New figures from the Strategic Rail Authority show that local provider First Great Western is delivering the worst peak time service in London. The rail group who were dubbed 'rapacious, thieving scum' by Ken Livingstone have seen a decline in service at the same time that they have been reducing the number of trains at local stations.

Quarterly performance figures from the SRA show that 80.3% of trains ran on time in Quarter 3 (October to December 2004), an increase of 3.9 percentage points, from 76.4% in the same period in 2003. However First Great Western only managed to get 68.9% of trains to run within 5 minutes of the time-table during peak times. Silverlink users fared better with 82% of trains on time.

The performance for services over the whole day was better with First Great Western achieving 80.3% punctuality. which was an improvement on the same period last year.

Overall services in London and the country showed steady improvement in terms of punctuality.

SRA Chairman, David Quarmby said, "This is the second successive year of significantly improved performance during the very difficult Autumn quarter. It shows that the foundations laid by the industry for a better railway are sound and are being built upon both by Network Rail and the train operating companies."

First Group's First Great Western Link took over the local Ealing franchise from Thames Trains late last year. They have cut peak hour services at 4 local London stations in half ( from 4 to 2 ): Acton Main Line, Southall, Hanwell and Hayes & Harlington.

The figures achieved for the latest quarter are well below the level of punctuality that had been seen when Thames Trains were running the franchise. Ealing Council voted last year to have the franchise removed from First Group.

Public Performance Measure by train operating company

Percentage of trains arriving on time 2004-05 Q3

	2004-05 Q3	2003-04 Q3	Year to 31 Dec 2004	Year to 30 Sept 2004
London and SE operators - peak
c2c	92.2	83.7	90.5	88.4
Chiltern Railways	87.3	87.2	89.1	89.1
First Great Western Link †	68.9	69.5	76.7	76.8
ONE	83.9	-	-	-
Silverlink	82.0	85.1	85.0	85.8
South Eastern Trains	75.1	69.0	78.5	77.0
South West Trains	72.0	67.6	74.2	73.1
Southern	72.4	68.7	77.1	76.2
Thameslink	78.1	60.3	75.0	70.6
WAGN*	84.2	72.6	85.1	80.7
Sector Level	77.7	72.1	80.2	78.8
London and SE operators - all day
c2c	92.4	83.6	91.7	89.5
Chiltern Railways	91.3	91.6	91.9	91.9
First Great Western Link	80.3	76.7	83.2	82.3
ONE	86.9	-	-	-
Silverlink	83.3	77.7	82.2	80.8
South Eastern Trains	80.5	74.2	83.6	82.2
South West Trains	77.0	69.9	77.4	75.7
Southern	78.3	74.6	80.7	79.8
Thameslink	84.7	71.3	81.0	77.6
WAGN*	86.6	79.8	87.6	84.9
Sector Level	81.9	76.3	83.2	81.8

* WAGN now covers only Great Northern services.

† Formerly Thames Trains.