Full version with statistical tables

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date 10 December 2003
source Strategic Rail Authority
type Press release

Urgency for Progress on Performance

Headline results:
Quarterly performance figures show that 81% of trains ran on time (July to September 2003) unchanged over the same period last year

Passenger kilometres increased by 3% in July to September 2003 compared with July to September 2002. Passenger journeys increased
by 2% over the same period

Freight moved increased by 1% (July to September 2003) compared to the same quarter last year, reversing its recent downward trend.

Freight lifted increased by 7% over the same period

The number of complaints per 100,000 journeys decreased by 17% between July to September 2002 and July to September 2003. The results of the National Passenger Survey show a slight overall decrease in the number of passengers satisfied or very satisfied with their overall journey from 74% in the previous Autumn 2002 and Summer 2003 surveys to 73%

10 train operating companies showed an improvement in performance during this period, 13 operators show a decrease in performance whilst 3 operators remained virtually unchanged

SRA Chairman, Richard Bowker said:

'These are mixed results. The overall performance figure remains static and
we need to be ruthless in pursuit of improvement and change on behalf of the
railway's customers'.

Some of the key findings in the report are:

Public Performance Measure (PPM)

Comparing July to September 2003 with July to September 2002 all
operators/national figures show performance unchanged at 81%. Compared
to the same period last year, 10 train operating companies show an
improvement notably: Scotrail (up 6 percentage points), Arriva Trains
Northern (up 5 percentage points) and Anglia Locals (up 4 percentage points).
13 operators show a decrease in performance - notably Midland Mainline
(down 17 percentage points) - while 3 operators remained virtually
unchanged.

Long distance operators showed the lowest performance figures at a sector
level, down from 72% in July to September 2002 to 67% in July to September
2003. London and South East Operators (All day) also showed a decrease in
performance from last year: 79% in July to September 2003 compared to 82%
in July to September 2002, and Regional Operators showed an increase from
80% during July to September 2002 to 84% during July to September 2003.

A table detailing performance of individual operators can be found attached to
this release.

Rail usage
Passenger kilometres increased by 3% between July to September 2002 and
July to September 2003. Passenger journeys increased by 2% over the same
period.

National Passenger Survey
Nationally overall opinion of the journey surveyed has decreased from 74% of
passengers satisfied in Autumn 2002 to 73% in Autumn 2003. Satisfaction
with punctuality/reliability decreased by 5 percentage points compared with
the Autumn survey last year.

For individual train operators, the proportion of passengers satisfied or very
satisfied with their overall journey declined for 13 operators, increased for 6
operators and remained virtually unchanged for 6 operators compared with
Autumn 2002.

Complaints
The number of complaints per 100,000 journeys decreased by 17% between
July to September 2003.

Freight
Freight moved (measured in net tonne kilometres) increased by 1% between
July to September 2002 and July to September 2003. Total freight lifted,
which accounts for weight but not distance moved, increased by 7% over the
same period.

Notes to Editors:

1. National Rail Trends covers the period July 2003 to September 2003. It
provides trend data on a range of industry-wide indicators including key
figures on rail and freight usage.

2. In a change to SRA statistical publications, this edition of National Rail
Trends incorporates information previously published in the twice
yearly On Track. The changes have been made to avoid duplication
and to reduce potential confusion caused by having statistics published
in three different SRA documents (National Rail Trends, On Track &
SRA Annual Report). On Track will no longer be published.

3. Earlier editions on National Rail Trends and On Track are available on
the SRA website www.sra.gov.uk (under 'publications').

4. Quarterly figures are based on the following periods:
Quarter 1 - April to June
Quarter 2 - July to September
Quarter 3 - October to December
Quarter 4 - January to March

[[see related documents for original full pdf version]]

Railhub Archive ::: 2003-12-10 SRA-002