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West Coast trains still running late
Dick Murray03.08.09
Train punctuality on a London to Scotland rail line is still well below the national average despite a £9billion upgrade of the route.
Network Rail revealed today that only 86.4 per cent of services on the West Coast Main Line, operated by Virgin Trains, ran on time from 28 June to 25 July this year. This compared with a national trains-on-time average of 92.4 per cent for all lines - an all-time July record.
In the 12 months to 25 July, Virgin was only able to run 81 per cent of trains on time compared with a 90.9 per cent national average. Punctuality was better than the 77.3 per cent figure for July last year, but despite a major upgrade on the line, completed in December, problems have persisted.
The Office of Rail Regulation warned NR about its performance this year. A Virgin Trains spokesman said: "We are still having problems with track, signalling and overhead lines. NR has put in actions to improve things, but the improvements have not happened yet."
An NR spokeswoman said: "Punctuality is being maintained at historically high levels and our extra investment on the West Coast main line is seeing early signs of success."
Reader views (3)
I caught a WCML train the other day. It was on time, I had a carriage to myself, and it was fast and comfortable unlike the way they used to be years ago.
My only complaint? I couldn't log onto the wi-fi in First Class....
- George, London
Was it Network Rail and not George Orwell who wrote "1984"?
"War is Peace;
Freedom is Slavery;
Ignorance is Strength;
Lateness is Punctuality."
- Simon, Cosmopolitan Brent County
I travelled on the WCML from Glasgow to London back in June... The train arrived into Glasgow 50 minutes late didn't leave for a further 30 minutes and ended up causing me to miss my connection from Paddington to Bath. I wouldn't have minded if it were during the day but I didn't even get to London until 10pm from Glasgow and ended up having to beg FGW to let me on a later train than the one I was booked on (that I had consequently missed)... I don't blame Virgin though; I blame network rail for providing a shoddy service which caused the delays to my journey. I can put up with it if I'm travelling a short distance but to have such a massive delay on a 350 mile journey isn't acceptable. Why do network rail have the monopoly anyway?
- Adam, London, UK
