UK railways suffer punctuality and reliability slump
Punctuality on the railway has declined in the past year, according to figures released by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) on February 21.
National punctuality (Public Performance Measure - PPM) for the third quarter of 2018-19 (Q3, October-December 2018) stood at 83.6%, which is 1.0 percentage point (pp) lower than the corresponding period in 2017-18.
The Moving Annual Average (MAA, which reflects the proportion of trains on time in the past 12 months) stood at 85.6%, down 2.8pp compared with the previous year and the lowest quarterly PPM MAA since Q3 2005-06.
National reliability, measured by Cancellations and Significant Lateness (CaSL) has also worsened. ORR reports a CaSL of 4.5%, which is 0.1pp worse than Q3 2017-18.
ORR said the timetable chaos of May 2018 caused disruption during Q1 2018-19, particularly on Northern. It added that worsening performance on Northern accounted for almost all of the 1.0pp decrease in national PPM in Q3 2018-19.
All three sectors measured recorded worsening performances.
For the London and South East (LSE) sector, the PPM in Q3 was 85.1%, which is 0.6pp worse compared with the corresponding period in 2017-18. The MAA stands at 86.1%, a decrease of 1.1pp compared with Q3 2017-18.
The CaSL figure for Q3 was 4.5%, which has improved 0.2pp from Q3 last year, while the MAA stands at 4.7% which is 0.7pp worse.
Overall, Govia Thameslink Railway recorded its highest Q3 punctuality on the route (81.7%) since 2012-13 with PPM failures due to third-rail faults down 74% year-on-year. c2c reported its worst MAA (3.2%) since Q2 2004-05, largely attributed to an increase in infrastructure failures.
For the Regional and Scotland sector, the PPM in Q3 2017-18 Q3 was 82.2%, which is 3.2pp worse compared with the corresponding period last year and the worst Q3 PPM for the sector since 2005-06. The MAA stands at 86.0%, which is down 4.6pp from the same period last year.
ORR said that Northern’s 74.3% punctuality for Q3 was the lowest for any quarter since the time series began in 2009-10, and that PPM failures attributed to autumn delays rose 114% year-on-year. It added that bad weather affected ScotRail, causing PPM failures to rise by 61%.
For the Long Distance sector, the PPM of 78.9% was the lowest Q3 PPM since 2005-06. The MAA stands at 80.0%, which is down 7.1pp from the corresponding quarter last year. The CaSL figure is 7.5% for Q3, which is worse by 0.5pp compared with Q3 201718.
ORR said the figures reflect signal failures and track faults suffered by East Midlands Trains, while LNER recorded its lowest Q3 punctuality since 2002-03 (72.25%) due to PPM failures as a result of fatalities and trespass incidents as well as bad weather and signal failures.
Hull Trains recorded a Q3 reliability of just 14.1%. This was attributed to the number of CaSL failures, which rose from 53 in Q3 2017-18 to 84 in the latest period. This is largely due to unreliable Class 180s.