Monthly Performance Figures

Train performance

Since the beginning of our franchise we've seen a steady rise in our performance from 84% to over 91% and as a result an extra 13,000 passengers now arrive at their destination on time everyday. In 2010 our consistently improving performance helped us win an automatic extension to our franchise.

We will continue to aim for improved standards of punctuality and reliability and publish our reliability and punctuality figures for the previous four weeks and year at all staffed stations every four weeks. Our reliability commitment requires us to operate at least 99% of services. Our punctuality standards are that at least 91 out of every 100 trains (91%) will arrive at their final destination on time*.

What is PPM?

Public Performance Measure (PPM) is the performance measurement for UK railways. PPM takes into account cancellations and all causes of delays and combines figures for punctuality and reliability into a single performance measure. To achieve PPM, a train must:

• complete its full scheduled journey
• make all of its scheduled station stops
• arrive at its final destination on time or within five minutes of the time shown in our timetables: Northern services are measured against five minutes compared with long distance operators where the allowance is doubled to ten minutes.

PPM is measured:

• for every passenger train, 7 days a week; no train is excluded even if the cause of delay is outside our control
• against the public advertised timetable
• PPM monitors the performance of individual trains, the various service groups that our trains are organised into, and the network as a whole.

Performance may vary from one month to another and so we are required to report our PPM as a Moving Annual Average (MAA) which is the average calculated performance over the previous 13 periods.

Our current PPM is 91.7%

How Northern's trains have run for the 4 weeks up to 27 April 2013

Northern operated 59458 train services, 56504 of these of them were on time.*

Unfortunately things don't always go to plan. The following incidents caused significant delay and cancellation:

• 3 April - track defect - Burley in Wharfedale
• 4 April - Northern train technical defect - Ashburys
• 6 April - signalling failure - Bolton
• 8 April - points failure - Manchester Piccadilly
• 9 April - incident on level crossing - Great Coates
• 13 April - signalling failure - Liverpool Lime Street

Our overall performance this period was excellent however we suffered large amounts of delay due to the failure of Network Rail signalling equipment. Over the course of the four week period 717 of our services were delayed due to these problems with a total of 4863 minutes of delay caused and 83 trains cancelled. The largest incidents were at Bolton and Liverpool Lime Street which each caused over 1500 minutes of delay. Network Rail have plans in place to improve the reliability of these key assets.

Our Passenger's Charter figures differ slightly from the Public Performance Measure (PPM). Certain causes of delay that are outside of our control and are not included when calculating punctuality and reliability performance for compensation purposes. These include vandalism, security alerts, and exceptionally severe weather conditions where no special pre-advertised emergency timetable has been in operation. In addition Sundays are not included for the purpose of calculating punctuality and reliability performance for our Passenger's Charter.

NO Season Ticket Discounts apply between: 5 May 2013 - 1 June 2013

All our Service Groups exceed the levels required.

* The number of trains arriving within 5 or 10 minutes of the time shown in our timetables as detailed in our charter.

The quality of Northern's trains and stations for the 4 weeks up to 31 March 2013

Northern doesn't just measure its train running performance. We will also tell you the results of our Service Quality Audits which we undertake in conjunction with the Passenger Transport Executives. This is a regular measure of the standards that Northern's customers expect on trains, on stations or in ticket offices every day. This covers such things as information provision, posters and signage, interior and exterior cleanliness, announcements, information screens, washrooms and shelters. We will also tell you how many customer contacts we have received.

Previous Performance Figures

Four week period ending 31 March 2013. (165KB)

Four week period ending 2 March 2013. (165KB)

Four week period ending 2 February 2013. (165KB)

Four week period ending 5 January 2013. (165KB)

Four week period ending 8 December 2012. (165KB)

Four week period ending 10 November 2012. (165KB)

Four week period ending 13 October 2012. (165KB)

Four week period ending 15 September 2012. (165KB)

Four week period ending 18 August 2012. (161KB)

Four week period ending 21 July 2012. (160KB)

Four week period ending 23 June 2012. (170KB)

Four week period ending 26 May 2012. (170KB)

Four week period ending 28 April 2012. (222KB)

Four week period ending 31 March 2012. (211KB)

Four week period ending 3 March 2012. (1.1MB)

Four week period ending 4 February 2012. (1.1MB)

Four week period ending 7 January 2012. (1.1MB)

Four week period ending 10 December 2011. (1.2MB)

Four week period ending 12 November 2011. (1.2MB)

Download the Northern Rail Passenger's Charter PDF: