Network Rail have released (Tuesday 22 December 2009) the latest train performance results which saw the best recorded figure of 89.4% of trains arriving on time during November. Combined this with October's record result of 90.2%, made 2009 the best autumn ever. Even delays caused by infamous 'leaves on the line' have cut by 40%.

Network Rail and the train operators run more trains across Great Britain than are run in most European countries - almost 20% more than in France and 60% more than in Italy. Great Britain's 24,000 trains per-day is also more than Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Portugal and Norway combined.

Robin Gisby, director operations and customer service, said: "Most of the rail network has had a good autumn, with delays cut and train punctuality at record levels. It hasn't been the easiest autumn with some extreme weather and awful flooding affecting passengers and train operators in some areas. However, the hard work Network Rail and the train operators have made in making our railways more resilient is paying off."

Autumn:
Since Network Rail took over control of the nation's railway infrastructure delays caused by leaf-fall have been cut by over 75% from 549,842 minutes in 2002 to 135,167 this year and a 40% reduction on last year (the autumn period - 1 October to 13 December).

Train punctuality during autumn (periods eight and nine - 18 October to 12 December) has also seen significant improvement over the period with a 30% increase in punctuality from 68.6% of trains arriving on time during autumn 2002 to 89.8% this autumn (85.7% last year).

Network Rail and the train operators have invested heavily in technology, equipment and training to reduce the impact the autumn season has on the railways.  Network Rail alone has invested around £25m using a 56 strong fleet of specialist trains that over the past two months have cleared hardened, slippery leaf mulch off over 575,000 miles of track

November:
Period nine (15 November to 12 December) marks the end of the autumn period that sees train punctuality traditionally fall by up to five percentage points as trains have to cope with the railways equivalent of black-ice, compacted leaf mulch.  Passengers saw services maintain high levels of performance despite this difficult time for train punctuality as Britain's rail network enjoyed its best ever November.

Severe weather, particularly flooding in the North West, meant November was particularly challenging.   Network Rail brought relief to the community of Workington in Cumbria, whose town had been cut in two after road and footbridges were washed away.  By building a temporary station, Network Rail and train operators were able to re-connect the town, with a special shuttle service running, saving residents a two-hour road journey.

Robin Gisby, director of operations and customer service, said: “We're now through the most difficult time of the year for train performance and high levels of punctuality have been maintained for Britain's millions of daily passengers."

In all 16 of the 19 operators saw their performance improve compared to the same period last year. Northern Rail saw the biggest improvement in performance this month compared to the same period last year.  In all, 11 operators saw significant movement in their performance (over three percentage points):

                 P9 2009           P9 2008     % change
Northern Rail            88.9%         79.4%         +9.5
London Overground          93.3%         86.1%         +7.2
East Midlands Trains        90.8%         84.2%         +6.6
First Transpennine Express    89.6%         83.4%         +6.2
Southern              87.5%         81.8%         +5.7
South West Trains          87.4%         92.1%         - 4.7
London Midland         89.6%         84.7%         +4.9
First Scotrail              89.5%         85.1%         +4.4
Nat Express East Anglia     90.1%         85.9%         +4.2
Arriva Trains Wales         93.9%         90.3%         +3.6
Southeastern              86.8%          83.3%         +3.5
                                                                     

Services on the South West Trains' network were also adversely hit by severe weather during November with two landslips at Gillingham and Upwey and the partial collapse of a railway bridge that was damaged by floods near Feltham.  These incidents caused this normally high performing service to dip during the month.  Network Rail reacted quickly to re-instate the network on each occasion.

Note:
Arrived on time - the measure of train punctuality also know as PPM (public performance measure) means trains arriving at their destinations within five minutes for commuter services and within 10 for long distance services. This measure of punctuality is commonly used throughout Europe

National train punctuality is measured for all trains across every day, including cancelled services and delays caused by external factors (such as vandalism, extreme weather, suicides etc).  Punctuality did not start to be recorded in this vigorous and thorough way until 1997.  Before then Railtrack, and BR before it, did not measure all services and also excluded external factors and other items from their numbers

These figures represent provisional data for the period and individuals operators performance data may vary slightly from the full period performance report  that Network rail publishes on its website around one month after period end

The autumn period (October to December) is the most difficult for rail services across the globe.  While car drivers will take extra care and allow extra time for travel during the depths of a cold winter, train drivers must take more time to slow down and accelerate away from stations or risk slipping and sliding on compacted leaf mulch that makes the rail head as slippery as black-ice on the roads.  The rail industry invests tens of £millions every year in tackling this annual problem using new, modern techniques such as very high pressure water cannons mounted on trains to blast the leaf mulch off the rail and computer driver simulations to help train drivers with special driving techniques.  Employing such techniques and technology has seen delays caused by these conditions reduce each year