Chiltern Railways has been announced today as the most punctual train operator in the UK, according to an industry report by Network Rail.

Running services between Birmingham Moor Street and London Marylebone, they were the highest performing train company with 97.3% of trains running on time.

This is a fantastic achievement as Chiltern Railways trains are described as late if they arrive more than five minutes after the scheduled time, whereas longer distance operators’ trains are not considered late until ten minutes after their scheduled time.

Chiltern have been franchise holders since 1996, and have so far invested over £400 million to improve their services and the stations they serve. Their next achievement will be to reduce journey times between Birmingham and London by 20% to just under 100 minutes.