12.09.17
First Hull performance drops while Caledonian takes the lead in period 5
First Hull Trains had a poor month for punctuality over August and September, as Network Rail’s PPM figures for period 5 showed that it has slipped to become the worst-performing operator.
Less than three-quarters (74.9%) of its trains arrived at their terminating station within five minutes of the scheduled time between 23 July and 19 August, a drop from the same period in 2016-17, when the figure stood at 88.1%.
First Hull also saw a rise in the number of cancelled or significantly late (CaSL) services, going up from 3.6% in 2016-17 to 5.4% in period 5 this year.
But it should be noted that being a smaller operator, First Hull’s performance is likely to be more heavily affected by smaller disruptions and service changes.
The latest data also showed that Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) continued its PPM improvement in period 5, with its performance going up from 73.1% in the same period last year to 83.8% this year.
But while GTR also improved on its CaSL figure, which stood at almost one in 10 (9.9%) of services heavily delayed or cancelled last year, it still recorded a less than perfect score of 5.9% in this latest period.
The TOC with the most cancelled or significantly delayed services, however, was Grand Central, with 7.9% of its trains disrupted. Chiltern stood at the opposite end of the spectrum, recording a remarkable score of 0.8%. This is compared to a national average of 3.3%.
Caledonian Sleeper recorded the highest PPM figure of all for period five this year, with an impressive 97.6% of trains arriving within five minutes of their scheduled time. The average nationally for train performance across the board was 90.1%.
Top Image: Gareth Fuller PA Wire
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