HS2

GTR once again falls to bottom of PPM table

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) is at the bottom of the public performance measure (PPM) table for the most recent four-week period, as the rail industry as a whole struggles to deal with delays.

GTR’s PPM in period 7, from 18 September to 15 October, was at 75.4%. This was below any other TOC, and a 7.6 percentage point drop from its 83% PPM at the same point in 2015.

The operator has suffered from widespread delays and was forced to cancel 341 Southern services a day in July, although it announced yesterday that it will fully restore them by 31 October.

It was followed by Virgin East Coast, with an 81.2% PPM compared to 84.7% the previous year, and First Hull, whose PPM fell from 84.1% to 81.9%.

In period 6, every company experienced a PPM drop compared to the previous year apart from TransPennine Express (TPE).

This period TPE once again had an improved PPM compared to last year, from 87.6% to 92.7%. In addition, nine other companies – Arriva trains Wales, Crosscountry, East Midlands Trains, Grand Central, Great Western Railway, London Midland, Merseyrail, Northern and Southeastern – experienced improvements in PPM.

Southeastern, which, like Southern, has suffered a decline in passenger satisfaction this year because of disruptions in rail services around London.

GTR also had the highest cancellation and significant lateness (CaSL) measure, at 7.9%, followed by First Hull at 7.5% and Virgin East Coast at 6.8%.

Of the delays on GTR, 42% were found to be caused by the operator, compared to 54% attributable to Network Rail and 2% caused by other operators.

A GTR spokesperson said: "We apologise to our passengers for the poor punctuality of services. In addition to the continued unwarranted industrial action by the RMT, the biggest incidents during the period were a fire under a conductor rail near Streatham, a person on the track near Alexandra Palace, a power supply failure at Streatham Common and a freight train failure at Kensington. We also continue to be affected by the RMT union’s industrial action."

(Image c. Andrew Matthews)

Have you got a story to tell? Would you like to become an RTM columnist? If so, click here.