Travelling Tales: why new train data could cut passenger flexibility

Damien Henderson

Wednesday 31 October 2012

It is known in the rail industry as the "come on down" phenomenon.

Best viewed during the evening rush-hour, it features dozens of passengers scrambling down station steps towards the platform, frantically flailing their arms around in the hope of persuading the driver to hang on a few seconds while they get on the train.

It's not particularly dignified but perhaps better than watching the doors slide shut and the train depart without you. So there is an understandable worry among train timetable planners that the Scottish Government may have inadvertently consigned this particular game show to history. The source of that fear is "right time" punctuality statistics which show the proportion of trains that arrive more than a minute past their scheduled time. At the moment ScotRail, along with other UK train operators, publishes figures showing the proportion of trains that are more than five minutes late for short journeys, or more than 10 minutes late for long-distance services. And on this count it does quite well, with only 6% trains officially delayed during the latest count, in the four weeks to October 13. But passenger groups and politicians have long complained that these statistics do not reflect the shorter delays that often beset people's journeys, leaving a frustrating and false impression that a train is on time when it is not. In response, Transport Minister Keith Brown has promised to make publication of right time punctuality figures routine from 2014 when the currently ScotRail franchise contract operated by First Group expires. Although these are collected and viewed by people within the railway industry, the public has not yet been allowed a look-in. A flavour of what this will bring emerged this week when right time figures covering April to September were given to The Herald by government agency Transport Scotland following a Freedom of Information request. These show that around a third of ScotRail trains arrive more than a minute past their scheduled time – indicating that a far higher proportion of services are slightly delayed than official statistics suggest. Officially, publication of these figures from 2014 shouldn’t affect performance, which will still be judged on the 5/10 minute delay criteria. So a six-minute delay (on a short distance service) could still lead to a fine levied on ScotRail, but a three-minute delay would not. But the worry is that once these figures are made public the next operator of the ScotRail franchise will come under immense pressure to cut the number of minor delays, regardless of whether they are caused by technical problems or passengers’ needs. Examples being touted this week include wheelchair users, who require a slightly longer boarding time stations while a ramp is put in position, or passengers who are running late because a connecting service has been delayed. Of course, these fears may prove groundless. But without the one or two-minute flexibility at the platform that currently exists, there could be a lot more train doors slammed shut on passengers' faces.

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Travelling Tales: why new train data could cut passenger flexibility

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