Train running performance continues to improve ….
We’re delighted to say that train running performance on our line continues to improve.
You’ll probably have read previously that way back in the “dark days” of 1999 when we went to complain about the train running on our line to the then train operator, First North Western, performance was running at about 44%. This was against a target of 90% for punctuality, and 99% for reliability, equating to a target of around 91% for the current method used, the Public Performance Measure (PPM).
After a lot of hard work by a lot of people over the years, performance started becoming acceptable 2-3 years ago. More recently it has become good.
The PPM target when Northern took over was increased to just over 92%.
Last October we got 93.79% for a 4 week period, our best ever for a period. In February this year (period 12 – the Railway runs on 13 x 4-weekly periods in a year to the end of March) we got another best ever at 94.04%. Then in period 2 this year (May), we got another best ever of 94.40% and also for the first time ever achieved a Moving Annual Average (MAA) of over 90%, getting ever closer to that 92%.
Period 3 (mainly June) achieved a lesser period figure of 93.22%, but an MAA of 90.78%, another MAA best. The main problems in period 3 were a power failure affecting the signals controlled by Greenbank Signalbox, and a unit on the 0703 from Chester, 150144, suffering from a complete loss of power between Mouldsworth and Delamere and having to be rescued by the following train. We had 4 days in a row of 100%. That is everything ran and was within 5 minutes of scheduled time for 4 whole days. Wow!
This performance is way better than we ever dreamt of even 3-4 years ago, when if we’d achieved anywhere near 85% we’d have been delighted. It’s clearly appreciated by rail users, as passenger figures continue to rise and people comment on how the trains are almost always on time.
Well done to all those involved in achieving these good results. Long may it continue, and even improve!
32 comments 
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October 9th, 2010 at 11:11 am
We’re delighted to say performance continues to improve.
For Period 5 (25/7/10 – 21/8/10) our PPM was 94.26% (our 2nd best ever) and with a Moving Annual Average (MAA) of 90.87%, another record (just!)
We’ve just had the figures for Period 6 (22/8/10 – 18/9/10). Our PPM was 94.16% (last year 91.16%), with a record MAA of 91.09%. The main problems were a points failure at Hartford East and the failure of a loco on a DB Schenker Brunner Mond freight train.
Onwards and upwards!
November 5th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
Yet another performance improvement!
The Period 7 PPM (19/9/10-16/10/10) was a record 95.88%, this leading to a record MAA of 91.48%.
Excellent.
We all know Period 8 could be difficult with “leaf fall”. Last year Period 8 bore the brunt of “leaf fall”, so fingers crossed this year will be better than last year.
November 25th, 2010 at 8:58 pm
We’ve just got the figures for Period 8 and the PPM’s dropped to 79.46%.
When we get the Period 9 figures, we’ll see whether “leaf fall” has affected us more than last year.
At least we seem to be more or less out of it now.
January 31st, 2011 at 2:06 pm
At last Friday’s Performance QIT, I was given the figures for Period 9 onwards.
Period 9 (14/11/10-11/12/10) saw a drop in performance compared to previous years, as it did just about everywhere else on the Railway due to the extended nature of leaf fall this year. The period PPM for our line was 85.96%, with the MAA down to 91.16%, a little bit down on the record hit in Period 7. Apart from “leaf fall”, the problems generating the biggest delays were a Track Circuit Failure between Mickle Trafford and Mouldsworth, and a track circuit failure at Cuddington.
Period 10 (12/12/10-8/1/11) saw a PPM of 83.94% similar to the previous year and as last year partly hit by the heavy snow. MAA was 91.16% (90.08% the year previously). The main delays this period were caused by a further track circuit failure between Mickle Trafford and Mouldsworth, and a passenger being ill on a train in Chester.
Period 11 so far – it runs up to 5 February – stands at 93.47%, well up on the previous year’s figure of 88.50%, so hopefully period 11 will see the MAA inching back up again.
One of the actions outstanding at the QIT is agreement of a revised procedure for when the signalling on the single line between Mickle Trafford and Mouldsworth fails – one of the biggest causes of delays in the last 12 months. I am told this should be agreed by all parties before the end of March. We’re pushing for this to happen sooner if possible.
Poorest runners since the timetable change on 13 December have been: -
0605 Chester-Piccadilly. The diagrams for this are being looked at again. In my view there is just not enough time in them to give resilience for the empties to arrive from Newton Heath, the crew to walk across to the unit stabled overnight, start it up, raise enough air, carry out the door test and then leave on time. Fixing this at a reasonable cost is difficult – one of the downsides of having most of the trains in the morning leaving Chester, but the traincrew coming from the other end of the line in Manchester. On the plus side, Alstom have been helping out starting up the unit(s) left in Chester overnight when it’s been below freezing.
0703 Chester-Piccadilly. This trains suffers from a host of problems, but still manages to make Piccadilly within 10 minutes of it’s scheduled time 9 days out of 10. These difficulties include:
- the conductor comes down from Piccadilly on ATW’s Airport to Llandudno service. This runs late once or twice a fortnight, so the conductor arrives late for the train
- the train is heavily loaded, especially from Northwich. This means it takes longer for passengers to get on and off (dwell time in railway speak). The timings don’t cater for this. We’re seeing if a few more minutes can be put in between Northwich and Altrincham for the next timetable change, such that it’s got a greater chance of “presenting” itself on time at Edgeley Junction, just before Stockport. Another way round is for the train to be lengthened, though given current DfT policy on extra units for Northern, this isn’t looking like happening anytime soon. At least people can get on our trains, unlike many in north and west Manchester
- the train suffers from Stockport to Piccadilly if there’s any late running around. This is a very crowded section of railway. For example, if the 1st Cardiff-Manchester is late (it seems to be once or twice a week), this delays the Crewe-Oxford Road stopper, and this in turn delays our service. Alternatively, if the 1st service from Euston is late, this delays the train from Birmingham that follows it from Stone, and this then impacts on a number of services including our 0703. Not enough track for the number of trains required. Just imagine if London trains become 4 an hour instead of 3 as some are proposing!
1709 Piccadilly-Chester. A regular late starter, either due to unit problems (the set sits on Newton Heath depot during the day and comes off “cold”) or due to congestion in the Piccadilly area – not enough track again!
1817 Piccadilly-Chester. Being towards the end of the evening peak, if the peak’s not been going too well, traincrew shortages will normally have become apparent by 1817. Congestion again.
The QIT is looking at these 4 in particular. Yet despite these difficulties above, performance is pretty good. If we can fix these 4, it might be “Merseyrail – eat your heart out” for figures like ours. We can but hope!
January 31st, 2011 at 6:08 pm
Not a good start to the week. The 1709 Piccadilly – Chester is 17 minutes down today.
January 31st, 2011 at 6:17 pm
Vandalism near Slade Lane Junction, apparently.
It left Piccadilly on time, and was 17 minutes late out of Stockport. Lots of other trains are currently similarly delayed.
February 1st, 2011 at 10:22 am
Thank you Mr Chairman for your quick reply explaining the situation on this occasion.
It is a shame that performance of Northern Rail trains on the Mid Cheshire Line is more regularly affected by factors over which they have no control. The problems between Moulsworth and Mickle Trafford being another example of this.
With Merseyrail being responsible for the trains and the track then there’s a true performance figure for the franchise. How much better would it be if the figures for Northern Rail on the Mid Cheshire Line if it was just based on train performance, reliabilibily and staff availability?
Nevertheless, when you are waiting in the rain on a cold evening all you are concerned about is the late arrival of your train home. The station is unstaffed, you don’t have a mobile phone, there are no announcements or customer information screens.
February 1st, 2011 at 10:48 am
Hi, Lord Harry!
Thanks for this. In the days of British Rail, it was just “the Railway”. Groups like the QIT are set up transcending the boundaries of train operator, infrastructure operator, etc., taking us back to “the Railway”. Actually, on the Mickle Trafford-Mouldsworth problem, a solution has been put forward to mitigate the situation when it arises, but for some reason I don’t understand Northern have to approve this. So it’s Northern we’re waiting for on this at the moment. Hopefully, not for much longer.
By the way – Merseyrail aren’t responsible for their tracks, though Merseytravel would dearly like it this way, but Network Rail won’t let go! However, Merseyrail does have very few places where it shares the track it uses with other’s trains, Chester platform 7 being one example.
February 1st, 2011 at 3:20 pm
Thank you for your previous answer and correction of my misunderstanding about Merseyrail but as you rightly point out in the old days it was just “the Railway”. To the person waiting on the platform today for a train that isn’t going to come that is still what it is today.
Day 2 and now we have a cancellation on top of yesterday’s delayed service.
The 1417 from Piccadilly to Chester and the return 1607 from Chester to Piccadilly.
Again people standing at unstaffed stations for an hour longer than they want and unless they have a mobile phone not knowing what is happening.
When are we going to have either announcements or Customer Information Screens at unstaffed stations? Which as Northwich booking office closes at 1415 includes Northwich, a major station on the line.
February 1st, 2011 at 10:50 pm
Hi!
The time to lobby for appropriate information at stations is when the franchise renewal comes up.
The Northern franchise was let on the basis of “steady state”‘, political speak for no improvements for the next 7-10 years. Despite this, thanks to Northern we’ve seen many improvements.
We need to make items like information to passengers, ticket vending machines and appropriate trains are built into the requirements for the replacement franchise.
March 6th, 2011 at 9:39 am
At last Friday’s QIT meeting we got the latest performance figures, and they’re pretty good!
Period 11 proved to be good with a figure of 91.91% and an MAA of 91.33%, nicely up from 2010′s 90.16%.
Period 12 so far is a very creditable 94.50%, creditable since we suffered a number of cancellations during “half-term” week due to what I understand were driver shortages at Piccadilly. Without that it would have been an astonishing 95%+.
The 4 bad (but not really that bad) performers are our old friends.
The 0703 from Chester and 0717 and 1709 from Piccadilly, all three of which suffer from far more passengers than there are seats on the train. “Crowding” as DfT twee-ly call it. “Overcrowded” to the rest of us. Until these trains are longer, this is likely to continue. We had a discussion about why it is on the railways that trains are supposed to get from A to B in the same time in the peaks as off peak, whereas someone like Stagecoach would never dream of expecting their 192s to get from Stockport to Manchester in the same time at 8am compared with 11am in the morning.
The other bad performer has been the 1st one up from Chester, the 0605. Since our last meeting, the empty stock diagram for this has been altered with the traincrew and a single unit coming from Longsight, rather than 3 units coming from Newton Heath. The revised plan seems to be working well so far, fingers crossed, with this train being on time into Piccadilly since mid-February. Doing it this way also makes sense, as the overnight possessions for the Manchester – Newton-le-Willows electrification cut in soon, with the effect that the empties will have to come down our line rather than go round via Warrington Bank Quay anyway.
Will we get to 95? Watch this space, Merseyrail!!
March 6th, 2011 at 10:02 am
For Northern Rail to achieve these figures is very commendable when one has to take into consideration the age and standard of carriages it has to use resulting from the biased DfT southern bias towards allocation of new carriages and hand me downs to Northern.
The Northern maintenance team work wonders to keep them in service and I am sure this has helped lead to the recent award to Northern from other train operating companies for the service provided with old carriages.
On the overcrowding issue, I read somewhere recently that in Belgium a train is deemed as overcrowded if just one person cannot get a seat. If anybody knows different I would be interested to know.
April 1st, 2011 at 9:57 am
Period 12 figures (6 February – 5 March) are now to hand, and we’re still improving!
Period 12 PPM = 94.36% vs 94.09% last year.
Period 12 MAA = 91.57% vs 90.40% last year when we had serious snow disruption.
In recent weeks there’s been a bit of disruption following weekend relaying of points at Mickle Trafford Junction near Chester, now completed. Hopefully, this won’t affect period 13′s figures too much.
April 30th, 2011 at 8:40 am
The last QIT yesterday was cancelled due to the Royal Wedding. However, we do have the figures for Period 13, these being the final figures for the year 2010/11.
PPM for Period 13 was 92.12%. This compares to 94.36% for P12 and 92.58% for P13 last year.
The MAA for P13 is 91.35%. This compares to 90.32% for P13 last year.
Thus the Moving Annual Average for the whole of the year has moved up just over 1 percentage point on 2009/10. This is very good.
However, you’ll have noticed performance in Period 13 slipped a little when compared to last year and also when compared to Period 12.
We’ve also had quite a number of disruptions on the line in April (Period 1, 2011/12), almost all infrastructure-related and therefore in Network Rail’s area.
Overall, I get the feeling things are slipping a little from Network Rail’s perspective and have said so. It’s often the way that achieving improvements requires effort, but then maintaining them requires a different style of focus.
The next QIT meeting is on 27 May.
August 5th, 2011 at 1:11 pm
As feared, performance has continued to slip since February, though to put it in context it’s still pretty good compared to a few years ago.
Period 2 (1-28 May) 92.32%
Period 3 (29 May – 25 June) 91.91% (2010 – 93.04%)
Period 4 (26 June – 23 July) 90.60% (2010 – 93.13%).
An analysis of the figures shows that although there were a number of large hits (in Period 4 this was a possession overrun on the Northenden single line section, and also continuing power supply problems in relation to Greenbank signalbox), there are a surprising number of trains that are coming in at 5, 6 or 7 minutes late. Although passengers tend not to notice these, they contribute to the falling percentages.
We’re about halfway through Period 5 and as of today the figure stands at 93.84% with 6 cancellations.
We’ve decided to change the way the performance QIT runs, so that a few of us can focus on these smaller items, look for a pattern and then work to improving them. We already know it’s not particular trains that are a problem every day. We’ve sorted these.
This process is to start in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully, we’ll start seeing improving results from now on.
November 11th, 2011 at 1:55 pm
Sadly, performance has continued to slip. An analysis of figures shows this to be primarily due to continuing infrastructure failures as well as to driver shortages at Northern Rail.
Since Period 4 (above), the figures are: -
Period 5 (24 July – 20 August) 92.32% – Moving Annual Average (MAA) of 90.58%
Period 6 (21 August – 17 September) 86.56% – MAA 89.99%
Period 7 (18 September – 15 October) 90.04% – MAA 89.56%
It’s very disappointing to see the MAA dipping below 90%. Back in Period 12 last February it was 91.57%, meaning performance has slipped 2 percentage points since then.
The problems with driver shortages are likely to continue for some time. It takes at least 12 months to train a driver, though Northern are working to mitigate the problem by training more of their current drivers over our line thereby providing a larger available pool for us.
Infrastructure problems seem to continue at a high rate. Only in this week we’ve had a serious signalling outage for over 2 hours at Mouldsworth on Monday morning, and then signalling problems yesterday morning in the Plumley area.
The QIT will be meeting shortly to discuss this.
December 8th, 2011 at 2:24 pm
We’ve seen a slight improvement in Period 8 (16 October – 12 November).
PPM (Pubic Performance Measure) – 85.45%
MAA (Moving Annual Average) – 90.01%
Just scaped back above the 90% mark!
Northern’s main contributors were Piccadilly driver shortages as noted before, together with unit failures, all bar one of which were with class 150s, the other being a class 142. The class 142 fleet is certainly getting much more reliable since Northern formed a discrete team to maintain them at Newton Heath.
Network Rail’s main problems apart from leaf fall have been signalling and power supply related in the Greenbank area. A new uninterruptable power supply (UPS) is shortly to be commissioned which is expected to greatly improve matters.
December 8th, 2011 at 4:12 pm
I understand that Northern have not had a rest day working agreement with their drivers for the last three years.
December 20th, 2011 at 4:38 pm
We now have Period 9 (13 November – 10 December) figures and things have slipped a little taking us below the 90% Moving Annual Average mark.
PPM – 79.92% (last year 85.96%)
MAA – 89.52%. (well down on last year’s 91.16%)
Since then, we’ve had quite a poor start to Period 10 with “leaf fall” going on a bit later than usual due to the mild wet autumn and with continuing traincrew shortages, together with another points failure in the Greenbank area, though this time caused by points jammed up with snow and ice.
I’ve an update meeting later this week to hear of moves to improve on the above.
January 3rd, 2012 at 11:30 am
I’ve had an update meeting with Northern. This mainly covered traincrew shortages, which is one of the two main elements of their responsibilty giving rise to the poorer performance figures.
They are starting training 8 new drivers for Piccadilly. It will take around a year assuming all goes according to plan before they qualify to drive unsupervised.
In the meantime at Piccadilly they are training more of their current drivers and conductors on the Mid Cheshire line, and also training more Buxton conductors. The intention behind this is that in times of disruption there will be more traincrew with knowledge of our line to pull from to cover for traincrew non-availability. Victoria are also doing the same adding to the number of their drivers who sign our line. Those of you who’ve seen trains recently with more than one person in the cab, these are most likely to have been Piccadilly or Victoria drivers route learning.
I have provided those involved with a list of the most heavily-loaded trains on our line, something not necessarily apparent at Piccadilly, as our trains are busiest between Knutsford and Altrincham, and also between Greenbank and Knutsford, and Altrincham and Stockport. They intend to do their best to avoid traincrew shortages affecting these busy trains.
January 17th, 2012 at 10:29 am
What’s going wrong with the 09:17 Manchester to Chester service? Today it’s currently running 28 minutes late and it seems to have been delayed for at least 20 minutes on quite a few occasions recently.
January 17th, 2012 at 10:40 am
I’ve been wondering the same.
Yesterday, there were a number of unit failures that led to services being “stepped up”, both the units themselves and the drivers.
Today, there was a problem between Stockport and Piccadilly around 0830 that has led to some serious late running, with services waiting for traincrew to arrive off delayed trains and delayed PNBs (Physical Needs Breaks).
Our next detailed analysis performance meeting is on 25 January when we’ll be looking into this in more detail.
January 18th, 2012 at 8:10 am
I believe the problem was caused between Guide Bridge and Ashburys when a class 323 electric brought the overhead wires down. A TPE class 185 then drove into the wires and suffered damage to the cab.
I suspect the delays last night were due to the knock-on effect of this incident.
February 2nd, 2012 at 5:14 pm
Period 10 figures (11 December – 7 January) have come out at:
PPM – 84.52%
MAA – 89.53%.
The MAA is 0.01% up on the previous period, so at least the decline since Period 12 last year (February 2011) appears to have been arrested.
For Periods 9 & 10 “Railhead Conditions” delays appear to be around the same as last year. This year started a bit later and ended a bit later.
In Period 9, apart from Railhead Conditions, Network Rail and Northern took a similar share of the incidents.
Most of Network Rail’s related to signalling problems in the Greenbank and Plumley areas. We’re told the Uninterruptable Power Supply promised to cover this is being installed in the 2nd week of February, so these figures should improve markedly. The other main issue they had was cows on the line at Cuddington.
Northern’s three main problems were reasonably evenly split between driver shortages, conductor shortages and unit failures. I covered the first 2 of these in my comment of 3 January, and indeed this has been much better recently. Unit failures were over a third of the problems in Period 9.
For Period 10, again removing Railhead Conditions, Network Rail took around one third of the delays, with Northern two-thirds.
Network Rail’s main problem was again with the power supply at Greenbank and Hartford, hopefully shortly to be fixed.
For Northern, unit failures contributed to almost half of their problems.
As I mentioned elsewhere, I was invited to visit Newton Heath when I presented at Northern’s Engineering Conferences in York last September/October. I’ve now accepted this invitation and will be accompanied by some MCRUA Committee Members. We’ll certainly be discussing unit failures.
February 2nd, 2012 at 5:24 pm
…..until today with more signalling problems again, this time between Stockport and Altrincham, and trains running half an hour late this morning according to the Network Rail website. Couple this with previous comments in the last month and the next Period reporting is not looking good.
February 2nd, 2012 at 5:27 pm
Your right, Lord Harry. Until today, Period 11 was looking good for Network Rail, but the direction lever for the Northenden single line jammed again this morning causing this disruption through until around lunchtime.
Shame.
I’ve asked whether the single line equipment is appropriate, given this is a further repeat failure.
February 2nd, 2012 at 7:12 pm
…and tonight. The 1817 left Piccadilly 3 minutes late and is expected to be 17 minutes late at Greenbank. This time due to a passenger being taken ill. It looks like it was between Stockport and Navigation Road. Could it be they are sick of the service being provided after this morning’s disasters on the same stretch of line?
February 2nd, 2012 at 11:14 pm
I hear it was a passenger taken ill with the service waiting at Navigation Road for 33 minutes awaiting an ambulance and for paramedic attention.
February 5th, 2012 at 1:39 pm
Surely it would have been better for the train to have gone on to Altrincham and for the passenger to have been left in the care of the member of staff on platform 4, thereby allowing the train to get on its way?
February 6th, 2012 at 9:44 am
I don’t know on the circumstances of the passenger illness but it is recommended in some cases that the ill/injured person is not moved, except by ambulance staff, unless they are in immediate danger. However, in others it would be better for them to be moved off the train and get some fresh air. As Altrincham station is closer to the nearest hospital than Navigation Road I wouldn’t have seen the issue with the train continuing to Altrincham to meet an ambulance there but maybe the train crew didn’t have local knowledge.
February 6th, 2012 at 10:37 am
I agree that we don’t know the full facts but perhaps the most disappointing issue is that it took 33 minutes for an ambulance/paramedic to arrive (although that time may well include treatment being given on the train).
February 6th, 2012 at 2:33 pm
Knowing Navigation Road crossings it could have taken that long for them to open!!