4:30am Thursday 9th April 2009
By Sophie Edwards
A TRAIN company operating between London and south Essex has been praised for running the most punctual trains in the country.
Over the past year c2c, which runs trains between Shoebury and Fenchurch Street, ran more than 95 per cent of its trains on time.
This is the highest-punctuality rating to be achieved by the National Express-owned company, which runs trains between London and 26 stations across south Essex.
Delighted managing director of c2c, Julian Drury, said: “The efforts our team have made, in conjunction with our partners, in focusing on the detail required in providing the best possible and highly punctual train service have paid off.
“We will continue to focus all our efforts in maintaining these high standards and in delivering further improvement.”
Regular c2c passenger, Steven Willingale, 38, of The Gore, Basildon, said: “I travel from Basildon to Fenchurch Street every day for work.
“c2c have been consistently top of the league in terms of punctuality but they do have one of the easiest routes, while others have got more complex routes to travel. So in some respects it’s a given c2c will be up there, but nevertheless it’s good that they’re top.”
Adrian Brown, chairman of the Thurrock Rail Users’ Group, travels from Grays to Fenchurch Street five times a week.
He said: “It’s all good news. Punctuality is the aspect of c2c’s service which we are most pleased with and we congratulate them on their consistent delivery of high standards in that department.
“However, the report only reflects one dimension of the service. It is not the best overall service.”
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