

Crosscountry

74.2%

77.0%

88.1%

East Coast

63.3%

67.2%

84.3%

East Midlands Trains

86.6%

89.7%

92.1%

First Capital Connect

75.8%

72.8%

88.9%

First Great Western

80.3%

85.9%

90.6%

First Scotrail

73.9%

72.9%

90.2%

First Transpennine Express

83.7%

75.7%

90.8%

London Midland

77.5%

83.4%

90.0%

London Overground

93.5%

88.9%

94.2%

Merseyrail

82.9%

92.5%

95.3%

National Express East Anglia

81.4%

78.5%

90.2%

Northern Rail

84.9%

82.1%

90.8%

Southeastern

76.5%

70.0%

87.9%

Southern

80.1%

77.8%

89.5%

South West Trains

88.2%

82.2%

93.6%

Virgin Trains

65.6%

65.7%

85.6%

National

81.0%

80.0%

90.7%

PPM

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.

Heathrow Express, Grand Central, Hull Trains, Eurostar and Wrexham and Shropshire are not included in the National PPM.

MAA

Moving annual average

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

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