Virgin trains come first – for poor punctuality

VIRGIN trains have the worst punctuality of all British rail operators, according to a new survey. Virgin's punctuality figure slipped from 86.2 per cent in 2007-8 to 80 per cent in 2008-9. However, the company blamed the delays on Network Rail and continued problems with the west coast main line.

The figures, released by Network Rail, revealed that annual train punctuality has reached the 90 per cent mark for the first time since records began in 1992. A total of 90.6 per cent of trains ran on time in the 12 months ending in March, while the figure for April was a monthly record of 93.5 per cent.

Two companies, Virgin Trains and London Midland, did significantly worse in 2008-9 than in 2007-8 because of the disruption caused by the £9 billion upgrade of the west coast main line, which was completed last December.

A Virgin Trains spokesman said: "Our customers will be far from satisfied with these figures – and nor are Virgin Trains. After £9bn was spent, customers have every right to expect performance to be at least as good as the rest of the country.

"Sadly, it proves that many of our past concerns about NR were correct."