Network Rail regulation and performance

Over 40% of TOCs see rise in cancelled or significantly late trains in period 13

Almost 43% of TOCs saw a rise in the number of services that were cancelled or arrived at their terminating station more than 30 minutes late, Network Rail’s latest public performance measure (PPM) has revealed – a continuing trend from the previous period.

The statistics, which account for the performance of train operators for period 13 (between 5 and 31 March), found that nine of the 21 operators saw a jump in cancelled or significantly late (CaSL) services compared to the same period in 2016.

The worst offenders include, unsurprisingly, Govia Thameslink Railway, whose services have been plagued with disruption due to a series of strikes, as its CaSL figure rose from 4.7% to 5.8%.

First Hull’s delay figure also showed no sign of improvement compared to the same period last year, rising from 4.9% to 5.6%.

Despite this, the average CaSL percentage nationwide stayed the same from last year, at 3%. This is due to some TOCs seeing marked improvement, such as Virgin Trains West Coast, whose CaSL figure plummeted from 7.7% to just 3.3%, and East Midlands, from 3.8% to 1.2%, for example.

Elsewhere, however, PPM figures also dropped in eight out of the 23 listed TOCs (34%), although the national average improved slightly from last year – going up from 90.5% to 91%.

Once again, GTR recorded the worst figure for period 13, dropping slightly since 2016 from 82.5% down to 82.3%. This is nevertheless an improvement from previous periods, where it often recorded a performance figure of less than 80%.

Yet despite a third of TOCs recording worse performance compared to last year, most operators’ PPM stayed above the 90% mark, with just four companies slipping below that level.

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