DON'T WORRY ABOUT THAT...

By Adrian Pearson on Nov 10, 08 03:59 PM

What's the best way to keep your train service among the most punctual in the UK? Simple. Don't count the trains that don't count.

Fans of Gateshead councillor Jonathan Wallace and his self-titled blog will be familiar with his on-going battle with the sometimes delayed/cancelled National Express East Coast train service from Newcastle down to London.
As Jonathan rightly points out, many train companies all too often appear to find that it makes more sense to cancel a late train than to risk it ruining the all important punctuality record, upon which the Government puts so much faith.

A phone call to National Express today confirmed the rail operator does not have to worry as much over a cancelled train then a late train, regardless of the impact on other services.
Or as they said: "We have unfortunately had to cancel a small number of services from Newcastle in the last few days, due to reduced availability of rolling stock. We apologise to passengers for any inconvenience caused."

Comments (3)

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National Express East Coast

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3 Comments

John Gelson, Media Relations Manager, National Express East Coast said:

Our full response to the question asked this afternoon by The Journal, which was "Do cancelled trains count against our punctuality figures?" was as follows:

"We have unfortunately had to cancel a small number of services from Newcastle in the last few days, due to reduced availability of rolling stock. We apologise to passengers for any inconvenience caused.

"Overall, our service cancellations are running at two per cent, which is a relatively small proportion of the 136 services we run each weekday.

"If a service is cancelled or a stop not served en route, this does count against our public performance measure, the industry standard measure of performance which shows the percentage of trains which arrive at their destination within ten minutes of time.

"Punctuality is a key priority for us. We have introduced a performance management improvement plan, and are working closely with Network Rail to deliver improved infrastructure. We're also improving the reliability of our trains through investment, including completing the rebuild of our diesel High Speed Trains with new engines".

At no stage have we said or suggested that cancelled trains "don't count". As our full statement made clear, they do.

November 10, 2008 7:36 PM

Tom Dodds said:

Dear Mr Gelson,

Your statement says:

"If a service is cancelled or a stop not served en route, this does count against our public performance measure..."

You then say,

"At no stage have we said or suggested that cancelled trains "don't count". As our full statement made clear, they do...."

You can't have it both ways...

If I've read your statement properly, you could cancel 135 trains, run one train leaving Newcastle, say, half an hour late and missing out all the intermediate stops, but arriving at KGX on time, and achieve a public performance measure (your "industry standard measure of performance") of 100%...

Clearly, that would be ridiculous, but one can see how management may be tempted to cancel the odd one or two, particularly towards the end of the measurement period, if that all-important "key priority" (and possibly that month's bonus?) might be at risk....

November 12, 2008 10:09 AM

John Gelson, Media Relations Manager, National Express East Coast said:

Happy to clarify on the point above.

Our statement seeks to explain that any cancellation or failure to call at a booked station en route is treated in the same way as a late train in terms of the public performance measure (PPM).

The original piece implied that some cancelled trains "don't count" against our punctuality record. Our point in response is that in fact, every time a train is cancelled it counts against our punctuality.

November 13, 2008 9:35 AM

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