How are we doing

We are committed to delivering consistently reliable services. Below, we have provided key industry metrics on cancellations, punctuality, delays, customer satisfaction, and overall experience to offer transparency on our performance. These updates will be included in each newsletter, and for the latest information, you can also visit our website or the Office of Rail and Road’s website, which publishes detailed statistics and comparative data across train operators. The data presented below covers the period from 7 December 2025 - 28 February 2026.

The details

1. Reliability

Over the last three periods (7 December 2025 – 28 February 2026), 88.3% of our services arrived within 15 minutes of schedule. This is up from 85% on the previous three periods (14 September – 6 December) despite ongoing infrastructure challenges across the network.

Cancellations averaged at 2.6% between 7 December 2025 – 28 February 2026 reflecting these seasonal increases as we move into the winter months. Period 10 saw cancellations at 4.6%, spiking the average whilst Period 11 sat at 1.8% and Period 12 at 1.7%

The below graph shows the average punctuality between 7 December 2025 – 28 February 2026.

The below graph shows the level of delays between 7 December 2025 – 28 February 2026 outlining the percentage of services that arrived and departed within 15 minutes of its published schedule.

2. Delay minutes/cancellations

As this data shows, over the last three periods (7 December 2025 – 28 February 2026), cancellation and delay minutes have decreased following a seasonal increase towards the end of 2025. However, there has been a slight increase in the level of delay minutes between 1 February and 28 February.

3. Delay responsibility

While there is still improvement needed, we’re seeing a positive impact of our joint efforts with Network Rail and industry partners to tackle the root causes of poor performance. We remain committed to working collaboratively to reduce delays where possible and deliver a more reliable service for customers.

The big picture

We passed an important milestone in customer satisfaction in January, with customers responding to our Net Advocacy Score (NAS) surveys giving consistently positive feedback overall for more than a year, a trend that has since continued. If we compare customer satisfaction now compared to when Avanti took over the west coast franchise, we can see that, in addition to overall satisfaction being slightly increased, there has been a big, 10-point increase in satisfaction with services not impacted by significant cancellations or delays (shown in green as “PPM NAS Success” in the diagram).

This shows that customers have responded positively to the improvements we’ve made to our services, including the introduction of the brand-new Evero fleet and the £117m overhaul of our Pendolinos, as well as service innovations such as Standard Premium and Superfare. But it also underlines the importance of working with Network Rail to tackle poor performance, which remains the biggest driver of negative customer sentiment.

Another aspect of the positive upswing in NAS is how well this held up during January's engineering works, where we minimised use of bus replacement whilst the Clifton Bridge near Penrith was being replaced by using the Settle and Carlisle line to keep customers on trains. We would normally expect customer satisfaction to dip in such circumstances, but it was especially positive to see the +27 score (27 December – 14 January), showing the positive impact of the customer handling operation.

That consistency around customer satisfaction has helped us drive demand and attract more people back to rail. By the end of 2025, passenger numbers reached 92% of pre-covid levels, signalling a continued resurgence in rail travel and increasing customer demand. Whilst this does reflect a slight drop towards the end of the year – owing to engineering works and closures over Christmas - we’re already on track to perform better in the first quarter of this year. We’ll keep building on this momentum by investing in further improvements which enhance the travel experience and support long-term recovery.