Published by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) at 9:30am today
(Thursday 19 September 2019), new ‘On Time’
statistics will establish an industry standard
for measuring performance in which train punctuality is
measured to the minute not the traditional 5 or 10
minutes of the timetabled arrival.
With data covering the performance of operators across
the country for the past 3 months, the publication will
provide the clearest picture to date on the punctuality
of the country’s rail services.
The Transport Secretary has set out that punctuality of
services is his major priority. Last week, he met with
train bosses at several operating companies and rail
industry leaders to discuss the pressing need for
concrete action to improve punctuality and reliability.
Speaking ahead of the publication of
the ORR statistics,
Secretary of State for Transport said:
Commuters just want their trains to run on time and
that’s my first priority. New statistics published
today will stop masking whether trains are really on
time.
I believe this is a step in the right direction,
providing more accountability and transparency to
help hold operators to account, but much more needs
to be done to get performance to where it should be.
Last week I met with the heads of rail companies and
industry leaders where I set out the pressing need
for concrete action to deliver improvements in the
short, medium and long term. What was clear was the
joint passion and drive of both government and rail
industry to create a railway where the focus was on
every minute for passengers.
This won’t be instant but the Williams
Review, published this autumn, has the right
ideas: clearer accountability, greater local control
focused on passengers and performance.
Detailed information on the causes of train delays is
also included in this publication for the first time,
providing greater accountability into the problems on
the railway.
The previous industry measure - Public Performance
Measure (PPM) - defined a
train as on time if it arrives within five minutes of
the planned destination arrival time, or 10 minutes for
long distance operators. The new data will measure on
time to within 60 seconds.
