Harpenden 2018 train statistics

James Gardner made this Environmental Information Regulations request to Govia Thameslink Railway Limited
You only have a right in law to access information about the environment from this authority
This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

The request was successful.

Dear Govia Thameslink Railway Limited,

Please provide the below statistics for trains to/from Harpenden and London under the three (or more if I have understated) timetables which were in existence during 2018. I believe this would be 1 January - 19 May, 20 May - 3 June and 4 June to 31 December.

- The number of trains scheduled to run each day under the timetables
- The number of trains which actually ran under these timetables
- The percentage of trains under each timetable which arrived on time under the previous and forthcoming more stringent basis of assessment for timeliness (together with an explanation of the difference)
- The percentage of trains which were cancelled under each of the timetables

I understand that the Freedom of Information Act does not apply to Govia Thameslink Railway Limited, though there is a right to request information under a different law which covers a wide spectrum of information. I believe the above could fall under this due to the effect of the trains on the wellbeing of the passengers e.g. noise, emissions, mental well-being due to delays and cancellations etc.

Yours faithfully,

Mr James Gardner

Dear Sir/Madam

We appreciate you taking the time to contact us. 

Please accept this acknowledgement as confirmation that we have received
your query. We have received a large number of enquiries as a result of
the national power outage which occurred on August 9th and so you may
experience a delay in receiving a response. We thank our customers for
their patience.

There is no need to chase us for a reply as we will get back to you as
soon as we can and our aim is to provide a full response within 20 working
days. Please do not reply to this email.

You may also refer to our FAQs
at https://www.southernrailway.com/help-and...

Kind regards

Southern Customer Relations

GTR Customer Services, Govia Thameslink Railway Limited

Dear Mr. Gardner

I am contacting you regarding your train performance request.

Honesty and transparency are two of our core values and that's why we've
recently enhanced our performance data. We now provide a further breakdown
of our Public Performance Measure (PPM) into service routes. The data
provided on our website and on posters at stations now includes specific
data for each route as well as Right Time information (the percentage of
planned train services that arrived at final destination on time) data for
specific stations. All of our published performance data can be found on
our website:

www.thameslinkrailway.com/about-us/perfo...
[1]https://www.greatnorthernrail.com/about-...

In addition to this information in the public domain can be found in the
following links:

https://www.mytrainjourney.co.uk/

 
and

[2]https://orr.gov.uk/rail

Thank you for taking the time to contact us.

  

Kind regards,

 

Jackie

Complex Cases Team

 

References

Visible links
1. https://www.greatnorthernrail.com/about-...
2. https://orr.gov.uk/rail

Dear GTR Customer Services,

Your response does not sufficiently answer any of the questions I asked of you. None of the links or data shows any information for Harpenden. The closest any of the sources comes which I could find is the period performance link you sent me which shows "period" performance for St Albans and includes 12 periods ending 20 July 2019 i.e. this is neither for the correct period nor the correct station. As Harpenden station services have been decimated by the timetable changes which were not appropriately consulted beforehand, I am seeking to gain data as to the impact of those changes, both proposed and actual service levels relative to the pre-20 May 2018 timetable change. Therefore I reiterate my request for the HARPENDEN data statistics for JANUARY 1 2018 - DECEMBER 31 2018. I would like to have the performance statistics for the separate periods of different timetables and I would like to understand the number of scheduled services under each timetable i.e. if 1 Jan 2018 - 30 June 2018 had 100 services scheduled to run p/day and it ran a 90% to time service + 1 July - 31 December 2018 it had 60 services scheduled to run p/day and ran 50% to time then I might reasonably be able to state that since the time of my purchase of the annual season ticket, the service provided compared to the service levels expected was 50% (half the year in the above example) of 90% and 50% of 60% (60/100 services due to the cuts made without due consultation) = 75%.

I believe there may have been three timetables to split the data 1 January - 19 May, 20 May - 3 June and 4 June to 31 December.

Your systems must be capable of recording such information and it must be retained for a number of years under relevant local laws I would expect. Please therefore extract the data or reports requested and provide this to me. If you are unable to do this, please explain the limitations of your systems and data recorded and provide the closest approximation with relevant reasoning for the choice.

I understand that the Freedom of Information Act does not apply to Govia Thameslink Railway Limited, though there is a right to request information under a different law which covers a wide spectrum of information. I believe the above could fall under this due to the effect of the trains on the wellbeing of the passengers e.g. noise, emissions, mental well-being due to delays and cancellations etc.

Yours faithfully,

Mr James Gardner

GTR Customer Services, Govia Thameslink Railway Limited

Dear Sir/Madam,

We appreciate you taking the time to contact us. 

Please accept this acknowledgement as confirmation that we have received
your query. We have received a large number of enquiries as a result of
the national power outage which occurred on August 9th and so you may
experience a delay in receiving a response. We thank our customers for
their patience.  

There is no need to chase us for a reply as we will get back to you as
soon as we can and our aim is to provide a full response within 20 working
days. Please do not reply to this email.

If your query is regarding a Great Northern service, You may wish to refer
to our FAQs at www.greatnorthernrail.com/help-and-suppo...

If your query is regarding a Thameslink service, You may wish to refer to
our FAQs at
https://www.thameslinkrailway.com/help-a...
 
If your query is regarding a Gatwick Express service, you may wish to
refer to our FAQs at
https://www.gatwickexpress.com/help-and-...

If your query is regarding a Southern service, you may wish to refer to
our FAQs at
https://www.southernrailway.com/help-and...

Kind regards,

GTR Customer Relations

Dear GTR Customer Services,

I understand that you should have ordinarily responded to my initial request for information by 1 October 2019. The information you provided was not what had been requested and therefore I reminded you of this in a follow-up message. I have still not received a response with the details requested as at 2 October 2019. Please respond at your earliest convenience with the details previously requested.

Yours sincerely,

James Gardner

GTR Customer Services, Govia Thameslink Railway Limited

Dear Sir/Madam,

We appreciate you taking the time to contact us. 

Please accept this acknowledgement as confirmation that we have received
your query. We have received a large number of enquiries as a result of
the national power outage which occurred on August 9th and so you may
experience a delay in receiving a response. We thank our customers for
their patience.  

There is no need to chase us for a reply as we will get back to you as
soon as we can and our aim is to provide a full response within 20 working
days. Please do not reply to this email.

If your query is regarding a Great Northern service, You may wish to refer
to our FAQs at www.greatnorthernrail.com/help-and-suppo...

If your query is regarding a Thameslink service, You may wish to refer to
our FAQs at
https://www.thameslinkrailway.com/help-a...
 
If your query is regarding a Gatwick Express service, you may wish to
refer to our FAQs at
https://www.gatwickexpress.com/help-and-...

If your query is regarding a Southern service, you may wish to refer to
our FAQs at
https://www.southernrailway.com/help-and...

Kind regards,

GTR Customer Relations

GTR Customer Services, Govia Thameslink Railway Limited

Dear Mr Gardener, 

Thanks for getting in touch regarding your request for performance data.
Please accept mu apologies for the delay in this response.

Due to the nature of your complaint I have referred your comments to the
relevant department for review. As soon as more information is available
you will be contacted.

I appreciate your taking the time to bring this to our attention.
 
 
Kind regards, 
 
Marcus E
Customer Relations Advisor

 

 

GTR Customer Services, Govia Thameslink Railway Limited

#!#library

Dear GTR Customer Services,

I have today received an automatic email notifying me that your response is long overdue. Please give this your attention and respond.

Yours sincerely,

James Gardner

GTR Customer Services, Govia Thameslink Railway Limited

Dear Sir/Madam,

We appreciate you taking the time to contact us. 

Please accept this acknowledgement as confirmation that we have received
your query. There is no need to chase us for a reply as we will get back
to you as soon as we can and our aim is to provide a full response within
10 working days. Please do not reply to this email.

If your query is regarding a Great Northern service, You may wish to refer
to our FAQs at www.greatnorthernrail.com/help-and-suppo...

If your query is regarding a Thameslink service, You may wish to refer to
our FAQs at
https://www.thameslinkrailway.com/help-a...
 
If your query is regarding a Gatwick Express service, you may wish to
refer to our FAQs at
https://www.gatwickexpress.com/help-and-...

If your query is regarding a Southern service, you may wish to refer to
our FAQs at
https://www.southernrailway.com/help-and...

Kind regards,

GTR Customer Relations

Dear GTR Customer Services,

On the 6th October you referred my request to the "relevant department". My actual request was initiated in September. While your train service to my town has been vastly reduced and that which is provided is often late or cancelled, your inability to deliver on your promise to supply information which should be readily available from your own systems in over 3 months is approaching farcical. Kindly do me the courtesy of providing the details requested in a timely manner to this updated message. Failing to do so, I will contact the three individuals representing the main political parties in my area, Hitchin and Harpenden, and request they use your lack of response as further ammunition to strip you of the franchise...something which the local MP, Bim Afolami, has already called for. I should not have to continue to chase for this data and waste more of my time, something that you continue to strip me of on a daily basis via your ineptitude to provide the service I and my fellow commuters pay for.

Yours sincerely,

James Gardner

GTR Customer Services, Govia Thameslink Railway Limited

Dear Sir/Madam,

We appreciate you taking the time to contact us. 

Please accept this acknowledgement as confirmation that we have received
your query. There is no need to chase us for a reply as we will get back
to you as soon as we can and our aim is to provide a full response within
10 working days. Please do not reply to this email.

If your query is regarding a Great Northern service, You may wish to refer
to our FAQs at
[1]www.greatnorthernrail.com/help-and-support/contact-us/faq 

If your query is regarding a Thameslink service, You may wish to refer to
our FAQs at [2]https://www.thameslinkrailway.com/help-a...
 
If your query is regarding a Gatwick Express service, you may wish to
refer to our FAQs
at [3]https://www.gatwickexpress.com/help-and-...

If your query is regarding a Southern service, you may wish to refer to
our FAQs
at [4]https://www.southernrailway.com/help-and...

Kind regards,

GTR Customer Relations

References

Visible links
1. http://www.greatnorthernrail.com/help-an...
2. https://www.thameslinkrailway.com/help-a...
3. https://www.gatwickexpress.com/help-and-...
4. https://www.southernrailway.com/help-and...

Dear Govia Thameslink Railway Limited,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Govia Thameslink Railway Limited's handling of my FOI request 'Harpenden 2018 train statistics'.

I initiated my request in September 2019 and on the trail of interactions, they passed the details to the relevant department to respond on 6th October 2019. It is now over 3 months since then and no information has been forthcoming. I am certain the data exists and is readily extractable from their systems. It is fairly recent historic data and I feel they are stalling and hoping the issue will be forgotten. Their handling of the request has been as bad as their handling of the franchise. This needs to be rectified and the data requested provided in a timely manner.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/h...

Yours faithfully,

James Gardner

Dear Sir/Madam

We appreciate you taking the time to contact us.

Please accept this acknowledgement as confirmation that we have received
your query, there is no need to chase us for a reply as we will get back
to you as soon as we can and our aim is to provide a full response within
10 working days. Please do not reply to this email.

You may also refer to our FAQs at
[1]https://www.southernrailway.com/help-and...

Kind regards

References

Visible links
1. https://www.southernrailway.com/help-and...

David Rankin, Govia Thameslink Railway Limited

Dear Mr Gardner
I wrote to you in the email below on the 8 October 2019 and resent this
correspondence as a letter on 15 November 2019. Whilst the main thrust of
the correspondence relates to your claim for a S75(2) CCA indemnity,
you’ll note that I have also included a response to your request for train
performance statistics.
Nevertheless, I note that you have continued to contact our customer
services team insinuating that we have failed to respond. For clarity,
although we appreciate that the reason for your request may be valid, and
the data may be available, you should understand that collating train
performance data in a specific format is extremely time consuming and
we’re not resourced or indeed, as you note, obliged to run specific
reports when requested to do so by customers.
 
We do fulfil our obligations to publish data and consequently specific
train performance statistics are publicly accessible through independent
resources such as www.recenttraintimes.co.uk www.mytrainjourney.co.uk or
www.raildar.co.uk should you wish to view them.
I’m sorry to disappoint you, but if you’re not satisfied with the way
we’ve answered your complaint you have the right to take your concerns to
the Rail Ombudsman. The Rail Ombudsman service is independent and free. If
you contact them please make sure that you tell them that you have this
letter, known as a Deadlock Letter, to show that you have completed the
complaints process with us.
The Ombudsman will investigate your complaint and make a decision based on
the information given to them. If you agree with the Ombudsman’s decision
we have to do what they say. This could be making an apology, explaining
what went wrong, correcting the problem, or giving you a financial award.
If your complaint is about the way our service has been designed, rail
industry policy, or if your complaint relates to an event that took place
before the Rail Ombudsman service was established, the Ombudsman will
review it and then put it in the hands of Transport Focus or London
TravelWatch who may progress it on your behalf. These organisations are
passenger watchdogs that work with the rail industry, government and
others. You can contact the Rail Ombudsman via the methods below:
Website: (including online chat): www.railombudsman.org
Telephone:          0330 094 0362
Textphone:          0330 094 0363
Email:                  [email address]
Twitter:                @RailOmbudsman
Post:                    FREEPOST – RAIL OMBUDSMAN
Kind regards
David Rankin
HQ Customer Relations
Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR)
Email: [email address]

Govia Thameslink Railway Limited

Registered in England and Wales No. 07934306.

Registered office: 3rd Floor, 41-51 Grey Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1
6EE

Head office: 1st & 2nd Floor, Monument Place, 24 Monument St, London EC3R
8AJ

This email is sent subject to our email disclaimer which can be
accessed [1]here

show quoted sections

David Rankin, Govia Thameslink Railway Limited

Dear Mr Gardner
I wrote to you in the email below on the 8 October 2019 and resent this
correspondence as a letter on 15 November 2019. Whilst the main thrust of
the correspondence relates to your claim for a S75(2) CCA indemnity,
you’ll note that I have also included a response to your request for train
performance statistics.
Nevertheless, I note that you have continued to contact our customer
services team insinuating that we have failed to respond. For clarity,
although we appreciate that the reason for your request may be valid, and
the data may be available, you should understand that collating train
performance data in a specific format is extremely time consuming and
we’re not resourced or indeed, as you note, obliged to run specific
reports when requested to do so by customers.
 
We do fulfil our obligations to publish data and consequently specific
train performance statistics are publicly accessible through independent
resources such as www.recenttraintimes.co.uk www.mytrainjourney.co.uk or
www.raildar.co.uk should you wish to view them.
I’m sorry to disappoint you, but if you’re not satisfied with the way
we’ve answered your complaint you have the right to take your concerns to
the Rail Ombudsman. The Rail Ombudsman service is independent and free. If
you contact them please make sure that you tell them that you have this
letter, known as a Deadlock Letter, to show that you have completed the
complaints process with us.
The Ombudsman will investigate your complaint and make a decision based on
the information given to them. If you agree with the Ombudsman’s decision
we have to do what they say. This could be making an apology, explaining
what went wrong, correcting the problem, or giving you a financial award.
If your complaint is about the way our service has been designed, rail
industry policy, or if your complaint relates to an event that took place
before the Rail Ombudsman service was established, the Ombudsman will
review it and then put it in the hands of Transport Focus or London
TravelWatch who may progress it on your behalf. These organisations are
passenger watchdogs that work with the rail industry, government and
others. You can contact the Rail Ombudsman via the methods below:
Website: (including online chat): www.railombudsman.org
Telephone:          0330 094 0362
Textphone:          0330 094 0363
Email:                  [email address]
Twitter:                @RailOmbudsman
Post:                    FREEPOST – RAIL OMBUDSMAN
Kind regards
David Rankin
HQ Customer Relations
Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR)
Email: [email address]

Govia Thameslink Railway Limited

Registered in England and Wales No. 07934306.

Registered office: 3rd Floor, 41-51 Grey Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1
6EE

Head office: 1st & 2nd Floor, Monument Place, 24 Monument St, London EC3R
8AJ

This email is sent subject to our email disclaimer which can be
accessed [1]here

show quoted sections

Dear David Rankin,

Thank you for your prompt response.

As you re-confirm above, no statistics or supporting details of the rail performance to/from Harpenden were provided in the letter. However, you also mentioned that a section 75(2) claim would be contested. In order to provide more accurate and meaningful statistics for such a claim I have appealed to you to provide the data necessary. Your reference to published data is not sufficient as it does not provide data directly related to Harpenden. This is extremely relevant as I do not believe there is a comparable published proxy station on the same route which had it's services cut by a similar level to Harpenden. St Albans for example did not suffer losing 1/3 of it's service on 20 May 2018.

You reference www.recenttraintimes.co.uk, www.mytrainjourney.co.uk and www.raildar.co.uk as data sources. The first contains only the last 3 months of data. The second appears to only allow you to search for a specified train service, not a range of services across a range of dates. It is also limited in how far it can look historically and thereby cannot recall the required data. While I have applied to register for the last option, that also appears to be limited in it's retrospective use and will again not be fit for purpose.

I appreciate that data analysis of the trains to/from Harpenden may take some time. However, I am happy to perform the analysis myself and am requesting merely a "data dump" for me to perform the required work upon. The reason for asking for the details is to understand the levels of service which were supposed to be provided under the pre-existing timetable from 1 Jan - 19 May 2018 and the revised timetables later introduced; and to compare these to the actual services offered across the year. The data will allow me to form a supported mathematical percentage of the provision of services and is directly linked to potential section 75(2) claim. Not providing this data reduces the exact nature of my calculation, which will as a result have to rely on extrapolation of the raw data which I do have to hand. I would much rather be completely accurate and am willing to put in the work myself to do this. While I do not have access to your systems, I would think that it would be relatively easy to run a report that extracts the services which called at Harpenden during 2018 and provides a "data dump" for me to perform the analysis that you mention takes so much time and effort. Should this not be palatable I will take it that you are open to my application for a section 75(2) on the basis of extrapolated data, unless I locate an alternative source.

Please let me know your thoughts on the matter.

Yours sincerely,

James Gardner

David Rankin, Govia Thameslink Railway Limited

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Gardner

As I mentioned previously, you have received payments via the Delay Repay
scheme during the validity of the annual season ticket valid between 1
January 2018 - 31 December 2018. In addition, you have also received
£307.33 under the Additional Industry Compensation scheme. This would
indicate both that you have received the benefit of the service and that
claims have been made on occasions when actual journeys were affected.​

The Additional Industry Compensation scheme was designed in excess of our
statutory or contractual obligations. The criterion of the scheme was on
instruction from the Department for Transport and was set at a reasonable
and proportionate level having carefully considered all service
provisions, including those from Harpenden. ​

You have therefore received any refund you are entitled to under the
contract along with additional compensation deemed by the Department for
Transport to be set at a reasonable and proportionate level under the
circumstances. Any claim for a S75(2) CCA indemnity from your credit card
provider would be disputed by us on this basis and we do not feel that
your data request would have any further bearing on the case.​

I would therefore suggest again that you may with contact the ombudsman
should you remain unhappy with our response. However, we will not be, nor
are we obliged to provide the information you’ve requested.​
I’m sorry that we are unable to help you any further.​

Kind regards​

David Rankin
HQ Customer Relations
Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR)
Email: [email address]
[1]1475671778452_PastedImage

Govia Thameslink Railway Limited

Registered in England and Wales No. 07934306.

Registered office: 3rd Floor, 41-51 Grey Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1
6EE

Head office: 1st & 2nd Floor, Monument Place, 24 Monument St, London EC3R
8AJ

This email is sent subject to our email disclaimer which can be
accessed [2]here

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: James Gardner <[FOI #601333 email]>
Sent: 10 December 2019 13:43
To: David Rankin <[email address]>
Subject: Re: FW: CRM:0329250
 
Dear David Rankin,

Thank you for your prompt response.

As you re-confirm above, no statistics or supporting details of the rail
performance to/from Harpenden were provided in the letter. However, you
also mentioned that a section 75(2) claim would be contested. In order to
provide more accurate and meaningful statistics for such a claim I have
appealed to you to provide the data  necessary. Your reference to
published data is not sufficient as it does not provide data directly
related to Harpenden. This is extremely relevant as I do not believe there
is a comparable published proxy station on the same route which had it's
services cut by a similar level to Harpenden. St Albans for example did
not suffer losing 1/3 of it's service on 20 May 2018.

You reference [3]www.recenttraintimes.co.uk, [4]www.mytrainjourney.co.uk
and [5]www.raildar.co.uk as data sources. The first contains only the last
3 months of data. The second appears to only allow you to search for a
specified train service, not a range of services across a range of dates.
It is also limited in how far it can look historically and thereby cannot
recall the required data. While I have applied to register for the last
option, that also appears to be limited in it's retrospective use and will
again not be fit for purpose.

I appreciate that data analysis of the trains to/from Harpenden may take
some time. However, I am happy to perform the analysis myself and am
requesting merely a "data dump" for me to perform the required work upon.
The reason for asking for the details is to understand the levels of
service which were supposed to be provided under the pre-existing
timetable from 1 Jan - 19 May 2018 and the revised timetables later
introduced; and to compare these to the actual services offered across the
year. The data will allow me to form a supported mathematical percentage
of the provision of services and is directly linked to potential section
75(2) claim. Not providing this data reduces the exact nature of my
calculation, which will as a result have to rely on extrapolation of the
raw data which I do have to hand. I would much rather be completely
accurate and am willing to put in the work myself to do this. While I do
not have access to your systems, I would think that it would be relatively
easy to run a report that extracts the services which called at Harpenden
during 2018 and provides a "data dump" for me to perform the analysis that
you mention takes so much time and effort. Should this not be palatable I
will take it that you are open to my application for a section 75(2) on
the basis of extrapolated data, unless I locate an alternative source.

Please let me know your thoughts on the matter.

Yours sincerely,

James Gardner

show quoted sections