NATIONAL Express East Coast has today been identified as Britain's most improved train operator in the latest league tables of rail performance statistics.

NATIONAL Express East Coast has today been identified as Britain's most improved train operator in the latest league tables of rail performance statistics.

The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) quarterly National Rail Trends survey shows that the percentage of National Express East Coast trains arriving on time in the first three months of 2009 was 90.4pc - up by 4.3pc on the same period in 2008, the biggest improvement of any train operator in Britain.

National Express East Anglia also saw its punctuality improve, with its public performance measure (PPM) of its trains arriving on time rising by 1.1 per cent to 92.5pc. Its Moving Annual Average figure of 90.8pc is the best achieved since the start of the franchise.

David Franks, acting UK chief executive of National Express, said: “I am delighted at these impressive results, achieved during challenging times for our business.

“The sustained improvements in reliability are the product of a lot of hard work by all our people, from station staff and on-train teams through to our train and maintenance depots.

“We fully recognise there is always more to do to build on these very encouraging results as we work to build an ever improving railway for our customers.”