Posted 8th October 2009 | 4 Comments

Four operators lead the way in punctuality improvements, but autumn poses challenge

8 Oct. 2009: The past month has seen National Rail services maintain their record high levels of punctuality. The latest performance results show that 93.6% of trains arrived on time, which means within ten minutes of the booked time for intercity and provincial trains and five minutes for trains in London and the south east.

In its regular monthly performance update, Network Rail said that Period Six (23 August to 19 September) proved to be one of the highest on record. Robin Gisby, who is Director of Operations and Customer Service, said: ‘Passengers have seen good train punctuality over the past six months and our challenge is to maintain comparatively high levels in the autumn months ahead.’

In all 11 of the 19 franchised operators saw their performance improve compared to the same period last year. Four operators achieved a significant movement in their performance (over three percentage points):

(The first figure below is the percentage for Period Six this year, and the second figure is for last year. The third is the percentage change.)

First Transpennine Express    95.8%   89.8%   +6
Virgin Trains   89.0%  83.4%   +5.6
Arriva Trains Wales   95.8%  90.9%   +4.9
London Midland  90.7%   86.6%  +4.1

Reader Comments:

Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.

  • A, Ferreres, UK

    "Contrast this with the AVE services in Spain that give full refunds for arrivals more than 5 mins late"
    That does not operate over all of the AVE route. The new routes, Málaga and Vallodolid have different conditions. Basically,15030 mins, half the fare returned, over 30mins all of it returned.

    Compromisos de devolución
    Para estas nuevas líneas Renfe ha establecido un compromiso de puntualidad más exigente que el fija la Ley Ferroviaria, pero menos que el que asume para el resto de servicios AVE.
    En concreto, en los nuevos AVE la compañía se compromete a devolver la mitad del importe del billete con un demora de entre quince y treinta minutos, y todo el precio cuanto el retraso exceda la media hora.
    En el caso de los trenes Alvia que realizan por el AVE parte de sus recorridos, reintegra el 25% del billete con retrasos de más de 20 minutos, la mitad con demoras de más de 40 minutos y el 100% cuando y llega a su destino más de una hora tarde.

  • Mark Simpson, Colchester, UK

    If its say 9 mins late but within the 10 min buffer its classed as on time

    In the real world if i turned up late for work by 9 mins everyday, i couldnt say to my boss im in on time, its flawed and ridiculous

  • Geoff Steel, NORTHAMPTON, United Kingdom

    Yes it is good to see higher levels of performance but I agree with Leslie Burge that 19 minutes late is stlll late. I would like to see what percentage of trains actually arrive on time bearing in mind that most trains are allowed some recovery time in reaching their destinations. Contrast this with the AVE services in Spain that give full refunds for arrivals more than 5 mins late then we have some way to go before we can really claim a victory.

  • leslie burge, leicester, england

    After all the upheaval on the west coast mainline we would have expected a
    big improvement in punctuality. It's good but still has some way to go.
    And it would also be nice to have punctuality based on actual timings rather than within ten minutes.You can still miss connections if you have to change
    trains particularly when you have to go over bridges with luggage, children or
    older and infirm people.