Greater Anglia achieves new rail punctuality records and develops plans to maintain very good performance

November 2, 2021

Even more trains are running on time as Greater Anglia continues to achieve record-breaking annual punctuality results – and the company is committed to keeping it up with new plans to maintain and further improve performance.

Average annual punctuality for the whole of the Greater Anglia network is now at 94.57 per cent.

Punctuality on Greater Anglia’s intercity services between Norwich, Ipswich, Colchester and London have reached an all-time high of 94.2 per cent 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 per cent, with 94.8 per cent 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 per cent 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 per of trains on time throughout the year; Norwich to Sheringham at 97.5 per cent, Norwich to Lowestoft, 97.4 per cent; Marks Tey to Sudbury, 97.2 per cent and Norwich to Cambridge 95.9 per cent.

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

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.

The Public Performance Measure (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.