From: Statham, David

Sent: 28 October 2015 15:12

To: BROKENSHIRE, James
Subject: Performance on Southeastern
Dear James
Re: Performance on Southeastern
Thank you for your letter of 21 October received in this office today.
As the letter was forwarded to the local media last week, I thought I would let you know that I will also
be responding with an abbreviated version to those media outlets who published your letter.
I should start by acknowledging that
performance on some Metro routes,
particularly those to Cannon Street from
stations in your constituency has not been
as good as we or your constituents would
have liked. Hitherto passengers did not get
the full picture, but since taking over last
October, we made a commitment to
transparency and performance, now
published on a line of route basis, gives
passengers
and
stakeholders
more
information about train performance on
their particular route than ever before.
Following the briefing session at London Bridge last month you will have received a follow-up letter
and measures being taken to improve performance are outlined in more detail in paragraph 4. I
will outline the relevant highlights for the sake of completeness.
In summary, until August, what the industry calls Moving Annual Average or MAA (the average
performance for the most recent 13 four-week reporting periods) remains better year on year. Our
Public Performance Measure MAA remains 1.1% better year on year, our Cancellations and
Significant Lateness MAA is 0.6% better year on year and our Right Time MAA has improved
considerably, at 2.3% better than last year. (The Public performance Measure is the percentage of
trains that arrive at their destination within five minutes of their advertised arrival time).
However, these are the figures from across the Network and on a line of route basis, performance into
Cannon Street on Metro services, particularly on the Sidcup line does present us with some of our
most significant challenges given the works at London Bridge.
In terms of train reliability (a contributing factor to train performance) this has remained strong, despite
the high demand on fleet availability to deliver the new timetable.
As shown in the Miles per Technical Incident (MTIN) graph, we have delivered sustained
improvement over the last 3 years and over the summer we delivered our best ever Networker
performance.
With autumn almost upon us, focus is on ensuring all areas are prepared and that Network Rail are
managing vegetation clearance in line with expectations.
To further drive improvements, we will be focusing on delivering operational improvements through
non-technical skills training courses for Drivers, continued focus on fleet delivery, resolving small
minute issues to reduce underlying performance drag and studying customer behaviour on lines of
route to determine solutions to specific boarding and alighting issues. (The growth in passenger
numbers, exacerbated by a shortage of rolling stock, means that dwell time at stations during peak

periods has increased as passengers struggle to board trains. Even an additional minute or two at
three or four intermediate metro stations can mean a train being late on arrival in London).
As outlined in recent correspondence we have worked with Network Rail to develop our Joint
Performance Improvement Plan and we have also agreed a 10 Point Plan for immediate action.
Measures are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Improve service recovery decision making to reflect majority of passenger needs.

Additional drivers at Cannon Street to aid service recovery.
Focus on right time starts from 1400 to improve evening peak performance.
Review of the Driver / Fleet Engineer Phone a Friend process (encouraging drivers and
engineers to call friends or colleagues in a bid to quickly resolve technical problems).
Improve Signal reliability
Improve Track Circuit reliability
Review the Cannon Street timetable plan to improve robustness.
Work with Govia Thameslink Railway to improve train performance via Catford Loop and
Herne Hill
Work with Samaritans and BTP to prevent trespass and fatalities.
Focus on Right Time railway adopting SWT best practice.

From meet the manager sessions, letters and emails to our customer services team and feedback I
receive on a daily basis we are well aware of our passengers' frustration. You have our assurance
that every effort is being made at all levels in Southeastern to improve train performance.
As to what governs our (Southeastern's) ability to deliver improvements, in your letter you correctly
say that there are factors impacting on recent performance that are outside the train operators direct
control. These include asset performance and reliability notably signal and track circuit failure and
poor railhead conditions, over -running engineering works, fatalities and trespass incidents, which
between them account for nearly 70% of all delays and cancellations. Added to this are the
Thameslink-related works at London Bridge which have cut capacity at, and on the approaches to,
London Bridge by nearly 50%.
To the passenger the causes of delays and cancellations are (rightly) irrelevant as their contact is with
us rather than Network Rail and its our job to work in partnership with them. However, you will
appreciate that much of the criticism about train performance you and other stakeholders receive is
related to infrastructure failure, performance or availability rather than any act or omission on the
operator's part.
We have not met since the public meeting in Sidcup earlier this year (where most of the time was
devoted to Network Rail's line side tree felling policy) and given your concern, I, together with senior
representative from Network Rail, would appreciate the opportunity to brief you in more detail.

David
Managing Director, Southeastern