Yorkshire among worst hit as half trains ‘run late on key lines’

MORE THAN half of trains on key lines ran late in the last year, according to a study by a rail union.
A Grand Central West Riding service leaving BrighouseA Grand Central West Riding service leaving Brighouse
A Grand Central West Riding service leaving Brighouse

The Transport Salaried Staffs Association claimed that in some areas, just two out of five trains arrived on time.

Grand Central, Cross Country, and First Hull Trains - all of which serve routes through Yorkshire - came bottom of the league for their trains arriving on time at 40%, 41% and 48%, said the TSSA.

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More than a quarter of Northern Rail’s local services were late.

The best firms for “real time” performance were Chiltern, 85.9% on time, Arriva Trains Wales, 84.4% and London Overground, 84.2%.

Manuel Cortes, the union’s general secretary, said: “Even given the bad winter weather, these figures show that the private rail firms are still not delivering the levels of service that passengers expect in return for paying the highest fares in Europe.

“These figures show the daily reality of persistently late trains for millions of passengers who are facing yet another increase in fares of 2.5% in January.

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“The performance of too many operators has been truly woeful.”

TSSA said the real time figures show when trains actually run late. The official performance figures released by Network Rail do not record trains as late until commuter trains are more than five minutes late and long distance trains are more than 10 minutes late, said Mr Cortes.

The union said only 51.7% of long distance trains arrived on time last year, according to the real time figures contained in NR’s accounts. Commuter trains in London and the South East achieved an on time figure of 66.5%, said the union.

A spokesman for the Rail Delivery Group, representing Network Rail and rail operators, said: “More than nine out of 10 trains arrived as planned in 2012-13 which meant 600 million more punctual passenger journeys compared to 1997-98.

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“Because rail users are at the heart of what we do, we know we must continue to drive up performance on Europe’s fastest growing and most improved railway.”

The full list published by the TSSA is: Arriva Trains Wales 84.4%; c2c 83.4; Chiltern 85.9; CrossCountry 41.7; East Coast 54.9; East Midlands Trains 69.7; First Capital Connect 64.3; First Great Western 66.8; First Hull Trains 48.8; First ScotRail 58; First Transpennine Express 60.2; Grand Central 40.4; Greater Anglia 70.6; Heathrow Express 72.4; London Midland 60.9; London Overground 84.2; Merseyrail 72; Northern Rail 72.5; Southeastern 61.6; Southern 54.2; South West Trains 65.7; Virgin Trains 52.