R A I LT R AC K - The Railways Archive

outputs
5.1
We are planning
to deliver further
improvements of
2.5% per year in
delays per train
movement for
2001/02–2005/06
5.1 Performance and reliability
Since 1995/96, the year prior to flotation, we have
reduced the total direct delays that we cause to
o p e ra t o rs ’t rains by over 40%, despite an increase
in train movements of around 10% over this
p e ri o d .
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At the start of 1998, we embarked on a new
phase of our perfo rmance management including
rigorous new continuous improvement processes.
This approach focuses on an enhanced
u n d e rstanding of the root causes of delay, d own to
individual asset and component leve l , and the
i d e n t i fication of the critical locations and ‘ g o l d e n
a s s e t s ’where improved infra s t ructure reliability is
p a rt i c u l a rly import a n t .Such analysis allow s
p ri o ritisation of improvement projects to these
locations and assets.
O ver the past ye a r, this approach has been
bolstered by our Process for Pe r fo rm a n c e
I m p r ove m e n t ,creating accountability for delay s
across the operational management of the
c o m p a ny. Local managers are invo l ved in genera t i n g
i n i t i a t i ves to reduce delay s , and hold ‘ bu d g e t s ’o f
i m p r ovements for which they are held accountabl e.
Local Area Delive ry Groups have been establ i s h e d
as cross-functional teams with access to inve s t m e n t
funds and to a current best-practice toolkit of
t e c h n i q u e s .Across the company, m a n a g e rs seek to
wo rk closely with all of our customers and
s u p p l i e rs to ensure close co-operation on the
selection and delive ry of initiative s .
We have completed the second year of this
p e r fo rmance budgeting process, and signifi c a n t
enhancements are in place to both processes and
the supporting info rmation systems.
The success of this initiative in 1998/99 has
c o n t ri buted to an expected ove rall improve m e n t
of around 7% in the delay per train move m e n t
a t t ri bu t a ble to factors within our control.This has
b e n e fited both passenger services and freight,
although the improvement for the latter was
p a rt i c u l a rly marke d .The last year would have seen
a larger improvement in perfo rmance had it not
been one of the wo rst ye a rs for flooding in some
p a rts of the country.This has occurred despite
f a s t e r-than-expected growth in train kilometres
although this growth also caused us to fall short of
some of our track asset condition measures
forecast over the past ye a r.
More recently, we played our part in
establishing the National Performance Task Force,
which works on cross-industry initiatives with
train operators to find joint solutions to some of
the complex problems on the network. We have
taken the lead on the transfer of industry best
practice, on the identification of national delay
‘hot spots’,and in working with train operators
to build enhanced recovery plans to mitigate the
impact of major incidents.
On 15 January, we published our new
targets of a further 7.5% improvement in delays
per train movement for 1999/2000 with a further
5% reduction planned for the following year
(see Table A).
We are planning to deliver furt h e r
i m p r ovements of 2.5% per year in delays per tra i n
m ovement for the ye a rs 2001/02–2005/06.W h i l e
some of these improvements can be achieved from
p u rsuing continuous improvement in our planning
and operation of the netwo rk , these targets will
also require a significant contri bution from our
maintenance contra c t o rs .We have already set
enhanced targets for perfo rmance improvement in
the maintenance contracts recently let, and will be
discussing similar improvements with bidders fo r
c o n t racts being let over the next two ye a rs .
With some parts of the netwo rk operating at
close to full capacity, each additional tra i n
m ovement can lead to a disproport i o n a t e ly larg e
impact on delay s .The actual impact on ave ra g e
d e l ays to trains will depend on the location and
nature of this growth and our ability to put in place
additional route capacity to enhance the robu s t n e s s
of the netwo rk .
Future growth in the level of train move m e n t s
represents a significant influence on ove ra l l
p e r fo rm a n c e, and we support the principle of
enhanced train services both in terms of frequency
and reliability.
Building on our recognised success in
performance improvement, we are committed to
playing our part, working closely with industr y
partners,in delivering a high-quality railway
service for the future.
The Franchising Director has requested that
we look at the potential for an improvement of 5%
per year in delays per train movement for the
ye a rs 2001/02–2005/06. Our initial view is that we
would be prepared to commit to agreed
p e r fo rmance levels on a route-by-route basis,
although this may well require additional funding,
which we will discuss with the Franchising Director
in the coming months.