London's trains are getting better

The only London commuter rail operator not under private control has shown an "above average" improvement in train timekeeping, latest statistics reveal today.

Performance during peak periods on South Eastern Trains (SET), which serves the busy lines from Kent and south- east London, improved by 5.1 per cent - compared with an average of 4.6per cent for all 10 operators serving the capital.

This will lead to renewed demands from the rail unions to keep SET, formerly run by Connex, under public control.

Ministers will be quick to point out that most of the train operators have shown a dramatic improvement and that record investment in the railways - ?5 billion a year - is at last paying dividends.

The quarterly figures show huge improvements across the country. Commuters will find this hard to believe but service on all London routes is getting better.

After making sweeping changes to its timetable this week, South West Trains (SWT), which runs local and long distance services into Waterloo station, improved by three per cent to 79.7 per cent on time - but that remains below the London average and still means one in five trains is late.

Of the London operators, the biggest improvement was on Thameslink, where peak time services improved by 10.9 per cent to

79.2 per cent.

On a national level, services improved by 2.5 per cent on average to 83.3 per cent.

David Quarmby, chairman of the Strategic Rail Authority which produced the figures, said: "Sustained efforts by train operators and Network Rail - responsible for the tracks and signals - are beginning to bear fruit.

" Significant improvements in the performance of Britain's railways are now being achieved - particularly on longer distance services."

Nationally, 18 out of the 24 train operating companies recorded a performance improvement during the quarter.

The news comes as a report shows that, in the last year, an extra one million passengers a week have taken to the trains.

The network has not been this busy since 1959, the Associat ion of Train Operating Companies said.

In the last year alone, an extra 43 million journeys were made by passengers, a 4 per cent increase on 2003, with London passenger numbers growing by 3.9 per cent.