Britain’s railway saw record punctuality in August 2010 with 94.2% of trains running on time. One train operator, c2c, recorded almost 99% of services on time – another new record.

The Fenchurch Street operator saw train punctuality hit almost 99% in August with 98.8% of services on time, with Merseyrail at 97.7% and London Overground at 96.8%.

The figures were released today in Network Rail’s regular monthly report on train performance.  During the period from 25 July to 21 August, 94.2% of services arrived on time.  This compares to 94.0% in same period last year.

Robin Gisby, director of operations and customer services, said: “August has been an excellent month for delivering a high-quality, punctual service to the millions of passengers and freight users who rely on train services every day.”

In all, 10 of the 19 operators saw their performance improve compared to the same period last year, with Virgin Trains seeing the biggest improvement (up to 93.0% from 89.6% last year). The rest saw marginal movements in performance with only three operators seeing significant movement (more than three percentage points)

Mr Gisby concluded: “Performance for services using the East Coast main line is presently running below the very high standards we set ourselves.  Action plans have been put in place, in conjunction with the train operators, and we expect performance to improve over the coming months.”