GB Railfreight — Period 1 2026-27 (29 March – 25 April) report
GB Railfreight ran 3,537 freight services in Period 1 2026-27 at 88% A2F punctuality, against a national freight mean of 89% over 14,532 services. GBRf ranked below at least one peer on all 14 shared corridors. Schedule 8 monetises every minute of attributable delay at CP7 rates: £25.81/min (NR-to-FOC) and £51.98/min (FOC-to-NR).
- Edition
- v1.0 (industry review edition)
- Last updated
- 25 April 2026
- Next update
- Period 2 2026-27 — final on 24 May 2026
Headline facts and figures
Services monitored
3,537
126.3/day across the national network; Period 1 2026-27 (29 Mar – 25 Apr 2026); NROD-derived journey data, cancellations excluded; baseline 4,322 services in Period 13 2025-26, see data-window methodology
A2F punctuality
88%
90% range, given sample size 87%–89%, 3,537 services; national mean across all freight operators 89% over 14,532 services in Period 1 2026-27, see league-table methodology; queried gauge_intelligence_v2 at 2026-05-14
Daily A2F range
78%–95%
28 calendar days; daily values normally fell between 74% and 100% around an 88% period mean; day-to-day variation was consistent with a stable process, see anomaly-detection methodology; queried gauge_intelligence_v2 at 2026-05-14
Peer comparison
14 of 14
Shared corridors on which GBRf was ranked against peer freight operators; aggregated by operator from TRUST toc_id, see league-table methodology; queried gauge_intelligence_v2 at 2026-05-14
Context
ORR publishes aggregates only; this page publishes operator-by-corridor data. Material to bid teams and track-access negotiators given CP7 rates of £25.81/min (NR-to-FOC) and £51.98/min (FOC-to-NR).
What you can do with it
- Compare any operator to peers on every shared corridor.
- Quantify a period's CP7 exposure.
- Cite the methodology, not a vendor's number, in negotiations.
Who can use it
Freight operations leaders · Track-access negotiators · Freight procurement teams · Rail journalists
What this page measures
The page makes three things possible. Every shared corridor is ranked: an operator's A2F sits next to active peer freight operators on that corridor, with a 90% interval around each figure. A period's CP7 exposure is computed from the operator's own services rather than national aggregates. The methodology behind each figure is named, dated, and reproducible, so track-access negotiations and academic citations can reference the published method rather than a vendor's number.
GB Railfreight ran 3,537 freight services across the national network between 29 March and 25 April 2026 (Period 1 of the 2026-27 rail year). Heavy traffic moved on the Great Eastern Main Line, with 215 arrivals at Felixstowe and 89 at Doncaster iPort. Figures aggregate every monitored GBRf journey. The dataset is keyed by toc_id from Network Rail's NROD/TRUST feed; cancellations are excluded from the denominator. The commercial-licence panel near the foot lists the four derivations released to subscribers.
What changed since Period 13 2025-26
A2F punctuality was effectively unchanged at 88% in Period 1 2026-27 against 88% in Period 13 2025-26. The 90% Wilson intervals overlap (87%–89% vs 88%–89%) and the change between periods sits within plausible sampling variation. Services monitored fell from 4,322 to 3,537 — a drop of 785 services that reflects the timetable boundary at period start and traffic-mix variation, not punctuality alone.
Cancellation rate fell from 4% to 2% on the scheduled-path denominator — down 2.8 percentage points on Period 13 2025-26 across 8,214 scheduled paths. Median arrival delay held flat at one minute ahead of the booked time. The day-of-week punctuality spread widened by 3.6 percentage points on the period.
The Schedule 8 net position is £133,876 in favour of Network Rail in Period 1, against £1.06M in favour of Network Rail in Period 13 — a £928,083 reduction in the net amount collected. CP7 rates apply unchanged: operators pay Network Rail £51.98 per minute of operator-attributed delay, and Network Rail pays operators £25.81 per minute of Network-Rail-attributed delay. The delay-attribution split shifted alongside: Network Rail's share of attributed minutes dropped from 36% to 20%, with operator-attributed minutes rising from 53% to 59%. Each shift is reported descriptively; underlying causes sit beyond what the corridor-attributed feed can resolve and are out of scope for this page.
Daily on-time arrivals across Period 1 2026-27
Daily on-time arrivals are up 0.1 percentage points on Period 13 2025-26 (88% then, 88% now).
Range 78%–95% across 28 days. Weekend mean 85% vs weekday 89% (-4.0 percentage points). Mean 88%.
Period 1 2026-27 daily A2F averaged 89% across 28 observations. Day-to-day variation was consistent with a stable process — no statistical-signal rule triggered.
Mean punctuality in Period 13 2025-26 was 88%. The current period is up 0.1 percentage points on Period 13 2025-26.
Source: Gauge Intelligence NROD-derived journey data, Period 1 2026-27. A service is counted on time when terminal arrival falls within 15 minutes of schedule. Days with no scheduled services (typically Sundays) render as gaps — a missing bar means no measurement, not a value at zero. Red bars flag days that triggered a statistical signal — see anomaly-detection methodology.
ORR's Freight rail usage and performance release publishes by Network Rail region and route, not by operator. This page publishes by operator and corridor.
Cancellation rate
In Period 1 2026-27, 3% of scheduled services were cancelled (204 of 8238) — within the national mean of 7%; FOC traction, crew, and terminal decisions accounted for the largest share.
Cancellations are down 3.60 percentage points on Period 13 2025-26 (6% then, 3% now). The largest shifts in the responsible-party split are reported in the table below.
| Scheduled or activated paths | 8,238 |
| Cancelled (post-activation + pre-activation) | 204 |
| Cancellation rate | 3% 2%–3% |
| National cancellation rate (all freight) | 7% |
Attribution
| Responsible party | Cancellations | Share of cancelled |
|---|---|---|
| Network Rail infrastructure and possessions | 11 | 5% |
| FOC traction, crew, and terminal decisions | 179 | 88% |
| Third party | 0 | 0% |
| Unattributed | 14 | 7% |
Cancellation rate in Period 13 2025-26 was 6% across 8,457 scheduled paths. The current period is down 3.60 percentage points on Period 13 2025-26.
Source: NROD/TRUST activation feed and BPLAN scheduled paths, Period 1 2026-27. Cancellation rate = (post-activation + pre-activation cancellations) ÷ scheduled or activated paths. Pre-activation cancellations are TRUST CANCEL messages on schedules that never activated; post-activation cancellations have an activation and a CANCEL event. The bracketed range beside the headline rate is the 90% confidence range on the cancellation proportion given the sample size. Cause attribution uses the responsible-party mapping of the recorded cancellation reason code; see delay-attribution methodology.
GBRf and peer operators, by shared corridor
The per-corridor league table for GBRf is deferred while the v1.0 industry review edition corrections inbox remains open. Comparative ranking against peer freight operators on each shared corridor returns at v2.0 general availability, after the launch-cohort corrections cycle closes and the dataset has been reviewed by industry readers. The league-table methodology sets out the partial-pool estimator and the Wilson interval framework the panel will use; the release cadence page sets out the four exit criteria for v2.0 and the schedule against which they are measured.
Source: Gauge Intelligence NROD-derived journey data, Period 1 2026-27. Single-operator Wilson intervals on shared corridors continue to appear in the per-corridor breakdowns above; the per-corridor ranking against peers is the panel deferred here.
What the 15-minute threshold hides
Half of Period 1 2026-27 services arrived early — the median was 1 min ahead of timetable. The long tail the A2F binary misses: 5% of services ran +35 min or more late, and 1% arrived over +101 min late. The 15-minute A2F threshold sits at the 88th percentile — 12% of services exceeded it.
Median arrival delay is essentially unchanged on Period 13 2025-26 (-1 min then, -1 min now).
| Percentile | Arrival delay |
|---|---|
| 50th percentile (median) — A2F threshold sits at the 88th percentile | -1 min |
| 75th percentile — A2F threshold sits at the 88th percentile | +5 min |
| 85th percentile — A2F threshold sits at the 88th percentile | +10 min |
| 90th percentile | +18 min |
| 95th percentile | +35 min |
| 99th percentile | +101 min |
3,273 services with confirmed terminal arrival in Period 1 2026-27. A2F is binary at 15 minutes — this distribution surfaces what the headline figure does not show. National 99th percentile across all freight operators: 100 min.
Baseline (Period 13 2025-26): median -1 min, p99 +98 min. Period-on-period median shift +0 min.
ORR's Freight rail usage and performance release publishes by Network Rail region and route, not by operator. This page publishes by operator and corridor.
Intraday pattern
Fri (92%) is 7.6 percentage points above Sun (85%), the weakest day in Period 1 2026-27.
The 16-20 departure window records 87% A2F — 3.8 percentage points below the 00-04 peak (91%) in Period 1 2026-27.
The day-of-week spread is wider by 3.3 percentage points on Period 13 2025-26 — punctuality varies more across the working week than the prior period.
By day of week
| Day | Services | A2F% | 90% Wilson |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | 499 | 91% | 88%–93% |
| Tue | 751 | 86% | 84%–88% |
| Wed | 733 | 90% | 88%–92% |
| Thu | 409 | 91% | 88%–93% |
| Fri | 371 | 92% | 90%–94% |
| Sat | 381 | 87% | 84%–90% |
| Sun | 280 | 85% | 81%–88% |
By departure hour
| Departure window | Services | A2F% | 90% Wilson |
|---|---|---|---|
| 00-04 | 473 | 91% | 88%–93% |
| 04-08 | 546 | 88% | 85%–90% |
| 08-12 | 704 | 88% | 86%–90% |
| 12-16 | 690 | 89% | 87%–91% |
| 16-20 | 464 | 87% | 84%–89% |
| 20-24 | 547 | 90% | 88%–92% |
Baseline (Period 13 2025-26) day-of-week spread delta: +3.3 percentage points.
Source: NROD-derived journey data, Period 1 2026-27.
Day-of-week is ISO (Mon=1..Sun=7). Hour windows are 4-hour buckets keyed off
TRUST origin_dep_timestamp. A2F threshold is 15 minutes on terminal
arrival. 90% Wilson interval on each cell's proportion.
Path utilisation
Activated 2,355 of 8,238 scheduled paths (29%, 90% range 28%–29%) in Period 1 2026-27 — -3.4 percentage points below the national freight-operator mean of 32%. 5,883 ghost paths (scheduled, not activated).
In plain terms: a scheduled path is a freight slot reserved in Network Rail's Working Timetable. An activated path is one where TRUST recorded the train starting its run. A ghost path is a scheduled slot that produced no activation — capacity held in the timetable that the operator did not use, typically because the underlying contract did not call the path or the service was withdrawn before the day. A sub-100% rate is normal: the Working Timetable carries contingency and capacity-reservation paths by design. See the path-utilisation methodology for how scheduled, activated, and ghost paths are derived.
| Scheduled paths (after STP precedence) | 8,238 |
| Activated | 2,355 |
| Ghost paths | 5,883 |
| STP-cancelled (excluded from denominator) | 761 |
| Activation rate | 29% 28%–29% |
| National FOC mean | 32% |
Free-tier: operator-total activation rate and ghost count for Period 1 2026-27. Per-corridor path utilisation, per-path scheduling-pattern analysis, and spot-contract renewal guidance are released to commercial-licence subscribers. The activation rate measures Working-Timetable path-days that materialised as activations — not operator delivery performance against intent. Capacity-reservation paths and contingency optionality in the WTT mean a sub-100% rate is a transparency datum, not a delivery indictment.
Source: BPLAN schedule import and TRUST journey activation feeds, Period 1 2026-27.
STP precedence (C > O > N > P) is applied per (train_uid, date) pair via Schedule.effective_for; STP-cancelled path-days are excluded from the denominator.
VSTP activations (no Schedule row) are excluded from both numerator and denominator.
90% Wilson interval on the proportion. National FOC mean computed across the known FOC universe in the same window —
see path-utilisation methodology.
Schedule 8 net position
Bilateral Schedule 8 settlement runs at two rates under CP7: operators pay Network Rail £51.98 per minute of operator-attributed delay; Network Rail pays operators £25.81 per minute of NR-attributed delay. The asymmetry produces a net position on every period for every operator; its sign and size depend on the period's bilateral delay-minute mix at rates that do not move within a control period.
The bilateral net position for Period 1 2026-27 on services operated by GB Railfreight, together with the per-corridor decomposition, the rate-gap counterfactual against an equal-rate benchmark, and the period-on-period swing, is released to commercial-licence subscribers.
Per-corridor and per-day Schedule 8 net-position figures, and the full responsibility-party breakdown, are released to commercial-licence subscribers.
Source: Network Rail Historic Delay Attribution (HDA) for Period 1 2026-27,
ingested into delay_attributions with source: "trust".
CP7 rates are published by ORR and applied uniformly across all operators.
See delay-attribution methodology.
Delay attribution party split
Across 319 attribution rows totalling 5,207 delay minutes in Period 1 2026-27 for services operated by GB Railfreight, Network Rail carries 20%, operators carry 59%, and third parties carry 21% of the attributed delay minutes.
Network Rail's share of attributed minutes is down 15.9 percentage points on Period 13 2025-26 (36% then, 20% now). Operator share moved up 6.2 percentage points alongside — the bilateral mix of attributed minutes shifted, not the total volume of delay.
| Responsible party | Delay minutes | Share of minutes |
|---|---|---|
| Network Rail | 1,018 | 20% |
| Operator | 3,081 | 59% |
| Third party | 1,108 | 21% |
Baseline (Period 13 2025-26): NR 36%, operator 53%, third party 12%. Period-on-period NR share shift -15.9 percentage points.
Cause-code level breakdowns and per-corridor decomposition are released to commercial-licence subscribers.
Source: Network Rail Historic Delay Attribution (HDA) for Period 1 2026-27.
Responsibility parties follow the DAPR mapping in the delay_attribution_codes table.
See delay-attribution methodology.
What this page does not measure
Pre-activation cancellations fall outside the dataset: TRUST requires an activation event before it records a journey, so services cancelled before activation produce no TRUST record. VSTPs are excluded from the path-utilisation denominator because no Working Timetable row exists against which to measure them. Journeys without a confirmed terminal arrival are excluded from the delay distribution. The 15-minute A2F threshold is a regulatory artefact, not a natural cut-off — the "What the 15-minute threshold hides" panel surfaces the distribution behind that line.
Commercial licence
Four derivations are released to commercial-licence subscribers rather than the public archive. Each one reconciles TRUST source-data against Network Rail's Historic Delay Attribution record independently, not republished from public statistics.
- Schedule 8 net position
- Why late — delay attribution
- Schedule 4 possession exposure
- Path utilisation — corridor breakdown
Available under commercial licence. Contact [email protected] for subscription terms.
Methodology & sources
All figures derive from Network Rail's NROD TRUST feed, processed via the Gauge Intelligence ingest pipeline. Period definitions, A2F (Arrival to Fifteen), the Wilson 90% interval, daily anomaly rules, cross-view reconciliation, and delay attribution are documented at:
Data window — period boundaries and the data-as-of cutoff
League tables — cross-view reconciliation across the four analytical views
Anomaly detection — daily A2F SPC rules
Delay attribution — DAPR cause-code breakdown
Forecasting — prediction intervals and possession-exposure estimates
Regulatory context
Network Rail's Control Period 7 obligation, fixed in ORR's PR23 conclusions, imposes a 1.3% target on the Freight Cancellations and Lateness (FCaL) metric by March 2029. A2F is the operator-perspective version of the same threshold: the cancellation-plus-lateness measure that drives the obligation. ORR's Freight rail usage and performance release records that its statistical publications do not compare results against targets. This page does, against the CP7 target and over time.
Revisions
No revisions to date.
A revision restates a published figure because the upstream data changed, typically a Network Rail delay-attribution refresh. The minor tier is corrected in the next release; cells affected carry an (r) flag. The intermediate tier triggers immediate amendment with an (r) flag. The wholesale tier is flagged at the top of the page and notified directly to operators and rail journalists subscribed to revision alerts.
Corrections
No corrections to date.
A correction fixes an error in the published output: an arithmetic slip, a typo, a mis-rendered chart. Revisions are different; they restate a figure because the upstream data changed. The distinction matters because corrections never silently rewrite a published number.