A third of trains were delayed over past year
Over a third of trains failed to arrive at stations on time over the past year, according to figures that use a more accurate measure of punctuality.
New statistics released by the rail regulator, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), show that 64.7 per cent of stations were arrived at one time in the year to June 2019.
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Earlier today transport secretary Grant Shapps announced that punctuality would be measured “to the minute” rather than on the public performance measure (PPM), which is taken when a train arrives at station within five minutes – or 10 minutes for long-distance operators – of its scheduled arrival.
Shapps said the move was a “step in the right direction” to increase accountability and transparency for passengers.
The ORR said that using the new calculations, punctuality improved by 2.5 percentage points from last year.
The figures also show that 2.8 per cent of trains were cancelled in the last year, down 0.1 percentage points from the previous year.
More than half of cancellations were down to problems with rail firms, including faulty trains, while just over a quarter were down to track and signalling problems.
Weather and trespassers caused 17 per cent of cancellations.
Anthony Smith, chief executive of passenger watchdog Transport Focus, said one third of trains running late was “not acceptable”.
“Transport Focus welcomes the industry heeding its call for the figures to reflect actual arrival times rather than allowing trains up to ten minutes late to count as ‘on time’,” he said. “This will help rebuild trust in the railway. But proper reporting isn’t enough on its own, so we are pleased to see this renewed focus on driving up punctuality.
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“It’s good to see a year on year improvement but clearly there is a long way to go. In the meantime, we urge passengers to continue to #makedelaypay and to claim Delay Repay every time they are delayed.”
Network Rail chief executive Andrew Haines added: “Passengers tell us punctuality is the most important thing for them which is why, since joining Network Rail, I have restructured the company to make this the key focus. We’re making progress, as today’s figures show, but we know there is much more to do and together as an industry we won’t stop until passengers get the reliable railway they deserve.