Network Rail ‘must up its game’ after failing to meet punctuality targets

NR’s train punctuality performance had “continued to deteriorate” since June 2011, the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) said.

There was a need for a “step change in performance” from NR, said ORR chief executive Richard Price in a letter to NR chief executive Sir David Higgins.

He also warned that the ORR must now consider whether failure to meet 2011-12 targets was a contravention of NR’s licence obligations. Should NR breach its licensing conditions it could face a multi-million pound fine.

In his letter to Sir David, Mr Price said: “Since June performance across the network has continued to deteriorate.”

Mr Price singled out comparatively poor recent trains-on-time performances on the two main London to Scotland routes – the East Coast and West Coast main lines – and also on Great Western.

Mr Price said NR’s revised punctuality projections would mean that it would fail to meet many of the requirements for the year as a whole. He added that NR was unlikely to meet freight requirements for this year, either.

He went on: “We appreciate that there has been a significant increase in the delay and disruption caused by cable thefts and other external factors, but these alone do not explain the extent of the under-performance.

“We are also aware that delay (time) per incident has risen, showing that the network has become less resilient to perturbations (disturbances)”

Robin Gisby, NR’s network operations managing director, said: “We are focused on continuing to drive up performance and safety across Britain’s railway. Over the last few years the industry has driven up performance levels to among the best in Europe with over 90 per cent of trains arriving on time.

“Volumes are high and growing and where the industry has focused its efforts there have been improvements.”

Rail Minister Norman Baker said: “The Government shares the ORR’s concerns about the current level of performance on the railway, and I welcome the steps the ORR is taking to hold Network Rail’s feet to the fire.

“I have been having regular and firm discussions with both Network Rail and the train operators about the need to return to high levels of performance as soon as possible. Both have a role to play and both need to up their game.”