Train delays on East Coast Main Line among the worst in country

May 27 2009 by Sam Wood, The Journal

"But those were some years ago now and should become less relevant. Some improvement has been made and they need to continue. Rail links are hugely important for this region and the key issue is reliability, when business decide to use the train they need to know it is going to arrive on time."

Susan Goldsmith, managing director, National Express East Coast said the company was working to improve its service.

She said: "The performance of National Express East Coast trains has improved significantly. When we took over the franchise, performance was at 81.7%.

"We have been able to achieve this through working in partnership with Network Rail, and we do recognise there is more to do to build on these results to achieve consistently high performance and reliability."

A train is deemed to have arrived on time if it reaches its destination within five minutes of the timetabled arrival time for commuter services and within 10 minutes for long-distance services.