Back in 2002, when Network Rail took control of Britain's Rail infrastructure, train performance was languishing at record low levels (78.6%). Working closely with train operators, accompanied by high levels of investment and attention to detail, train punctuality has been pushed up every year, and for the first time ever, over the course of the last twelve months (1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009), has reached and exceeded the 90% mark.
This record performance was delivered with well over a million more trains per year running on the rail network today compared to the days of Railtrack and British Rail. Network Rail and the train operators run more trains across Great Britain than are run in France and 60% more than operate in Italy. The UK's 24,000 trains per-day is also more than Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Portugal and Norway combined.
To deliver the improvements in performance Network Rail has implemented several key strategies since 2004 including:
- bringing maintenance in-house in 2004 from seven private contracting companies
- the targeted renewal of unreliable infrastructure (such as track, signals, embankments, tunnels and bridges) to improve the underlying condition of railway assets
- timetabling improvements enabling more trains to run on time across the network
Over the past five years (Network Rail’s last funding period, control period 3), every train operator on Britain’s railways has seen their performance improve, most have seen dramatic improvement.
National train punctuality 2000 - 2009
PPM target figures set in the 2004 Business Plan. There were no formal regulatory targets for CP3. The Office of Rail Regulation set targets for delay minutes.
| Year |
PPM target |
PPM actual (MAA end of year) |
| 2004/05 |
82.80% |
83.60% |
| 2005/06 |
84.90% |
86.40% |
| 2006/07 |
86.60% |
88.10% |
| 2007/08 |
88.30% |
89.90% |
| 2008/09 |
89.70% |
90.60% |
Comparison of franchise performance for Control Period 3
| Franchise |
Punctuality (PPM) |
| |
2004/05 |
2005/06 |
2006/07 |
2007/08 |
2008/09 |
| First Transpennine Express |
74.60% |
79.30% |
89.30% |
91.70% |
90.30% |
| National Express East Anglia |
88.80% |
86.70% |
87.10% |
90.50% |
90.50% |
| Northern Rail |
84.60% |
86.50% |
87.30% |
88.50% |
89.80% |
| First Great Western |
83.20% |
82.80% |
83.20% |
83.10% |
90.50% |
| First Capital Connect |
86.40% |
87.70% |
88.10% |
90.60% |
91.10% |
| Crosscountry |
78.00% |
82.50% |
84.70% |
87.00% |
90.10% |
| London Midland |
76.40% |
82.90% |
86.60% |
88.90% |
86.50% |
| London Overground |
84.50% |
90.00% |
91.20% |
91.40% |
92.30% |
| East Midlands Trains |
78.90% |
81.70% |
86.70% |
87.10% |
89.30% |
| First Scotrail |
83.10% |
85.80% |
88.80% |
90.60% |
90.60% |
| National Express East Coast |
77.50% |
83.50% |
82.70% |
82.60% |
86.90% |
| Merseyrail |
94.20% |
92.20% |
92.50% |
94.70% |
95.00% |
| Virgin Trains |
72.10% |
83.50% |
86.00% |
86.20% |
80.00% |
| Arriva Trains Wales |
80.20% |
81.40% |
87.60% |
92.40% |
93.10% |
| Chiltern |
92.50% |
91.80% |
93.80% |
95.00% |
95.20% |
| c2c Rail |
93.20% |
92.90% |
94.30% |
94.50% |
95.30% |
| Southeastern |
84.20% |
86.70% |
88.50% |
90.60% |
90.00% |
| Southern |
81.80% |
88.10% |
89.20% |
89.90% |
89.50% |
| Stagecoach South Western |
82.10% |
89.90% |
90.00% |
92.30% |
93.10% |
| National |
83.60% |
86.40% |
88.10% |
89.90% |
90.60% |