The Office of Rail Regulation, Britain's railway watchdog has set Network Rail a target of reducing passenger disruption from planned engineering works. These targets will mean that delays and cancellations must be cut by 17% within three years and by 37% within five years.

The Office of Rail Regulation has told Network Rail it had to improve its management of the work to reduce unplanned disruption when it overran. The railway watchdog welcomed train company performance figures which showed more than nine out of 10 trains ran on time from April to June and also said train punctuality is at a 10-year high. However it insisted Network Rail had to implement a programme of improvements. Three engineering overruns caused travel chaos at New Year, leading to a record £14m for Network Rail imposed by the ORR

One of the overruns was on the West Coast Main Line, which runs between London and Scotland. The continuing engineering work has led to service disruptions on most weekends this summer. The Office of Rail Regulation said NR was also missing its performance targets on the other main London to Scotland route, the East Coast Main Line. Passengers recognise and accept that engineering works are necessary and will tolerate some short-term inconvenience for real long-term gain in future journeys.

The chief executive of the Office of Rail Regulation Bill Emery said the regular closure of parts of the network for engineering work had caused substantial disruption and inconvenience to passengers and freight, deterring others from using the network altogether."For rail to make its full contribution to our economy, it is important that this disruption is reduced significantly," he said.

Network Rail will have to implement improvements to its management of engineering work, including better risk and contingency planning, increased communication with train operators and rail users and stronger on-site management.

A Network Rail spokesman said passengers were enjoying the best train punctuality since records began and said reducing disruption caused by improvement work was a "central pillar" of future plans.
"Delivering a railway at weekends to the standard we see during the week must be our goal and we've asked the ORR for significant funds to make this 'seven-day railway' a reality," he added.

Anthony Smith, chief executive of customer watchdog group Passenger Focus, said he had been urging the industry to give passengers accurate, timely and co-ordinated information about when engineering works would take place for some time.
"Passengers recognise that engineering works are necessary and will tolerate some short-term inconvenience for real long-term gain but the rail industry should do more to inform passengers not only of the engineering works but also the benefits the work will bring," he said.