Train punctuality figures fiddled

YOUR TRAIN IS OFFICIALLY “ON TIME”, EVEN WHEN IT IS LATE

Waiting in the cold for a train that seems to take forever, do you ever look at those “Aren’t We Punctual And Wonderful?” posters from train companies and marvel at their claims of 90%-plus punctuality or whatever. Do you ever feel it doesn’t chime with your own experience?

Would it surprise you to know that according to regulations in place since 1997, any local train that turns up five minutes late is still officially “on time” while, for long distance trains, anything up to ten minutes late is still perfectly punctual. You can’t, of course, claim money back on your season ticket if the trains are officially “on time”.

Lord Adonis, the Transport Secretary, and one of the few ministers who seems to have some grasp of his brief, thinks this ought to be tightened up.

Today, The Daily Telegraph reveals that trains don’t even have to be alongside the station platform before they are recorded to have arrived. The front carriage only has to reach the last trackside sensor before the station, which in some cases can be up to half a mile away! So your train might have “arrived”, even if you can’t see it or get on it.

OTHER ZEBU NEWS
John Sullivan, writer of Only Fools And Horses, reveals that he has to edit repeats shown on the BBC to take out offensive, racist and otherwise politicially incorrect dialogue. As Michael Deacon points out, do we expect publishers to rewrite Oliver Twist, Decline and Fall or other classics to make them less bruising to modern sensitivities? Imagine the uproar if they did.

Power 2010 is a campaign to promote healthier democracy in Britain. They have several petitions you might consider signing, including one to allow MPs caught transgressing to be sacked between elections and another calling for an expansion of the Freedom of Information Act, without which we’d never have learnt the truth about MPs’ Expenses.