MISSION CONTROL Inside Britain’s railway nerve centre
T he main news headline on August 14, 2019 was all about ‘Rail fares up again’, with the usual views expressed by rail industry defenders and protagonists.
These always include the ‘My train is always late’ mantra, but in all honesty, how often have we used a late train (whether or not it actually was) as an excuse to cover up why we are late for a meeting or appointment?
RM readers are probably aware that every 24 hours around 25,000 trains a day operate on the 20,000 miles or so of Network Rail (NR) controlled track. But are they all as late as often claimed by passengers?
Taking two days at random then…
On June 28, 2019, 23,881 franchised passenger trains operated and 19,489 (or 81.6%) were on time; 3,353 or 14% were deemed late; with just 4.3% cancelled or significantly late.
Around two weeks later, on July 15, 23,946 franchised passenger trains operated, with 19,825 (82.8%) running on time; 3,076 (12.8%) deemed late; with 1,045 (4.4%) cancelled or significantly late.
Therefore it is statistically far more unlikely that you, or any other passenger among the estimated 3.5 million passengers travelling each day, would be consistently significantly delayed.
Ever wondered how these figures are collated and who monitors them?
The author was a guest at the Network Rail National Operations Centre (NOC) in Milton Keynes on the above two days and genuinely given unfettered access to all areas and the 34 screens that monitor every track mile, signal, train, plus every railway computer system.
The NOC has two duty controllers, who work 12 hour shifts and compile The National Daily Report – a templated 26-section report issued at 06.30 detailing the previous 24-hour operating period from 02.00. Two tables at the end of this report are where the above statistics were taken from.
The two days in the NOC provided a fascinating insight and in-depth view of Britain’s passenger railway operations, ranging from the hilarious to the acutely sombre. Plus, it provided a chance to see first hand the many different reasons for delays – and not all are caused by the rail industry.
The NOC contains two
