Train performance
Rail passenger performance is at its lowest since 2005-06, according to figures released by the Office of Rail and Road.
RAIL passenger performance is at its lowest since 2005-06, according to figures released by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR).
The Public Performance Measure (PPM) in 2016-17 was just 87.7%, the lowest in 11 years. PPM is the proportion of trains that arrive at their final destination on time. On time is defined as arriving at the destination within five minutes of the planned timetable for London and South East, Regional and Scotland operators, or within ten minutes for the Long Distance operators.
ORR singled out performance on the Thameslink Southern and Great Northern franchise. It continues to deteriorate, with Govia Thameslink Railway recording its lowest annual performance score since the time series began in 2004-05.
At 85.2%, the PPM for the London & South East sector (LSE) was down 2.6 percentage points (pp) on the previous 12-month period. The national figure of 87.7% was down 1.4 percentage points on 2015-16.
Nationally, while overall performance is better than that recorded in the early 2000s following Hatfield, the Public Performance Measure Moving Annual Average (PPM MAA) has steadily declined since the start of 2013-14.
For the three regions, Regional and Scotland recorded a PPM MMA for Q4 2016-17 of 91.3%, up 0.1pp compared with the corresponding quarter last year, Long Distance remained at 87.6%, and London & South East fell 2.6pp to 85.2%.
For the fourth quarter of 201617 (Q4, January-March 2017), ORR reports that at 85.2%, the LSE’s Public Performance Measure Moving Annual Average (PPM MAA) was the lowest since Q4 2004-05 (84.8%).
It says that GTR accounted for 74% of the year-on-year decline in the national PPM MAA, and 73.1% of the year-on-year decline in the LSE PPM MAA.
The PPM for Q4 2016-17 was 89.1% nationally. This is the worst Q4 score recorded since 2006-07 (88.5%). The London and South East sector recorded a PPM of 86.7%, down 0.6pp compared with the corresponding quarter last year and the lowest since 2003-04 (81.9%).
ORR says that in 2016-17, GTR operated 15% of all services in
Great Britain. While the rest of the network experienced a 0.1pp increase in the Q4 PPM, GTR’s Q4 PPM fell 1.3pp from 2015-16. Furthermore, GTR services were responsible for 49% of the decline in LSE’s Q4 PPM score.
ORR says the decline in LSE’s quarterly performance can be attributed to a number of causes. Delays relating to third-rail faults, of which there were 2,600 PPM failures, increased by 39%, and delays due to problems at stations (4,400 PPM failures) rose 41%. There was also a rise in the number of uninvestigated delays - these accounted for 10,200 PPM failures, a rise of 900% compared with the same quarter last year.
Meanwhile, services in the Regional and Scotland sector recorded a PPM of 92.6% in Q4 2016-17, up 0.6pp compared with the same period last year, and the second highest Q4 score since the time series began in 1997-98. Long Distance recorded a PPM of 89.2%, up 0.8pp from last year.
ORR adds that in Q4 2016-17, 61.6% of all delays to passenger trains were attributed to Network Rail, with external factors accounting for a further 17%.
The proportion of trains cancelled or significantly late (CaSL) in 2016-17 was 3.8%, the highest since 2002-03 (3.6%). The London & South East recorded its highest CaSL rate (4.8%) since the time series began in 1997-1998. All of the regions recorded an increase in CaSL compared with 2016-17.