Trains worse than pre-Hatfield

13 April 2012

YOU might not have noticed it but the trains are getting more punctual.

However, the Strategic Rail Authority admitted that service levels overall are still worse than they were before the October 2000 Hatfield rail crash.

A total of 83.1% of trains ran on time in January to March 2004 compared with 80.5% in January to March 2003, the SRA said. But in the comparable period before Hatfield (January-March 2000), the punctuality figure was as high as 89.1%.

However, the rail industry is likely to be pleased with this winter's improvement which saw only four train companies fail to improve on their January to March 2003 punctuality performance.

One of Sir Richard Branson's rail companies, Virgin CrossCountry, enjoyed a 12% improvement in punctuality.

Apart from the tiny Isle of Wight Island Line, the best-performing company in January-March 2004 was Merseyrail, which ran 94.5% of trains on time.

The SRA also said provisional figures suggested that more than £5bn was invested in Britain's railways in 2003-04 - an increase of 24% on the previous year.

SRA chairman Richard Bowker said: ?Passengers can feel reassured at the record level of investment in Britain's railways over the past year. They will now want to see the industry redoubling its efforts to ensure that performance of the railway fully reflects this unprecedented level of support. Passengers and taxpayers deserve no less.‘

Other companies which enjoyed good improvements in punctuality in January-March 2004 included Midland Mainline (up 11.3%), First Great Western (up 7.8%) and Thames Trains (up 6.3%).

The four companies which had a poorer performance were First North Western (down 3.4%), the London to Tilbury and Southend company c2c (down 3.2%), Silverlink (down 2.3%) and the local services run by Anglia (down 0.9%).

Not only were trains running on time slightly more, but overcrowding – another familiar passenger bugbear – reduced slightly on main London and Edinburgh commuter lines, with the number of passengers carried in excess of capacity thresholds being 2.7% in 2003 compared with 2.9% in 2002.

The cost of fares, however, means that passengers are still unhappy about how they pay to travel by rail – only 42% think they are getting value for money.

Meanwhile, union leaders described the deal that ended the threat of a national rail strike as a ?major victory‘ for workers.

Bob Crow, general secretary of the Rail Maritime and Transport Union, paid tribute to his members for being prepared to go on strike in protest at the closure of Network Rail's final salary scheme for new workers.

Last-ditch talks between Mr Crow and NR chief executive John Armitt led to a deal that averted the threat of a 24-hour walkout next week.

Under the agreement, the final salary pension scheme will be reopened to new employees after they have completed five years service with the company.

Mr Crow said his union had not been worried about the threat of court action by Network Rail, which was due to go ahead today.

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