HC Deb 06 March 2002 vol 381 c379W
Mr. Don Foster

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions for what reason(a) his Department and (b) the Strategic Rail Authority do not (i) hold centrally, (ii) collate, (iii) make publicly available and (iv) place in the Library the monthly figures on the punctuality of train operating companies as published at mainline stations. [40272]

Mr. Jamieson

The punctuality of the train operating companies and the rail network is measured using the Public Performance Measure (PPM). PPM data are published quarterly by the SRA, are placed in the Library and on the SRA website. The next publication on 18 March will include information on individual train operating companies. The information on train punctuality and reliability published by train operating companies at mainline stations is Passenger Charter data.

PPM replaced the Passenger's Charter as the means of measuring passenger train performance in June 2000 to provide better information on the actual performance of Britain's passenger rail. It combines figures for punctuality and reliability into a single performance measure. It covers all scheduled services, seven days a week. It measures the performance of individual trains against their planned timetable.

Passenger Charter forms the basis of season ticket refunds. It only covers some trains, broadly defined as weekday am and pm peak services in the south-east and all day Monday to Saturday elsewhere. There are some variations between train operating companies.