More than half of trains from Peterborough rail operators are late

The Office of Rail and Road has revealed the punctuality figures for the second quarter of the current financial year.

Its report stated that only 42.6 per cent of trains run by LNER - which operates the East Coast Main Line between Edinburgh and London, taking in Peterborough - were on time.

That figure was 48.1 per cent for CrossCountry, which operates services between Birminghan and Stansted, taking in Peterborough, Stamford, March, Ely and Cambridge.

Other rail operators which use Peterborough Station had more than half of trains running on time: Greater Anglia (68.3 per cent), Govia Thameslink Railway (71.2 per cent) and East Midlands Railway (58.4 per cent).

All five operators have improved their performance compared to the same period a year early.

A train is defined as running late if it arrives one minute past its scheduled arrival time.

Overall, 65.1 per cent of trains in Great Britain ran on time in the second quarter of 2019/20, 3.3 percentage points more than a year earlier.

A spokesperson for CrossCountry said: “We know our customers want a punctual journey and work had to deliver this every day. However, with only 10 per cent of delays to our services caused by us, it’s important we work with our industry partners to identify what causes the majority of delays to our trains and find ways to do better.”

An LNER spokesperson, said: “We recognise that it has been a challenging time for customers who have been affected by delays on our route. This has been due to various factors including extreme weather and infrastructure issues.

“We are also now well underway with the introduction of our new fleet of 65 state-of-the-art Azuma trains which will bring more reliable journeys for our customers on the East Coast route.”

The full report from the Office of Rail and Road can be read at: https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/media/1630/passenger-performance-2019-20-q2.pdf.