UK: Network Rail has agreed to produce a plan by December 20 2024 setting out it will work with the wider industry to improve punctuality and reliability for passenger and freight trains across its Eastern region.
This comes at the request of the Office of Rail & Road, which said delays in the region attributed to the infrastructure manager have risen significantly. The number of incidents has grown from 2·4 million to 3·3 million min/year over the past two years, with further worsening forecast.
The East Coast Main Line has seen increased delays from incidents, while the East Midlands route has seen an abrupt decrease in the number of trains arriving on time. The Anglia route generally runs well, but London Overground and freight trains using the North London Line have seen performance decline sharply.
ORR has advised Network Rail to review the approach taken by the Wales & Western region, which developed a comprehensive improvement plan earlier this year following an investigation by ORR.
‘We recognise the significant ongoing work of Network Rail to address this and the complex challenges they face in parts of the Eastern region, but it is clear that a fresh approach is required to fix the issues’, said ORR Director of Strategy, Policy & Reform Stephanie Tobyn on October 25.
‘As with the Wales & Western region, we want to see Network Rail integrate passenger and freight operators into the process to effectively address issues that deliver sustained improvements in punctuality and reliability.’
