On time trains 'far and few between', says Southern director

Southern said the new timetable 'freed up space'

A director at rail company Southern has said days when the rail timetable works well are "far and few between" due to congestion on the network.

Commercial director Alex Foulds made the comment after the company's new timetable came into effect on Monday.

A Southern service, dubbed Britain's "least punctual" train, arrived on time earlier following the changes.

The 07:29 Brighton to London Victoria train service failed to arrive on time on any of its 240 attempts in 2014.

'Early days'

However, the timetable alteration allowed it to arrive three minutes later and no longer stop at Wivelsfield station.

Speaking to BBC Sussex, Mr Foulds, said the new timetable was operating well, although it was "very early days".

He added: "It's a very congested network and we do have days when the timetable works very well, but they are far and few between because they rely on everything working perfectly, all of the infrastructure working well - that doesn't happen everyday.

"So we're trying to put together a timetable that people can rely on."

The new timetable also cancelled some services altogether.