On-Time Running

Safe and reliable train services are important to everyone. CityRail has introduced a number of safety improvements over the past 12-18 months, resulting in a safer network. CityRail introduced a new timetable on 4 September 2005 to reflect the safer operating environment and improve on-time running.

The current performance targets are for CityRail to operate 99% of peak timetabled services, and to have at least 92% of those peak services arrive within the current on-time running benchmark.

CityRail records on-time running to a benchmark of five minutes for suburban services and six minutes for intercity services. This benchmark follows the findings of the Independent Transport Safety and Reliability Regulator (ITSRR) that CityRail had a different benchmark from most other interstate and international passenger rail systems, bringing CityRail in line with national and international practice.

CityRail works hard to meet its on-time running goals, however the performance of our trains can be affected by a number of factors. The NSW rail network is one of the world’s most complex and the task of moving close to 1 million passengers each day presents a real challenge. Trains may run late or be cancelled because of:

• Train problems
• Signal, track, overheard wiring and points problems
• Vandalism
• Overcrowding in the centre carriages
• Passenger or train crew illness
• Fatalities
• Delays caused by slow-boarding passengers
• Severe weather conditions

Find out more about what affects our performance and discover how you can help to keep our trains running on time.

Sometimes our on-time running performance is affected by incidents beyond the control of CityRail, for example, storms, police operations, fatalities and bushfires. CityRail is focused on improving communications to our customers in these circumstances.

Timetable changes such as skipping stops may be made as a result of a delay to a service. These decisions are made to minimise the impact of the delay on following services and the majority of our customers. Most of these changes are reflected in the skipped stop statistic and this indicator needs to be viewed in conjunction with the on-time statistic. This is because passengers may experience a service skipping their stop yet see the performance for their line as 100%.

The graphs below track our on-time running in the suburban and intercity peaks for the last five business days. More detailed on-time running information is available on this website.

Suburban AM Peak 100 75 50 25 Day Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Date 1/9 2/9 3/9 4/9 5/9 %5.00 88 94.9 98.6 99.5 94.9	Suburban PM Peak 100 75 50 25 Day Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Date 1/9 2/9 3/9 4/9 5/9 %5.00 96 96 91.9 94 90.6
Arriving within 5 minutes
Intercity AM Peak 100 75 50 25 Day Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Date 1/9 2/9 3/9 4/9 5/9 %6.00 84.8 90.9 97 100 90.9	Intercity PM Peak 100 75 50 25 Day Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Date 1/9 2/9 3/9 4/9 5/9 %6.00 100 100 86.2 86.2 86.2
Arriving within 6 minutes

• Click here for more detailed on-time running information
• Click here for other performance information