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Figures show 30% of trains run late
New, stricter punctuality figures have shown more than 30% of trains are running late.
Network Rail's (NR) first set of figures based on trains arriving early or within 59 seconds of schedule showed 69.8% were on time during 2011/12, a rate which dropped to 59.7% for long-distance services.
Commuters in London, Kent and the rest of the South East are travelling in a region where 70.3% of trains were punctual over the last 12 months, while 71% of regional services were on time.
The figures contrast with NR monthly ones, which give short-distance services five minutes' leeway to qualify as running on time, while long-distance trains allowed to be no more than 10 minutes late. Using the less stringent timeframe, 91.6% of trains were on time during the last year.
Historical figures using the stricter criteria show a slight improvement on 2010/11, when 69.6% of services were on time, but a fall from 2009/10 when 70.2% of trains pulled in at platforms on time. And the latest figure for long-distance services was the worst since 2005/06 but well up on 2001/02 when long-running speed restrictions introduced after the Hatfield rail crash meant only 38.4% of trains were on time.
Copyright Press Association 2012
