Weather conditions to blame for train delays

Jan 21 2010 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

TRAIN operators have blamed recent extreme weather conditions for a dramatic fall in punctuality.

Snow-hit services have seen all train companies operating through the North East fail to provide the expected level of service.

As many as a third of trains on the two main London-to-Scotland routes – the East Coast and the West Coast lines – did not run on time in the period from December 13 to January 9.

Renationalised East Coast trains were badly hit by the weather, with only 67.2%. of trains running on time.

The figures compare performance against the same time period in the previous year, when again the country suffered with heavy snowfall.

First TransPennine Express managed to run just over 75% of trains on time, a drop of 14.8%.

Northern Rail’s punctuality fell to 82.1%, with a reduction of just 3%.

The delays and cancellations which crippled the train industry for days on end were acknowledged by Network Rail.

Robin Gisby operations and customer service director said: “It’s been a difficult month and we have not delivered the railway passengers have come to expect.

“Working closely with the operators, and despite the extreme weather, we have kept the railways open and most services ran with eight out of 10 services running to time. We will work to restore services to their punctual norm in the weeks ahead.”