Rail performance ‘continued to deteriorate’ in Q2 says ORR

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Train performance ‘continued to deteriorate in Quarter 2 (24 July – 15 October 2011), particularly on long distance train services’, says a report published by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) today.

The Network Rail monitor, which provides an overview of the company’s performance each quarter, highlights that:

  • Punctuality for long distance train services is now 88.7% – well short of the 90.9% required for 2011-12. In real terms, this means that 13,783 trains out of 125,975 planned services were over ten minutes late arriving at their destination.
  • Delays per incident have risen, showing that the network has become less resilient to disruptions.
  • Delays to freight services remain much worse than the target.

As a ‘result of continued deterioration in performance’, ORR is currently considering whether Network Rail is in breach of its licence and will be making a decision on potential enforcement action shortly.

The report also highlights the good work that Network Rail and the rail industry have been doing to prepare for potential adverse winter weather conditions, as well as for the planned engineering works on the network over Christmas and New Year.

ORR’s monitoring and inspections show that the industry has learnt important lessons from the last three winters when transport was affected by winter conditions.

In advance of the Christmas and New Year engineering works, ORR has reviewed Network Rail’s plans and is satisfied that it is continuing to follow the improved processes implemented in response to ORR’s enforcement action following the 2007/8 engineering overruns.

Michael Lee, ORR’s Director of Railway Planning and Performance, said:

“It is disappointing to see that train service performance and punctuality continued to deteriorate in Quarter 2.

“While much of the network still runs well, the poor performance in some places is not acceptable; passengers rightly expect every effort to be taken to ensure that their train arrives on time.

“Network Rail must lead in resolving these issues, although we have always been clear that some aspects of train performance are for the whole industry to address.

“We will be keeping a close eye on progress, particularly over the Christmas and new year period, in the light of possible poor weather conditions and planned engineering works.

“Passengers have high expectations of the service they receive, and we look to all involved to continue working together to ensure expectations are met.”

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