PASSENGERS on the west coast main line have suffered the worst delays on the rail network this year, triggering a major increase in complaints.
Nearly one in four Virgin Trains services which use the Glasgow-London route were late in the first three months of this year, and one in five in the year to March.
The poor performance was caused by disruption from the £9 billion upgrade of the
line and bad weather, forcing Network Rail to agree an additional £50 million recovery plan with rail regulators.
Virgin Trains saw its punctuality slump by nearly 9 per cent to 76.4 per cent between January and March compared to a year ago – significantly below a network average of 90.3 per cent.
Annual performance was also down by almost 3 per cent to 80 per cent, figures published yesterday by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) showed.
Virgin said it had encouraged passengers to complain by handing out claim forms during disruption. This contributed to complaints increasing by nearly one quarter between January and March, to 559 per 100,000 passenger journeys – the highest in Britain. The rate also leapt by more than half to 548 in the year to March, compared with the previous year.
Passenger groups will meet Network Rail chiefs today to discuss its improvement plans.
Julie Warburton, a manager with Passenger Focus, the official watchdog, said: "Passengers don't want to play a game of chance when they get on a train as to whether it will arrive on time. Network Rail and train operators must continue to focus on this problematic route to restore passenger faith."
Last month, the ORR rebuked Network Rail for ignoring its call for six-figure bonuses for several senior executives to be slashed after the firm caused "substantial additional disruption" during the final stages of the west coast route upgrade.
Virgin said it had been concerned about the line for a long time, and its approach to the ORR had led to Network Rail's recovery plan, which it would closely monitor.
A Virgin spokesman said: "We actively encouraged passengers to write in to complain by handing out forms on trains. The high figure reflects us being proactive."
He said written responses to passengers included an explanation of the cause of delays, which was also announced on trains during disruption.
The firm is repaid by Network Rail for the extra cost of delays caused by the track firm, such as refunds to passengers, additional staff and replacement buses.
The line, which includes loops to Manchester and Birmingham, is one of Europe's busiest, with sections being used by other cross-Border operators such as Cross Country, TransPennine Express and ScotRail's overnight sleeper trains.
A Network Rail spokesman said: "We accept that particular focus is needed to improve performance for Virgin Trains, where only four out of five services arrive on time.
"Working together with all the train operators on the west coast route we have embarked upon a £50m package of improvements aimed at raising train punctuality to acceptable levels."
ScotRail's punctuality for January-March dipped by nearly 1 per cent to 89.6 per cent because of bad weather and New Year signalling problems in Glasgow.
National Express East Coast, which last week signalled it would abandon the franchise this year because of losses, saw performance improve by 5 per cent to 88.6 per cent.
The full article contains 574 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
