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How to make trains run on time
• YOU report North London line passengers complaining that punctuality is worse than ever since the Hampstead tunnel reopened last month (Punctuality goes off the rails, November 27).
That is a fraction of the story.
I’ve kept the old timetables.
In 1986 it took 49 minutes from Richmond to Stratford via Camden.
In 1997, presumably to meet new Labour punctuality targets, it was stretched to 52 minutes – so if the train was three minutes late it was recorded as punctual. By 2004 the time had been extended to 60 minutes.
Now in the new December 2008 timetable it takes 62 to 64 minutes. An average speed of 17mph.
When engineering works massively over-ran on main lines and a high-speed Virgin train crashed at defective points at Grayrigg, Network Rail’s directors at the Euston HQ fell back to justifying their vast 2008 bonuses on having improved punctuality.
You can see how they’ve done it.
Local and many main line trains all over Britain have had their times quietly extended year by year.
If you increase journey time, trains are on time when they are late.
North London trains on the new timetable can be 14 minutes late on every trip at Stratford by the 1986 timings and still be on time to give the bosses at Euston their mega bonuses. Clever isn’t it.
SIMON NEAVE and
BILL OHM, NW1 |
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