Performance data held about 0720 Tunbridge Well to Charing Cross on 5 September 2016

Secretary, Sevenoaks Rail Travellers Association made this Freedom of Information request to Network Rail Limited This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

The request was successful.

Secretary, Sevenoaks Rail Travellers Association

Dear Network Rail Limited,

Please supply the following information held by Network Rail concerning the Tunbridge Wells to London Charing Cross train service scheduled to depart Tunbridge Wells at 0720 on 5 September 2016 ("this train service" in the rest of this request). (Note: we believe, but cannot be certain, that the train identifiers might be “2H62”, “892H62MA05” and/or W47671).
(1) Data held on the TRUST system about the operation of this train service, plus relevant information to allow this data to be interpreted.
(2) Data held on the PALADIN system about this train service, plus relevant information to allow this data to be interpreted.
(3) Data held on the PEARS system about this train service, plus relevant information to allow this data to be interpreted.
(4) The times that this train service on this day was scheduled to pass each monitoring point, and the times that it did actually pass each monitoring point.
(5) The stations at which this train service was scheduled to stop, and the stations at which it did actually stop, and at what times.
(6) What if any variation requests were received to change the intermediate stopping points for this train service, and contents of any such requests.
(7) What if any “fail to stop” reports concerning this train service were received by Network Rail or were generated internally by Network Rail, the contents of any such requests, and when these were recorded on the TRUST database and on other Network Rail systems.
(8) What if any other notifications were received concerning the stops made or not made by this train service, the content of any such notifications and when these were recorded on the TRUST database and on other Network Rail systems.
(9) Whether this train service was regarded as a Public Performance Measure “success” or “failure” for the purposes of the “real time” PPM data feed, and if a failure for what reason or reasons was it regarded as a failure, and to which party the failure was attributed.
(10) Whether this train service was regarded as a Public Performance Measure “success” or “failure” in the Period 6 PPM data published on the Network Rail website at http://www.networkrail.co.uk/about/perfo..., and if a failure for what reason or reasons was it regarded as a failure, and to which party the failure was attributed.
(11) All correspondence, including emails, held by Network Rail concerning the scheduled and actual timing, the scheduled and actual stops made by this train service, and the attribution of any performance shortfall.
(12) Any other information held by Network Rail concerning the actual running of this train service and its actual stopping pattern.
Please supply the requested information with any necessary additional explanation of any codes or abbreviations used, for instance in computer records.

Yours faithfully,

Secretary, Sevenoaks Rail Travellers Association

FOI, Network Rail Limited

2 Attachments

Reference number: FOI2016/01294 & FOI2016/01300

 

Dear Sevenoaks Rail Travellers Association

Please find attached a letter from Network Rail in response to your recent
request for information.

Kind regards

 

Anisha Pandya | Information Officer

Freedom of Information | Legal & Corporate Services

 

[1]Network Rail | 1^st Floor | Willen Building | The Quadrant: MK
Elder Gate | Milton Keynes | MK9 1EN

Telephone: 01908 782405

Email: [2][Network Rail request email]

Web: [3]http://www.networkrail.co.uk/foi/

[4]Description: Description: Logo

 

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References

Visible links
1. http://www.networkrail.co.uk/
2. mailto:[Network Rail request email]
3. http://www.networkrail.co.uk/foi/

Secretary, Sevenoaks Rail Travellers Association

Network Rail
[email address]

FOI 2016/01294 & FOI 2016/1300

Thank you for your email of 21 December.

It is disappointing that you have regarded this request as vexatious. This was not the intention.

Background
------------------------

The Transparency of Performance Information is vital to public confidence in the accountability of the railway industry and we greatly appreciate the work that Network Rail do on this.

The Sevenoaks Rail Travellers Association is a long-established and professional commuter group representing the interests of commuters and other rail travellers using Sevenoaks and stations nearby. We have had good working relationship with Network Rail and with the Train Operating Companies over the years.

This request is part of our on-going investigation in the growing practice of “station skipping” on particular services, ordered on the day by Southeastern train controllers, whereby a particular train services does not stop at certain intermediate stations. This allows the delay at the final destination to be reduced – and possibly to be within 5 minute and so not count as a “PPM fail” at all. In addition, it reduces the likelihood that the next service operated by that train set will be delayed starting, and so avoid the possibility of knock-on PPM failures. We have spoken regularly to Southeastern about this issue and written about it, for instance on page 2 of our latest annual report https://srta.org.uk/wp/wp-content/upload...

In our view the increasing use of station skipping is being used by Train Operators to ‘game’ the performance system to improve reported performance without real operational improvement and at the cost of serious customer inconvenience. This is a subject of strong public interest and concern.

We are familiar with recenttraintimes.co.uk and with the Network Rail data feed that powers it. Indeed we checked that data for the particular trains involved before making the request, and we used it to provide the train reference information to help you identify the required data. However it is a known issue that this data feed is supplied from Network Rail’s automatic monitoring system and does not reliably record short station stops (or the lack of them). It is also possible that the times may be amended later before use in the final PPM statistics.

Earlier in 2016 we requested the Network Rail Performance Manual https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/p... and this details some of the procedures for reporting station skipping in order that they are included in the final PPM figures. This showed that correctly accounting for skipped stations involves a manual notification from the TOC to Network Rail and then a manual entry into the database by relevant Network Rail staff. This does not have to be done in real time, and like all manual procedures it could be overlooked or done incorrectly in individual cases – and may not be regarded as a priority when the particular train service is already a “PPM fail” by virtue of a delay in excess of five minutes in reaching its final destination.

We therefore decided to make a small number of requests to see what data was finally recorded in the Network Rail performance management systems and what notifications, if any, about station skipping or other notifiable events had been received from Southeastern. We have picked services that we know from reliable reports from our members were subject to station skipping and we have already captured the data from recenttraintimes.co.uk associated with them.

We were anxious to avoid unnecessary work by Network Rail and deliberately selected two specific services as samples to help verify that procedures were being conducted correctly – rather than request, for instance, the whole database.

So far from being vexatious this is a serious and deliberately proportionate enquiry about a small sample of services with reported station skipping to verify when and how the necessary manual reporting procedures were complied with and whether these services were eventually recorded correctly for the publication of PPM statistics by Network Rail.

Public confidence in the published PPM statistics rests on confidence that the detailed data is reported and entered correctly. This is especially important to demonstrate when the commercial interests of a Train Operator may be in conflict with the interest of correct and timely reporting of data.

I hope that this has explained the underlying public interest in the disclosure of the requested information.

Response to invitation for representations
-------------------------------------------------------

In the final paragraph of the third page of your letter you said that you would be happy to consider any representations. I hope that the explanations above have shown you that this is a serious request and there is a public interest in disclosure, and that accordingly you will reconsider your refusal.

In doing so I hope that the following clarifications to our request will help you to respond more positively:

(1), (2) and (3) – data held on TRUST, PALADIN and PEARS system

The request concerned only a specific train. We are surprised that there is seen to be difficulty and excessive cost in extracting information about a particular train service. We would have expected the relevant computer systems to have simple enquiry functions that allowed Network Rail and its auditors to access the information held on an individual train service – indeed it is hard to believe that the functions set out in the Performance Manual for manual alteration to records could be performed without such functions. We would also have expected that there would be supporting documentation to allow any coded information to be understood.

However the FOI gives a right to information, rather than screen shots and relevant extracts from documentation, so it would be acceptable to us for you to provide a short narrative saying what Network Rail’s computer systems say about this train’s operation. We would be happy for this to be limited to issues around the scheduled and actual timings, the scheduled and actual stops, fail to stop, the PPM status and delay attribution.

(4)– data on scheduled and actual timings

On timings we already have the recenttraintimes.co.uk data taken from the Network Rail data feed.

(5) data on scheduled and actual stops

There is no public source for data on actual station stops. On page 4 of your letter you said that you may be able to provide this for this service, and it would be very helpful if you could do so.

(6) Variation requests

“Station skipping” could be implemented either by re-timetabling the service in advance with a Variation Request so that the stops were not in the timetable, or by simply not stopping at the stations concerned and then reporting the failure to stop later. Here we seek any requests to Network Rail to change the timetable of these specific services from the published one. For our purposes we would be happy for this to be limited to VSTP Variation Requests as on page 36 et seq of the Performance Measurement Manual and so between Monday 17 October 2016 and Thursday 20 October 2016.

(7) “Fail to stop” reports and recording on Network Rail systems

Our focus, as I have explained, is on whether failures to stop are correctly notified and entered onto the database. Our understanding from the Performance Measurement Manual is that Fail To Stop (FTS) reports need to be submitted by the TOC to Network Rail and Network Rail need to update their database (TRUST). This part of the request asks what reports were received when about this particular service, and when the database was updated. There should be a simple audit trail for these notifications, and the records sought would be between 20 October 2016 and 23 November 2016. The requests can also be limited to reports reaching the team responsible for maintaining the performance information for this sector.

(9) PPM status of service – real time data feed

This was a question about the data on the ‘real time’ PPM data feed. For immediate purposes we can use the recenttraintimes.co.uk data as you suggest.

(10) PPM status of service – Period 8 PPM statistics

This is a key question about whether the service was included as a PPM failure in the Period 8 statistics, for what reason and to whom the delay was attributed. If the performance measurement system has worked as described in the Manual we would have expected any manual adjustments, such as fail to stop reports, to be included by this point. You have said that you may be able to supply this also.

(11) and (12) – Other relevant correspondence

These were catch-alls in case the more targeted requests above were terminologically incorrect. If you could supply information around the PPM status of these services and the stations at which the services actually stopped as you offered, together with details about any fail to stop reports, then we do not need to ask you to pursue a wider search.

Conclusion
-------------------

I hope that you will reconsider your decision to refuse this request in the light of the background and representations above, and that in the light of the clarifications of the request you will be able to supply the information on station stopping on these two services and how this has been reflected in the performance measurement system leading to the published PPM figures.

Andrew Stott
Secretary
Sevenoaks Rail Travellers Association

FOI, Network Rail Limited

Reference number: FOI2017/00001

Dear Mr Stott

Information request

Your correspondence was received by Network Rail on 01/01/17. I can confirm that your request is being processed under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). I will endeavour to respond to you as soon as possible and in any event by 31st January 2017.

On occasion we may need to consult with third parties about requests, in line with the recommendations in the Code of Practice issued by the then Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs.

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please remember to quote your reference number in all future communications.

Yours sincerely

Anisha Pandya | Information Officer
Freedom of Information | Legal & Corporate Services

Network Rail | 1st Floor | Willen Building | The Quadrant: MK
Elder Gate | Milton Keynes | MK9 1EN
Telephone: 01908 782405
Email: [Network Rail request email]
Web: http://www.networkrail.co.uk/foi/

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FOI, Network Rail Limited

2 Attachments

Reference number: FOI2017/00001

Dear Mr Stott

Please find attached a letter from Network Rail in response to your recent
request for information.

Kind regards

 

Anisha Pandya | Information Officer

Freedom of Information | Legal & Corporate Services

 

[1]Network Rail | 1^st Floor | Willen Building | The Quadrant: MK
Elder Gate | Milton Keynes | MK9 1EN

Telephone: 01908 782405

Email: [2][Network Rail request email]

Web: [3]http://www.networkrail.co.uk/foi/

[4]Description: Description: Logo

 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. http://www.networkrail.co.uk/
2. mailto:[Network Rail request email]
3. http://www.networkrail.co.uk/foi/

FOI, Network Rail Limited

2 Attachments

Reference number: FOI2017/00002

Dear Mr Stott

Please find attached a letter from Network Rail in response to your recent
request for information.

Kind regards

 

Anisha Pandya | Information Officer

Freedom of Information | Legal & Corporate Services

 

[1]Network Rail | 1^st Floor | Willen Building | The Quadrant: MK
Elder Gate | Milton Keynes | MK9 1EN

Telephone: 01908 782405

Email: [2][Network Rail request email]

Web: [3]http://www.networkrail.co.uk/foi/

[4]Description: Description: Logo

 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. http://www.networkrail.co.uk/
2. mailto:[Network Rail request email]
3. http://www.networkrail.co.uk/foi/

FOI, Network Rail Limited

4 Attachments

Reference number: FOI2017/00001

Dear Mr Stott

Please find attached a letter from Network Rail in response to your recent
request for information.

Kind regards

 

Anisha Pandya | Information Officer

Freedom of Information | Legal & Corporate Services

 

[1]Network Rail | 1^st Floor | Willen Building | The Quadrant: MK
Elder Gate | Milton Keynes | MK9 1EN

Telephone: 01908 782405

Email: [2][Network Rail request email]

Web: [3]http://www.networkrail.co.uk/foi/

[4]Description: Description: Logo

 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. http://www.networkrail.co.uk/
2. mailto:[Network Rail request email]
3. http://www.networkrail.co.uk/foi/

FOI, Network Rail Limited

4 Attachments

Reference number: FOI2017/00002

Dear Mr Stott

Please find attached a letter from Network Rail in response to your recent
request for information.

Kind regards

 

Anisha Pandya | Information Officer

Freedom of Information | Legal & Corporate Services

 

[1]Network Rail | 1^st Floor | Willen Building | The Quadrant: MK
Elder Gate | Milton Keynes | MK9 1EN

Telephone: 01908 782405

Email: [2][Network Rail request email]

Web: [3]http://www.networkrail.co.uk/foi/

[4]Description: Description: Logo

 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. http://www.networkrail.co.uk/
2. mailto:[Network Rail request email]
3. http://www.networkrail.co.uk/foi/

Secretary, Sevenoaks Rail Travellers Association

Dear Anisha,

Many thanks for your letter of 28 February. These responses - on both the trains about which we had enquired - give us the essential additional information that we required.

We have written about these cases on our website at http://srta.org.uk/wp/posts/2348

The Network Rail response about the 0720 Tunbridge Wells to Charing Cross states "we were not informed by the Train Operator of any failed to stop for this service". However we have an eye-witness who states that the train did not stop at London Bridge and we have contemporary statements from Southeastern that trains were not stopping at London Bridge. This is not an FOI matter, but could you please give me a contact in Network Rail to whom we can write about the Train Operator's apparent failure to conform with fail to stop reporting requirements.

Thanks again for your help.

Yours sincerely,

Andrew Stott
Secretary, Sevenoaks Rail Travellers Association

FOI, Network Rail Limited

Dear Mr Stott

Thank you for contacting Network Rail. I will look into finding the right channel for you to report your concerns and be back in touch in due course.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Yours sincerely

Jonathan Mantle | Senior Information Officer
Freedom of Information | Legal Corporate & Commercial

Network Rail | 1st Floor | Willen Building | The Quadrant: MK
Elder Gate | Milton Keynes | MK9 1EN
Telephone: 01908 782405
Email: [Network Rail request email]
Web: http://www.networkrail.co.uk/foi/

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