Greater Anglia achieves new rail punctuality records

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Average annual punctuality for the whole of the Greater Anglia network is now at 94.57% and the company has announced it is committed to maintaining and further improving performance.

Punctuality on Greater Anglia’s intercity services between Norwich, Ipswich, Colchester and London have reached an all-time high of 94.2% of trains arriving on time on average throughout the year.

Meanwhile average annual punctuality for other services on the Great Eastern Main Line between Ipswich/Colchester/Clacton/Walton/Harwich and London Liverpool Street is at 94.6%, with 94.8% of trains on the Southend Victoria line running on time throughout the year.

On the West Anglia line between Cambridge/Bishops Stortford/Hertford East and London Liverpool Street, 94.2% of trains have been on time over the last year.

Trains on the Greater Anglia’s regional services have also achieved very high annual punctuality. The top five routes are Norwich to Great Yarmouth with 98.2% of trains on time throughout the year; Norwich to Sheringham at 97.5%, Norwich to Lowestoft, 97.4%; Marks Tey to Sudbury, 97.2% and Norwich to Cambridge 95.9%.

Annual punctuality on other routes is also high with 95.8% of Ipswich to Felixstowe trains on time; Ipswich to Lowestoft annual punctuality at 94.3% and Ipswich to Cambridge/Peterborough at 93.2%.

Jay Thompson, Greater Anglia train service delivery director, said: “We’ve continued to work hard to improve punctuality, with joint performance initiatives with Network Rail, including weekly meetings to analyse even the smallest of delays to see how we can avoid them in the future.

“Our new trains are also helping as their quicker acceleration and braking is having a positive impact on punctuality and service resilience. At the same time, Network Rail is working to improve the tracks, signals, level crossings and overhead lines we run our trains on.

“We are pleased with these record results, but not at all complacent, as we’re committed to maintaining and if possible improving our record punctuality.

“We have developed a new set of plans with Network Rail focusing on train and infrastructure performance, how we cope with severe weather conditions and how we recover from disruption.

“Another aspect of the drive to maintain high standards is the greater use of new punctuality measures with an enhanced focus on arrival times at intermediate stations, as well as the final destination station and other metrics such as delay minutes, cancellations and whether trains have the planned number of seats, in addition to the “Public Performance Measure” which has been the industry standard for many years.”

Greater Anglia has already won industry awards for its “on time” punctuality.

These latest performance results are from Public Performance Measure (PPM) results taken from 19 September-16 October 2021. The PPM counts trains as being on time if they arrive at their final destination early or less than five minutes after the scheduled time for London and South East, regional and Scotland operators, or less than 10 minutes for intercity/long distance services.

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