Great Western Coffee Shop

Chiltern gives cheer to rail commuters

Commuters from Banbury Railway Station can take some cheer as Chiltern Railways remains the UK^s top franchised rail operator for train punctuality.

According to figures released every four weeks by Network Rail, Chiltern Railways ^ which runs services from Banbury to London Marylebone and Birmingham ^ scored 85.3 per cent.

The figures cover the 365 days up to July 2014, based on the percentage of services that arrive within a minute of their scheduled time.

This compares with a national average of 65.5 per cent, placing the train operator a long way ahead of the 22 other rail providers in the UK.

Andrew Munden, operations and safety director at Chiltern Railways, said: ^We^re delighted to maintain our position at the top of the league table. Providing our passengers with a punctual service is incredibly important and this would not have been possible without the commitment, enthusiasm and hard work of our staff from across the business and our strong partnership with Network Rail.^

The relative punctuality of the London services is not matched by the performance of the First Great Western services which link Banbury to Oxford and Reading. The overall performance rate for FGW trains is just 66 per cent under the same criteria.

CrossCountry, which provides other services to Oxford and Reading and links Banbury with northern and southern destinations including Manchester and Bournemouth, performed at 87 per cent, although the latter two companies have been hit by delays and cancellations within the past month.

James Davis, media relations manager for First Great Western said delays on long distance routes over the past month have been due to ^infrastructure challenges^.

He issued a statement on behalf of the firm stating: ^We understand the frustration caused by the recent delays. Recently there have been a number of infrastructure problems with points and signals, and disappointingly we have also had some fleet issues too. Together First Great Western and Network Rail have developed a Thames Valley Performance Plan, this includes a number of joint actions including seconding of staff and in-depth reviews of recurring problems.^

Despite the positive Chiltern Railways performance on the tracks there have been some teething troubles with the renovations to Banbury station ^ one of them being reports of the new electronic ticket barriers installed at the entrance to the concourse only working for part of the time.

Jackie Ashworth posted on the Banbury Guardian Facebook page on Tuesday stating: ^Waste of time not being used.^

However Emma Gascoigne issued a statement on behalf of Chiltern Railways saying: ^Our gates at the station have now gone live after a period of testing.^