Written question asked by Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party) on Monday, 21 November 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 24 November 2005. It was answered by Shaun Woodward (Labour) on Thursday, 24 November 2005 on behalf of the Northern Ireland Office.

Railways

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many passenger train journeys in Northern Ireland arrived on time in (a) 1999 and (b) 2004.

Answer: Northern Ireland Railways does not record the number of train journeys arriving exactly on time except for the Bangor, Portadown and Larne lines where performance in 2004 was 19 per cent. The information was not collected in 1999.However, there are additional Passenger Charter Standards against which Northern Ireland Railways measures train punctuality. For the Bangor, Portadown and Lame lines the standard is arrival within five minutes of planned destination arrival time. In 2004 88 per cent. of train journeys met this standard. In 1999 the figure was 86 per cent.For the Dublin, Londonderry and Portrush lines the standard is arrival within 10 minutes of the planned destination arrival time. In 2004 94 per cent. of train journeys met this standard and in 1999 this figure was 95 per cent.

Secondary information