Timetable flab?

Do the railway companies deliberately build slack time into their timetables? Does 'timetable flab' exist?  If so, why do they do this?


Does 'timetable flab' exist?

OK, I'll start by saying that my 'evidence' is limited only to my observations over one month, but I reckon that this provides weight to the argument that slack time is built into the timetables for at least some trains.

Through July I've kept a log of outward and homeward journeys, noting the trains taken and arrival times at the destination.

For the last few weeks I've had no regular homeward train but I have taken the 07:00 from Bletchley to Euston on 21 occasions (every working day except Wed 21st).  
The official timetable for this morning commuter train is as follows:

0608   Rugby 
0618   Long Buckby
0633   Northampton (arr)
0637   Northampton (dep)
0649   Wolverton
0655   Milton Keynes
0700   Bletchley
0707   Leighton Buzzard
0743   London Euston

The actual arrival times in July for London Euston were:

Arrival    Days
0737         x6
0738         x4
0739         x7
0740         x1
0741         x0
0742         x0
0743         x1
0744         x2

(The 07:43 arrival was on Thu 18th when there was a signalling problem in the Berkhamsted area. One of the 07:44 arrivals was on Wed 7th when the switch onto the fast line at Ledburn Junction was affected by a late running Virgin train. The other 07:44 arrival was on Tue 13th when we were again delayed by a signalling problem.)

It surely can't be a coincidence that the 07:00 managed to get into London Euston ahead of schedule on 18 out of 21 days, averaging an 07:39 arrival instead of the scheduled 07:43.  

Network Rail and London Midland appear to have theor own operational schedule for this train which is different from the one they publish for passengers.  Once we cross over onto the fast line at Ledburn Junction we charge down south (probably with a Virgin train or two following us at a similar speed).  Then, a mile or two from Euston we slow right down, sometimes to not much more than walking pace.  We usually see a London Midland train pass us on its way north, and then we speed up again (my guess is we have to wait for that other train to clear the platforms). 

Immediately after we pull onto platform 11 at Euston we are chased off the train.  Before we've even had a chance to get off there's usually an automatic announcement telling us that the train is out of service, and we sometimes get the lights turned off while we are still picking up bags etc.  The station and train staff then make sure everyone is off and the doors are locked.  I haven't seen the train actually leave but I reckon that it pulls out before the scheduled 07:43 arrival time, probably to allow a following train onto the same platform.

Further evidence that this train has extra time built into it's schedule comes from a comparison with northbound trains with the reverse of the same station stops.  The trains which leave at 13 minutes past the hour and the 18:49 20:13, 21:13 which do Euston-Leighton Buzzard-Bletchley Euston are scheduled to do the same distance in 36-40 minutes.   Why should the southbound journey require 43?


So what's going on?  

I guess that there are several possibilities...

London Midland could be being pessimistic because they think that helps us.  "We probably can get you to London earlier but there's a risk we won't make it and we wouldn't like to let you down"? That could be ture, but I doubt it.

Maybe when London Midland and Network Rail last sat down to do a major timetable revision (the 07:00 has been around for a while) they expecting a slower journey down to London.  Perhaps they've missed the fact that the journey south isn't as problematic or unreliable as they feared.  Possible I guess, but difficult to believe.

That leaves us with a third option which is one that gets mentioned by the cynics whenever the railway companies claim service improvements.

Have London Midland built in a stack of slack time in the timetable to protect themselves should delays occur? The benefit for them manipulating the timetable for the 07:00 would presumably be: 

• The 07:00 can arrive 5-6 minutes after it's normal arrival time without missing the scheduled ETA. 
• There can be a delay of 15-16 minutes before the train is reported as officially late for the performance statistics reported by the Office of the Rail Regulation (the figures for delayed trains include only those that are 10 minutes or more behind schedule - see ... and statistics). 
• We can be 35-36 minutes late before London Midland have to pay compensation (0-29 compensation = zero, for 30-59 minutes they will give an annual season ticket holder from Bletchley £4 in rail vouchers and for more than an hour it's £7)

I guess there's two ways to look at this...  One way would be to ask if it really matters.  Day after day we get into London less than 40 minutes after leaving Bletchley so why complain?  I guess that those of us of a suspicious nature just wonder whether we are we being taken for a ride (I'm sorry for the terrible pun!)  


What do you think?