How UK train punctuality is measured - PPM and right-time
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Piotr · Founder, Railly
Piotr built Railly after one too many commutes spent guessing platforms and chasing Delay Repay claims. He verifies every guide against live timetable data, operator portals, and National Rail station records.
In short: Under PPM, a train is "on time" if it arrives at its final destination within 5 minutes (commuter/regional/Scottish) or 10 minutes (long-distance). The stricter right-time standard requires every stop to arrive within 59 seconds, and on most routes only 55–70% of trains achieve that. Railly uses the 15-minute threshold used for Delay Repay, not the PPM grace window.
How British train punctuality is measured — PPM, right-time, and Delay Repay
The rail industry says roughly 87% of trains are "on time." That figure uses the Public Performance Measure (PPM): a 5-minute grace window at the final destination for commuter services, 10 minutes for long-distance. PPM measures only the final stop, not your stop. A train can leave Birmingham 20 minutes late, roll into London 4 minutes late, and count as "on time" — even if you got off at Coventry and were 20 minutes late for your meeting. The metric you read shapes your Delay Repay claim.
Public Performance Measure (PPM)
PPM is the headline punctuality metric used by Network Rail and the Department for Transport. It is reported every 4 weeks and published by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR).
How PPM works
A train counts as "on time" under PPM if it arrives at its final destination within the allowed window:
| Service type | Grace window | Example |
|---|---|---|
| London & South East | 5 minutes | Arriving at 08:35 for a scheduled 08:30 |
| Regional | 5 minutes | Arriving at 14:05 for a scheduled 14:00 |
| Scottish | 5 minutes | Arriving at 19:05 for a scheduled 19:00 |
| Long-distance | 10 minutes | Arriving at 11:10 for a scheduled 11:00 |
PPM is calculated as:
(On-time services ÷ All planned services) × 100
A cancelled or part-cancelled train counts as a failure, regardless of the reason.
Current PPM (2024–25 average): approximately 87% across all operators.
What PPM hides
PPM measures only the final destination — not intermediate stops. A train that leaves Birmingham 15 minutes late but makes up time before reaching London counts as "on time" under PPM, even though passengers at Coventry and Milton Keynes experienced a 15-minute delay.
For a practical guide to claiming, see how to claim Delay Repay.
Right-time performance
The right-time standard is stricter and increasingly used as the industry's internal metric:
A train is right-time only if it arrives at every timetabled stop within 59 seconds of its scheduled arrival time.
PPM vs Right-time
| Metric | What it measures | Typical score |
|---|---|---|
| PPM | Final destination within 5/10 min | ~87% |
| Right-time | Every stop within 59 seconds | ~62% |
| Gap | Difference | ~25 percentage points |
On most routes, only 55–70% of trains are truly right-time. The 25-percentage-point gap between PPM and right-time is intermediate stops where passengers experienced delays that the headline statistic doesn't capture.
Network Rail publishes right-time data alongside PPM in periodic performance reviews.
What "on time" means for you
When you look at a departure board on Railly, a train may show as "On time" if its estimated departure matches the timetable. Departure punctuality doesn't guarantee arrival punctuality — a train can depart on time and encounter delays en route.
Where to find YOUR delay
Railly shows delay information at every calling point, not just the origin. On a service detail page:
- Tap a service row to see the full calling pattern
- Each calling point shows the estimated arrival/departure time and delay
- Find your destination stop in the list — the delay shown there is your arrival delay
This is the number that matters for your Delay Repay claim — not the origin departure time or the final destination.
Delay Repay thresholds
Delay Repay is based on the arrival delay at your destination, not at the journey's final stop:
| Your arrival delay at destination | Compensation |
|---|---|
| 15–29 minutes | 25% of single fare (12.5% of return) |
| 30–59 minutes | 50% of single fare (25% of return) |
| 60–119 minutes | 100% of single fare (50% of return) |
| 120+ minutes | 100% of return fare |
The PPM mismatch
A real scenario that illustrates the gap between PPM and Delay Repay:
| PPM view | Your experience | |
|---|---|---|
| Train: 09:00 Birmingham → London Euston | ||
| Your stop: Coventry, scheduled 09:20 | — | Arrives 09:35 (15 min late) |
| Final destination: London Euston | Arrives 10:25 (5 min late) | — |
| PPM verdict: | ✅ On time (5 min ≤ 10 min) | — |
| Delay Repay: | — | ✅ Eligible (15 min late at Coventry) |
The train was "on time" according to the industry, but you're still entitled to compensation as an individual passenger. PPM is an industry benchmark; Delay Repay is a passenger right.
Punctuality by operator (2024–25)
Based on the most recent ORR passenger rail performance data:
| Operator | PPM | Cancellations | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| c2c | 92% | 1.8% | Commuter |
| Greater Anglia | 91% | 2.1% | Commuter / Regional |
| Merseyrail | 90% | 1.5% | Commuter |
| LNER | 88% | 3.2% | Long-distance |
| Southeastern | 87% | 2.4% | Commuter |
| CrossCountry | 79% | 5.8% | Long-distance |
| Avanti West Coast | 80% | 6.1% | Long-distance |
| TransPennine Express | 78% | 7.3% | Regional / Long-distance |
Why the gap exists
Long-distance operators consistently score lower than commuter operators:
- A single incident on a long route (e.g. Edinburgh–Plymouth for CrossCountry) affects many more services
- Long-distance services have more calling points, each an opportunity for delay
- Commuter operators run simpler, self-contained routes with fewer complex junctions
How cancellations affect the numbers
Under PPM, any cancelled service counts as a failure:
- Full cancellation — the train did not run at all
- Part cancellation — a portion of a split service was cancelled (e.g. the rear 4 coaches of an 8-car service)
- Station skip — the train ran but omitted your stop
The industry reports these separately:
- Cancellations score (CaSL): The percentage of services cancelled or part-cancelled in a given period. Long-distance operators typically score 4–7%; commuter operators 1–3%.
A high CaSL rate often correlates with lower customer satisfaction, especially for passengers with accessibility needs who rely on booked assistance.
How Railly's on-time chip compares
Railly's board shows a small "92% on time · typically +3m" chip on each service when there is enough data to be confident. The numbers are calculated from the live data Railly already receives, not from published operator statistics, so they refresh in near-real-time rather than every four weeks.
A few details:
- Threshold. Railly counts a service as "on time" when it arrives at its final destination within 15 minutes of schedule — the same threshold used for Delay Repay compensation, not the 5/10-minute PPM grace window. The chip therefore reads higher than the industry PPM statistic for the same service, but matches what you'd actually be entitled to claim for.
- Window. 30 days, rolling. The chip is recomputed from the last 30 days of Network Rail's real-time feed each night.
- Sample size. The chip appears once at least 5 runs exist in the window. Long-distance and weekend services accumulate more slowly, so some rows don't show a chip yet — check back tomorrow as the data fills.
- Per-cohort. The chip reflects the (operator, origin, destination, hour, weekday/weekend) pattern, not your specific service. UIDs and headcodes recycle too often (every timetable period, every day) for a stable per-service score to be honest. The trade-off is that you may see a chip on a row whose specific service ID you don't recognise; the chip describes the reliability character of that pattern instead.
For a worked example, see the live London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly page — every Avanti West Coast service from EUS to MAN shows a chip reflecting the same route × hour × weekday cohort.
How Railly helps
Railly gives you the data you actually need — not the industry metric:
- Real-time delay at your station — updated live, see exactly how late your train is
- Full calling pattern — estimated times at every stop, not just your origin or the final destination
- Delay Repay eligibility — Railly's Delay Repay page checks your journey history and highlights claimable delays with the correct compensation tier. Not sure if your delay qualifies? See what you can and can't claim.
Methodology notes
| Data source | Used for | Cadence |
|---|---|---|
| ORR passenger rail performance | PPM, CaSL, operator-level statistics | Quarterly |
| Network Rail internal reporting | Right-time performance | Periodic reviews |
| Live rail data | Real-time delay tracking | Real-time |
— PPM methodology based on Network Rail and ORR published guidance. Last checked June 2026.